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30 Comments

  1. Did you write this post just for ME????? I had to chuckle with the decorating clutter comment. I just moved from a 4000 square foot house to an 1100 square foot apartment. I did all the right things, downsized, had 2 ginormous 3 day yard sales and still managed to bring hundred of “treasures” with me and have discovered that my new town has Dozens of vintage stores, estate sales, etc. so here we go again!!! What I do have that is wonderful is an oversized attached garage and I am using those wonderful large plastic boxes and steel shelving to store treasures and bring them out seasonally. Rotating my “stock” has been very helpful. I am downsizing Slowly through my etsy store, but at the rate I am purchasing, it will be an uphill battle!!! It’s a good thing I love to decorate and am always rearranging things so I have a new look everything month or so. Thanks.

    1. That’s awesome, Eileen! And good luck in your new place!! There’s nothing wrong with *having* the decor. It’s just displaying it all at the same time that makes it hard to appreciate any of it. Sounds like you’ve got it well under control… 🙂

      1. Great article! You brought up a lot of good points.

  2. This was a great post. I am in a lot of Facebook design groups. The amount of bad design I see is astounding, especially when it comes to color, scale, rug/curtain/art sizes and installation, material choices, clutter, and so much more. Even worse is some of the advice given to the design questioners. Your post has such good information that I may start linking your page to some of them. Thanks!

  3. Good morning Lory,

    What I wonderful post. One reason why I am a subscriber/follower of all your posts is your honesty. And this post is very honest. It shows that even knowledgeable designers from what ever reason are making mistakes in their own homes. I bought twenty years ago things that I wouldn’t buy today. Whether my style changed or out of monetary reasons in the past or still today. It’s such a relieve to read your article. Thank you for that. I wish you a happy and successful week!

    Blessings, Andrea

  4. Hi Lory, love your blog and posts. I can relate so well to the mistakes made like custom curtains for three windows that I thought would be cream colour , but were gold. I tried to work around those curtains that cost me a small fortune. I ended donating them .
    Also a big mistake was a dining room table and chairs, gone now,
    So when I read your posts I feel so much better that I am not the only person who
    decor mistakes.
    Thank you for your honesty.
    Anne

    1. C. Gresham says:

      “Don’t keep something you hate just because it was expensive.” I need to have this imprinted on my brain. I’m looking at a wing back chair with the most beautiful fabric upholstery but it’s just not comfortable, oh my! (not even a year old)
      Lori, What about keeping a chair just for a large person in the family to sit in? This person only visits once or twice a year. (not the chair previously mentioned)

      1. That’s a hard one. Is it the only place for the large person to sit? If they can find other seating, even if it’s not as comfortable, and they only use it once or twice a year, I would not keep my home decorated around such a piece of furniture.

  5. I have to know where the leopard print rug was purchased! It is wonderful!

  6. Excellent post Lory! My biggest decorating mistake was the purchase of a couch, two chairs and an ottoman. They all matched and were a hideous beige, brown and rust Plaid (yep it was the 1970s!) I hated it on sight but it was the least offensive grouping our budget could accommodate. We were newly weds and needed to furnish our entire apartment from only 2 furniture stores in town. Within a year and a half we relocated to a large city where I had a lot more choices but alas…it was too late! We lived with that hideous living room furniture for a decade and then it had a life in the basement rec room which was mainly a kids’ space. Finally I got it out of the house when it got donated to a space used by a youth group. Those pieces wouldn’t die. They were well made but ugly…ugly! Taught me a great lesson though. To this day I detest the colour brown!

  7. Bobbi Duncan says:

    Wonderful post, and all so true. I think my biggest mistake was trying to save money by reusing furniture and decor pieces that worked beautifully in some rooms of our last house but not so much in our present one. I finally decided that I didn’t want to live with those pieces just because they were expensive. Problem is, Covid has limited me going into design studios, so I’ll have to live with the look a bit longer–unfortunate, now that I’m on the bandwagon to buy new lol! BTW, your home is beautiful, and I’ve so enjoyed all the remodels and gorgeous decorating you’ve accomplished. You can certainly be proud of yourself for creating such an elegant, yet comfortable, home. Great job, Lory! Hugs!

    1. Thanks so much, Bobbi! And look at it this way, now you have something to look forward to as soon as Covid is done!!

  8. HA! What a great ending!! I actually like that gold couch! 😉 I’m right there with you though about not living with things you hate. Your list is a great resource for my redecorating projects – I’ll be back to this one!

    1. Glad to hear it… 🙂 I actually did have a plan in mind with that couch but it never realized my vision and I think that’s what ruined it for me.

  9. Rebecca Payne says:

    Great tips! Thank you for sharing this post.

  10. Elizabeth K Tyson says:

    Thanks for these great tips! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has made a few mistakes along the way. My mother used to say, “Misery loves company!” Haha. I love to give new life to old lamps, and make new lamps out of found objects. I used to be able to find nice shades for a reasonable price, but some of my sources have discontinued carrying them. I was wondering if you might know of places that sell reasonably priced lampshades these days? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for sharing your talent.

  11. Ellen Shook says:

    Ha! We have all done it at one time or other. In 1990n I embraced the burgundy hunter green trend when I was told by my about to be brand new husband I could buy anything I wanted! I proudly showed him some white furniture in a designer showroom, but he said it was impractical and anyway he preferred darker colors. (So much for “whatever I wanted”!) So I went to another showroom and custom ordered a tapestry sofa in those DARK colors which cost an arm and a leg, then a big wing chair and ottoman in a plaid to coordinate. I hated it on sight! I slipcovered it twice, then attempted to make a more permanent cover without removing the old one, then I gave it to my son when he moved to California. He let friends crash on it for a few years, and when he moved again, he gave it to a needy family in a dicey neighborhood who used it on their front porch! Oh well.

  12. Cecilia from Georgia says:

    This is great information! After reading it, I took a good look at my guest rooms and found a few changes that need to be done. My biggest challenge is deciding what to put on my walls. I finished painting all the guest rooms white and threw out all the old stuff that was on the walls. Now I have to decide what to put up! Of course, I will have a great mirror, but I’m trying to decide on something over the beds. Always a challenge! I love intaglios and was hoping to get some when I went to Italy last year…. thanks to COVID that didn’t happen! Until next time, my friend.

    1. Hi Cecilia! I’m really into intaglios too!! Over the bed you can also try a set of botanical prints… :-). So many options!

  13. We have all had these mistakes happen. But I had to laugh at your turquoise wall unit that matched nothing! I also have wood kitchen cabinets because I thought I was tired of white ones. Now 16 years later I want them painted white. So much cleaner and brighter! But I’m still trying to convince myself to wait a few more years to have them painted.

  14. Do you have any photos of your bad design choices? Let’s see them!

    1. Well, I shared the sofa in the post. It was the last pic. I don’t think I have a pic of the turquoise wall unit, but if I come upon it in the background of a pic of the kids, I will come back and share… 😉

      A lot of my mistakes are smaller ones I change right away – like a wall color I painted 3 times before I liked it.