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I’m an interior designer and these are 12 things I would not do in my home
Designing and furnishing a home isn’t easy. You want it to be practical and have everything you need for daily life while also looking nice.
How you decorate your home is a very personal thing, but an interior designer has shared some tips on what to avoid that everyone should follow.
12 things interior designer would not do
Courtney Ungaro, a residential and commercial interior designer living in Kelowna, has a series on TikTok in which she shares things she wouldn’t do in her own home – and you shouldn’t either.
1. Bold countertops
The first thing she wouldn’t do is install bold countertops with large patterns in her kitchen. Stone counters are really expensive and you don’t want to be changing it when you don’t like it anymore. This is an area where it’s best to go for a classic design – you can always add that wow factor elsewhere.
2. Super high ceilings
Another thing she would never do when building a house is have super high ceilings over 10 feet tall, especially in the main living area. When you have high ceilings, the space is never going to feel warm and cosy no matter how hard you try.
3. Two floorings in one living space
The interior designer says you shouldn’t have two floorings in one living space, like tiles in the kitchen area and wood in the living area. It is visually going to break up the spaces and make everything really small when whole the point of having an open plan room is to make it feel bigger.
4. Big formal dining room
When building a house, she also wouldn’t put aside loads of room for a formal dining room. Realistically, you’re not going to use that room very much and it’s not worth sacrificing space in the kitchen and living room for.
5. Remove all bath tubs
Ungaro does’t recommend removing all of the bath tubs in a home and replacing them with showers. Even if you only have showers, it’s good to keep at least one tub for any dogs or children you or the future owners of the house may have.
6. Raised kitchen island
The designer wouldn’t install a raised kitchen island, a popular interior trend that just isn’t practical. They aren’t very comfortable to sit at, lose vital counter space and don’t look that great. Just get a flat island instead!
7. Reclining furniture
Moving onto the living area, this might be a controversial one. She wouldn’t have any reclining furniture, because you need to leave so much room for those chairs and couches to recline that it’s difficult to fit in coffee tables and other furniture.
8. Furniture against a wall
Ungaro advises against having couches and chairs right up against a wall too. It makes for a much more interesting, conversational and cohesive space if you have pull them forward a little or even have them in the middle of the room.
9. Matching couch set
Matching couch sets aren’t a great idea either. You might be able to get a good deal on one, but they have no personality and make a room look boring. Instead, choose colors and fabrics that coordinate but don’t exactly match.
10. Popcorn ceiling
If a decorator ever recommends popcorn ceiling, don’t do it. The textured ceiling is much easier them to do and as a result comes slightly cheaper, but it’s worth spending that little bit more for a flat ceiling which looks much nicer.
11. Thermostat in the middle of a wall
Another thing she wouldn’t do is have a thermostat put right in the middle of a wall. It’s something most people don’t think about when getting their central heating redone, but it means you won’t be able to hang any big pieces of art there.
12. Use tile trims
Finally, the interior designer advises against tile trims in bathrooms. Also know as Schluter, the trims cover the raw edges of the tiles around windows, doors and bath tubs, but it takes away from the tiles and you can use a thin grout line instead.
