Furniture and interior design are very closely related, and choosing furniture is a very important aspect of designing a room. The following tips should help you choose the most appropriate furniture for a well-designed living room, although the principles apply to any room in your home. The main tip is not to start with preconceptions, but to keep an open mind
Here are the three main mistakes that people make in interior design, not only in choosing furniture, but also with regard to the accessories and accent pieces. Some advice is also given on how to avoid these errors.
1. Mixing Styles and Periods
Mixing styles when choosing furniture is a mistake! If you are designing a room using conventional interior design principles, make sure the furniture, including the accent pieces and items of occasional furniture, conform to the same style. The same is true of a historical period: try not to mix periods of furniture and interior design that represent the decorative styles of their day. For example the ornate baroque period was reflected not just in the architecture, but also in the furniture and art in general.
If you don't want to conform in that way, then that is fine - you can use whatever you want to use, but you would not be doing interior design - just satisfying your own preferences. Many people prefer to furnish and decorate their homes that way, and there is nothing wrong in doing that. However, this is about designing a room and not just filling it with your favorite stuff!
Your interior design would not look right if you mixed mission furniture with the baroque style of the Louis 14th and Versailles Palace period, or with Jacobean furniture with its ornately turned legs and stretchers. Many Americans love mission furniture, and others prefer the colonial period. Whichever is your preferred style of furniture, stick to it, at least in one room in your home!
2. Pick the Wrong Furniture
Irrespective of its style or period, size the furniture to the room. Many people choose furniture that is too large, and dominates a room, or too small and looks silly! Many put the bulk of their furniture in one place - in the middle or to the back of the room facing the TV! Selecting furniture and interior design means designing a room, and choosing furniture to suit that room and also placing it properly.
If you are not sure what furniture arrangement you need for your room, then hedge your bets and buy sectionals. You can rearrange sectional furniture as much as you want until you get the best overall balance of individual items and their placement. That includes occasional furniture such coffee tables, cocktail cabinets, and end tables, and also TV or entertainment units and bookcases.
In fact, an intelligent choice of occasional tables and chairs can play a very significant role in interior design. When designing a room in a 'traditional' American style, whatever that is, a hickory rocking chair made to the old traditional design from gnarled hickory branches provides a very authentic look. So too does mission or Shaker furniture, and traditional pieces made in the American way with the genuine wood joints showing.
3. The Problem of Modernity
Modernity is a specific style of furniture that involves ceramics, metals and glass, but the term is also often used for furniture demanded by the modern age. To be precise: computer and entertainment furniture units. The latter in particular can cause problems in a traditionally designed living room.
It is not easy to get the log cabinet effect with a modern TV and entertainment console. If such units must be incorporated into your interior design, choosing furniture is not impossible, just a little more difficult. You have to know what to look for, such as Aspen Furniture's new Traditions range of entertainment consoles that would look acceptable with mission furniture.
The Liberty Furniture TV consoles in the Jamestown and Cabin Fever ranges are ideal for a living room decorated and furnished in a colonial style or even with a maritime 'captain's cabin' theme. Paula Deen by Universal Home Entertainment offers a massive entertainment wall unit that would look great in a room using furniture and interior design in a colonial or a southern style.
Never be afraid to experiment with your furniture and interior design. These tips are general, and while you should focus on your own preferences when designing a room and choosing furniture, keep in mind that you are seeking a balance, and that you can achieve that by using light and shade, color and contrast, and by the correct choice and placement of your furniture - and your imagination!
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