By avoiding these common missteps, you’ll find your rooms will look more tidy and inviting.
Whenstyling a bookcaseor built-in shelves, don’t pack every inch of space with books and accessories.
Instead, edit down the arrangement to leave some open space between items.
Credit: Erin Kunkel
Fill in the open spots with smaller, visually lighter items.
Instead, stick to one or two huescombined with neutral colorsto give your home a cohesive, relaxed look.
This living room featuresvarious shades of blueto create a calming, pulled-together space.
Credit: Jay Wilde
Decorating pros swear by the idea that every room needs a bit of black.
For a more visually quiet approach, choose throw pillows in neutral and/or solid colors that have interesting texture.
Pushing Furniture Against Walls
Arranging your furnitureup against the walls can make a room look cluttered and messy.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
Try pulling the furniture away from the walls and toward the center of the room.
This grouping of four chairs around a coffee table creates a nice conversation area.
The fact that the chairs and the walls are both white helps the room look clean and tidy.
Credit: Edmund Barr
A blue rug and matching blue throw pillows grounds the floating seat grouping and ties it together.
Instead try grouping smaller items on a tray.
Making sure to vary the size and scale of the items and not to crowd the tray.
Credit: David Tsay
Display odd numbers of things togetherthree or five items rather than two or four.
Another idea: Elevate small objects on a stack of two or three books to make it look intentional.
The good news is that problem is easy to fix bycreating a gallery wall.
Credit: Adam Albright
First, get all matching frames, or as close as possiblerepetition always looks organized.
Arrange the frames so there is a consistent amount of space, or a channel, around them.
