Fix Your Decor Horror

by Cerise Graham

​It is a fantastic day you just moved into your dream home, the place is everything you wished for. You walk in and unpack all your furniture when you realize something is not quite right. The house is filled with furniture that you have loved for years, yet now that your place has been completely furnished you are the furthest from satisfied, instead you are filled with decor horror.

The incredible feeling we get when we look at old unfashionable decor from the past, some of us might have even called it outdated furniture when we were younger. This feeling is entirely normal, it just means you might be outgrowing your decor. You're probably asking yourself how do you fix this decoration disaster? 

Let’s begin with the old furniture we dislike so much. First, discover what makes you dislike your beloved furniture in your new space. Could it be the color? If so the item might just look unappealing because of the colors around it. An example would be a red chair next to a moss couch in a white room. 

These items are opposite colors on the painting spectrum, which means they clash and we pick up the difference immediately. You might want to move them to spaces more fitting with their colors to avoid clashing furniture like a monochromatic space or a space with like colors. You can always look up a color wheel on most painting websites, to see which colors belong to which group of tones like warm, cool, etc. 

Perhaps it is the shape that you find unpleasant. Your furniture’s shape controls the overall theme of your home,  just like all clothing has a certain silhouette needed to make it fit a style. Squares often appear rustic or simple, Circles appear modern or minimalistic, and Triangles appear elegant and regal. So it helps to consider the shape of the furniture in your home when adding or keeping pieces. 

Last but certainly not least, is the overall room's color, like the walls, lighting, curtains, and floor. Luckily most homes regardless of type come with white walls, which we all know is the most inoffensive color to have. 

However, what about your curtains? Curtains that don’t fit with your decor can mess up the vibe of your space, just by having the wrong print. An example might be, having striped black and gray curtains in a neutral-tone room, when plain black or even gray would look better, the same rule goes for rugs. 

Be mindful of lighting in your home too, how you decorate can impact the way light illuminates your home. Which can overall set the wrong mood for your space. I am sure you have heard someone say that candlelight sets a comfy atmosphere, a true statement so if comfy is something you want your space to convey. You should pick out soft light bulbs which often give a more natural illumination. If you are going for high-tech or a strong crisp effect, you should pick daylight bulbs that do not possess the yellow glow soft light bulbs do.

It is important to keep in mind these are just suggestions to help with decor horror, not strict rules! The most important thing to keep in mind, when decorating your home is to decorate your space in a way that makes you happy. 

Do not follow a trend or color rules, because those might not make you happy and your home should do just that. So if you like opposite colors or whimsical prints, go ahead and fill your home to the brim with them. 

There are no solid rules to personal decor, after all, what is stylish to you may be unappealing to someone else. This suggestion is the most important one to follow, to help avoid/ remove decor horror from your new home space.