If your interiors don’t look refined, it can sometimes be difficult to know what to do about it. You want spaces to be sophisticated, but they’re just not, and you’re not sure why. Usually, refinement comes from choices in proportion and also using old-fashioned techniques. So, what should you be doing? And why don’t your interiors look the way you want them to look?
You’re ignoring scale and proportion
The most obvious thing you’re probably doing is ignoring scale and proportion. If your furniture and decor is too small for the room, it can throw everything off balance and look cheap. For example, if you have tiny rugs floating in a huge space, that’s not a good look.
So, what should you do differently? Start by choosing pieces of furniture that fit the architecture. Make sure that rugs extend under all of the furniture in the room, especially the living room, getting close to the walls. If you have wall art, make it bigger, a suitable size for the room. Tiny pieces of wall art on the wall aren’t a good look. You might as well avoid putting up anything.
Poor lighting choices
Next, you’ll want to think about your lighting choices. Interiors can often look grubby or dim if you only have a single lighting source from an overhead light. Light needs to flood the room from all directions. If it doesn’t, it kills the ambience.
So, what should you be doing differently? Simply follow what professional interior designers do. They combine different types of lighting in a process called light layering. For instance, they might have:
- Wall sconces
- Recessed lighting
- Table and floor lamps
- Conventional ceiling fixtures and bulbs
They are also very careful about the choice of warmth of the lighting that they include in the room. For example, living rooms can get away with 2500 Kelvin lighting, whereas garages require brighter white lights, perhaps up to 5000 Kelvin.
Lack of layering and wall texturing
A lack of layering and wall texturing can also have a profoundly negative effect on interiors. Many just look flat and dull, without inspiring anyone.
The way that you deal with this is to mix textures. For example, you could add wooden wall panels to one side of a room, and metallic accents to the other. You could also make more use of natural elements like wood and stone, which are becoming much more popular these days.
What’s nice about these options is that it creates a curated and luxurious feel. Every room seems like it’s unique.
Excessive clutter and understyling
Finally, you might be having issues with your interior spaces if they are the victims of too much clutter. Overcrowded surfaces with items everywhere prevents rooms from feeling refined. However, at the same time, your rooms could be understyled and not have enough accessories or artwork on display.
Therefore, edit ruthlessly what you keep in every room. Make sure that the most attractive objects, like books, vases, and trays, are visible, while other clutter, like CDs, DVDs, and electronics, are out of the way and in storage.
