The vast majority of DIY decorating mistakes are attributed to an abundance of enthusiasm and insufficient planning. According to the experts at Meoded Paint and Plaster, working with low-grade products and materials also paves the way for disastrous results.
But even when you’re tooled-up to the max and have complete confidence in your capabilities, it’s surprisingly simple to fall foul of a few rookie errors.
From major concrete plaster projects to applying the most delicate decorative paint finishes, being aware of what can go wrong holds the key to getting it right. With this in mind, here’s a brief rundown of some of the most common DIY decorating mistakes to avoid, as reported by the decorative paint manufacturer mentioned above:
1. Failing to Remove Old Paint or Plaster
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail – so the cliché saying tells us. Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to preparing surfaces for painting or plastering, which begins with removing as much of the old decorative plaster or paint as necessary. Something many DIYers scrimp on or skip entirely.
2. Skipping the Primer
Speaking of which, prepping walls with a coating of quality primer before painting is an absolute must. It’s a relatively quick and easy job, which nonetheless makes a major difference to the final result. Skip the primer and it’s impossible to produce a pro-grade finish, irrespective of the quality of the paint you use.
3. Choosing Paint Colours Too Early
Paint is a comparatively cheap commodity and is readily available. Hence, interior designers always advise choosing the rest of your decorative pieces and then selecting an appropriate paint colour accordingly. When the time comes to choose paint colours, use sample boards you can fix to your walls, rather than the usual swatches that aren’t particularly indicative of the subsequent result.
4. Using Area Rugs That Are Too Small
One of the easiest ways of messing up the aesthetic of any room is to toss in a rug that’s far too small. Irrespective of how quaint and decorative it may be, a miniature rug never fails to take something important away from its surroundings.
5. Hanging Pictures and Artworks Too High
Eye-level is something that varies from one person to the next, but it’s not difficult to come up with some kind of happy medium. In any case, the key to making the most of your wall-mounted decorative items lies in ensuring you don’t hang them too high.
6.Getting Carried Away with Pillows
Too much of a good thing is never a good thing – something that applies to throw pillows, accent pillows and all other types of pillows. That is, unless your intention is to create a cramped, chaotic and cluttered look for your room, which probably isn’t the case.
7. Relying on a Single Light Source
The larger the room, the more important it is to think carefully about illumination. A single central source of light isn’t enough to create the kind of ambience that makes you want to spend time in the space in question. You’ll end up with awkward and unsightly shadows all over the place, which can be tackled by bringing a bunch of additional feature lights, task lights and supplementary lights into the room.
8. Prioritising Style Over Substance
Roughly translated, you’ll live to regret investing too much time and effort in making your interiors look great, while forgetting about the importance of comfort. Striking the right balance is the way to go, but it’s better to err on the side of caution and concentrate more on comfort than style.
9. Not Experimenting with Layouts
Even if you’ve got your heart set on a very specific layout for an interior space, it still pays to experiment with alternative options. Trial and error often holds the key to coming with layouts and furniture arrangement ideas you’d never normally have dreamed of in a thousand years. And be sure to seek input from the rest of the household, in order to ensure the layout you go with is approved.
10. Overestimating Your Capabilities
Last but not least, there’s no bigger or more common recipe for disaster than overestimating your capabilities. Some DIYers are naturally more capable than others – some shudder at the thought of picking up a paintbrush. Depending on the size and nature of the job, it’s worth considering hiring help if you’re not totally confident you can handle it.
