Typical Consumer Design Mistakes & How to Help Your Clients Avoid Them

Just last month, March 2024, the online home renovation and design “experts” at Houzz.com offered their readers advice on 7 Major Decorating Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Now, whether you believe them to be the “best experience” a homeowner can reach is a moot point because they have a large and diverse audience. And, that audience is looking for advice, so we all need to know what they’re being told.

The article first appeals to the reader’s fear of making a mistake, or many. The advice is said to come from a professional designer who then lists the “seven major design mistakes that can affect [an] entire project”.

As we’ve shared with you before, we believe the foundation of a space is the floor covering. Whether starting with a beautiful rug or carpeting, the design of say, a living room, should be conceived from the bottom up.

Oops – Not That

With that in mind, we can’t help but agree with:

• Mistake #1: “Choosing the Paint First”

Again, we must agree that choosing the paint before the floorcovering(s), furniture, window treatment, etc. can lock the homeowner into a box that is hard to escape. The essentials should always come first then, once they (and you) have a solid sense of where the new space is headed, choosing the paint and/or wallcoverings becomes far easier.

• Mistake #2: “Buying Furniture Without Measuring”

This is a two-parter in that both you and the client must have a clear sense of the scale of the space you’re reimagining. Picking pieces that are too large (or too small), no matter how lovely or otherwise “perfect” can ruin one’s enthusiasm and sense of creativity. Make sure the measuring has been taken care of (two or three times just to be sure), you can both go to town filling it!

• Mistake #3. “Shopping in Just One Store”

Of course, for you and us, this means narrowing the vision to one line of luxury furnishing that could leave the client wanting. While it may simplify the process of filing their space(s), doing so “tends to result in a much less interesting visual story than taking some time to shop around.”

Using local boutiques or choosing from a variety of lines, like the Kravet family of brands, for example, will present them with a broad range and almost infinite variety of luxury furnishing products and custom options.

• Mistake #4. “Buying the Whole Set”

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for anything; least of all for reimagining a space in one’s home. As we all know, doing this is merely a shortcut to filling a room with “something”, without the “hassle” of being creative. A sharp designer will guide the client to one major piece around which the rest can be built. This carries a more personal vibe that cannot be found by shopping from a catalog.

• Mistake #5. “Never Making a Bold Choice”

Never taking a risk may be safe but it can also be boring! Again, it’s the fear of doing something “wrong” rearing its head; “being fearful of ever making an adventurous decision can result in a space that [ultimately” feels bland or unsatisfying.” Helping your design client take a step outside the box can be very fulfilling for them (and you BTW) but, if that wallpaper or paint doesn’t work out, you can help them change it eventually.

• Mistake #6. “Making Everything Bold”

Conversely, stepping too far outside the box can lead a client to a cliff. Whether they are the client’s choices or yours, even the most dramatic of spaces can be enhanced by simplicity in other elements. “If you have a bold art piece, beautiful curtains, or some vibrant fabrics, let other pieces (like your sofa upholstery or a large rug) be beautifully simple.”

• Mistake #7. “Never Letting Go of the Past”

While avocado is making a comeback, it’s best on toast – not appliances or carpets. Getting over previous bad design trends and memories can be a challenge. Moving beyond a choice of paint or wallpaper that ultimately did not work does not mean a client is stuck in a space that makes them uncomfortable. Let them know that, with your help, the myriad choices in today’s marketplace offer opportunities they may have never imagined – or that they did imagine but thought impossible to realize.

Consumers today have so much information available today, it’s easy for them to learn just enough to become dangerous – to themselves and their interior designer. Being a guide and educator; a mentor (if you will) can go a very long way toward helping them use all they’ve learned to their best advantage.

For you, whether an interior designer or luxury furnishings dealer, Ted is available for design business coaching and furnishing dealer consulting. With more than 30 years of experience, from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountain Region, Ted’s experience and vast connections in the trade can become another arrow in your quiver. Simply… Contact TD Fall today.