Top 10 Worst Decorating Mistakes

By Eugenia Santiesteban (Subscribe to Eugenia Santiesteban's posts)
Sep 10th 2009 4:00PM

Categories: Decorating, Solutions, Design, etc

We loved Casasugar's hilarious post this week on Top 10 Worst Decorating Mistakes. They cover it all -- matching bedroom suites, plastic-covered sofas and fake flowers actually planted outside. What else could you ask for? Here are a few highlights (or should we call them lowlights?). Then, see the rest from our pals over at CasaSugar.

1) Avoid plastic on furniture. It's just plain ugly.

A cute tufted Chesterfield sofa is surely dying to free itself from its vile plastic wrap. Photo: Flickr, Vieilles_Annonces

2) Don't decorate with matching pieces. It's way out of style and boring!

Matchy-matchy furniture went out of style about the same time as the power-shoulder-padded pantsuit of the 1980s. Photo: Flickr, Peter Baer

3) Watch your collections. A few well-placed items are nice, but too much isn't always a good thing.

Collections can be charming except when it's very, very bad things comprising it. This looks like a junk shop, rather than a cabinet of curiosities. Photo: Flickr, Snickerpuss

Thanks Casasugar for these great decorating mistakes! Just to cap things off, I'm adding a pet peeve of mine...

4) Don't build a shrine to your television, as evidenced below. Why so prominent? Why so big? I guess we'll never know....

A television shrine doesn't do much for your decorating scheme. Photo: Flickr, Justin Beckley

Read more about bad ideas:

-The Worst Infomercial Products

-Genius or Simply Tacky?

Comments (18)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

carltonco 9-12-2009 @ 2:53PM

Who cares?

Kathleen Vaughan 9-12-2009 @ 3:46PM

Hey, Eugenia, I got a news flash for you. I don't decorate to be fashionable or please other people; I decorate with it because I like it. And as long as I keep my house reasonably neat and tidy, I'm going to break every so-called decorating rule in the book if I want to. I happen to like matching furniture sets, and collections. Now, I do draw the line at plastic on furniture, that is ugly.

1080iMega 9-12-2009 @ 4:13PM

Dont build a shrine to your television????? Are you kidding? Oh on the contrary!! When its a 70" Plasma with THX dolby digital 5.1 surround I dont think it can NOT be the center of attention in your living room or den or if your lucky enough a screening style room. All hail big TV!!!

Montrealcomfort 9-18-2009 @ 3:11PM

I see a lot of houses with TV as center of decorations
I found it really crowded and not clean looking.
Try removing a lot of items around it and you will notice how wide your room will feel aside from being clean - looking even thoug you don't dust the place for a month.

OK1970 9-12-2009 @ 4:22PM

Who left her in charge of how and how not to decorate?? Is there a law or something that noone knows about but her? I'd say it's peoples right to decorate however they want, and none of her business at all. And what's wrong with matching furniture?? NOTHING! I probably won't be inviting her over to my house anytime soon. She'd be appalled by my matching couch and loveseat! lol

jwhmhsh 9-12-2009 @ 5:27PM

And I thought I finally had made it when my bedroom suite matched? Now I'm out of style again - oh well!!! lol

ohiopeach211 9-12-2009 @ 6:22PM

Who the heck left her in charge? If its not cool to be all "matchy matchy", then why does every furniture store sell everything as a ser? Hey, if you dont like how I decorate my house...stay the hell away from it!!!

rosey 9-12-2009 @ 7:49PM

from the comments here it looks like it's a bad spell for the decorating police.......at least the comments seem to come from those who can think for themselves.........good.......my profession affords me the opportunity to meet clients in their homes........quite frankly.........if i see one more granite counter top..........i really will vomit..........i wonder if the decorating vigilantes and their associates will be targeting scientific studies so that they are able to "prove" to all that they are the "experts" and they will not relent until we all march to the beat of the same drummer.........:)

EthelAN 9-12-2009 @ 7:49PM

Some need to get a clue...they are voicing their opinion but don't seem to want to allow her to voice hers.

When it comes to matching furniture...I havae seen that in allkinds of institutions.......hmmmmmmmmmm.

CK 9-12-2009 @ 8:42PM

I'm an interior decorator. And I ALWAYS tell my clients this: "There really ARE no hard and fast rules in decorating!" The big shot decorators will say there are....and to be sure, there are some things that work better than others. However, in point of fact, it comes down to this: The people are the ones who are going to live in THEIR homes. Not me the decorator, not their friends, not their neighbors, or relatives.

I've decorated rooms and homes and have been lucky enough to go back to see some of them later on. You know what usually happens? They love what I've done, but they seem to always make changes after awhile. The reason is, they have to LIVE in their homes. Their homes are not shrines to the latest decorating trends. If you love something, it'll usually work out. (And yes, in case you're wondering, some people really DO need a decorator's help. But there are lots of people out there who are quite comfortable with their own style. I say, "Go for it!" )

chasity_colton 9-12-2009 @ 10:30PM

i wish i had a plastic couch cover!....im kidding but some times it would be awesome since i have kids!lol. and nothing in my bedroom matches and trust me its not fashionable and if it where to be it would be called rummage sale chic!lol.

Ginger Peachy 9-14-2009 @ 1:44PM

Are we supposed to throw away our matching furniture and spend money on things just so they don't match? The non-matching furniture craze started mostly because people were either single and didn't need all the pieces, didn't have room for them all or didn't have enough moulah to purchase an entire set at a time. You can always do non-matchy things in other rooms, break it up with other furniture, pictures, etc. Also, the older matchy-matchy furniture was made well and is real wood.

charity 9-14-2009 @ 5:10PM

people seem to be taking some serious offensive to this ladies decor tips and i cant help but wonder WHY? i mean shes one person who im sure no one actually knows so who cares what she thinks take her advice or leave it either way i dont think she was attacking anyone personally just trying to give those who try and stay up on fashion some tips on whats"IN" if your like me and perfer to decorate in things you like as opposed to what the rich and famous like(cause lets face it fashion is just what the coolest rich or famous person is promoting) than it doesnt really matter what she says though i must say that i personally do not get where she is getting the"no matching furniture thing from cause every cribs ive seen each room has matching furnature of coarse with a couple exceptions but all are still themed

Raejean French 9-15-2009 @ 12:54PM

Hey Eugenia, kiss my grits.This is a cheap and easy list (plastic flowers and slipcovers are the giveaway) thrown together without any real thought or consideration. People display collections because they make themselves happy that way. They put together themed rooms for a similar reason.They buy the bedroom "set" because they like the look of the set or they don't want to be bothered with decisions, decisions. If they want a toenail clippings suspended in plexiglass toilet seat, it's their toilet seat. And TVs end up looking enshrined no matter what you do because they're the sociological equivalent of the campfire. I personally think the worst mistake any of us could make would be to hire someone like you, unless we had the clear understanding that you were there to facilitate what we wanted/needed and not just dictate your own tastes and opinions.

Bubba 9-15-2009 @ 3:47PM

People, these are not hard and fast rules. News flash: when you buy a magazine or watch a television show or in this case read a design blog you are free to take or leave the content given. For those of you posters with half a brain, feel free to exercise its limited capacity. If you take the post above as comedy, great! If you find it useful, great! If you are offended by it, you’re pathetic. I’m sure the intent of this post wasn’t to offend anyone with said decorative taste but rather to give a differing opinion.

yabbi 9-16-2009 @ 12:50PM

As if anyone uses plastic on their furniture besides this author's mother...it sez 10 things to avoid, I only see 4, then a change of subject matter. Odd.

Jackie 9-23-2009 @ 8:16AM

I love decorating and wish I had a BIG house to do it in. If you're in a small home/apt. it makes lots of difference how you decorate. I have a matching antique bedroom suit but what I like is to showcase it w/ curtains, coverlets, pillows, oil paintings, etc., in beautiful contrasting colors. I might add that everyone who enters my little home tells me how beautiful it is.......I like that!!!!

Pete 9-25-2009 @ 2:10AM

I'm the bozo who's photo is being used to show not to use matching furniture. My decorating style follows these rules, what I can afford and what I like and I currently like my matching furniture. I don't decorate for anyone but myself - if guests don't like my decor they are free to leave. That said casasugar and shelterpop are entitled to their opinions, if you feel the need to decorate according to their whims have a blast.
I guess I was ahead of the times because for the last twenty some years all of my furniture has been a mismatched collection of hand me down crap and thrift stores cheapest as I couldn't afford anything better.