Navigating Interior Design Styles, Mistakes, and Color Theory

When you decorate a home, you must have a strategy. Rather than randomly choosing colors and textures, you should have a plan. When you plan out the interior design of your home, make sure to consider popular interior design styles, color theory, and interior design mistakes. Color theory ensures that the elements of your home flow and work well together. While the common mistakes covered below will help you avoid those bad interior design choices. Ranging from modern interior design to traditional, we have also included ten most popular styles to provide insight into effectively designing your home.

Navigating Color Theory in Interior Design

We explain how color theory impacts interior design to help you find the best interior color for your house! Whether you're choosing furniture colors, exploring interior paint ideas, or seeking inspiration for other design elements, color theory serves as a guiding tool!

Monochromatic Colors

When considering how color theory impacts interior design, it’s important to understand the basics of color theory. Let’s start with monochromatic colors. Monochromatic colors consist of the tints, tones, and shades of a single base shade. For example, a monochromatic color scheme may include the tints, tones, and shades of the color blue. To prevent a monochromatic scheme from feeling dull, consider adding different textures to the room. When a room has different textures throughout, it will have more depth.

Analogous Colors

Analogous colors are three colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel. For example, blue, blue-green, and green are analogous colors. Another example from the analogous color palette is blue-purple, purple, and red purple. To create an analogous color scheme in the color wheel, simply pick a color and group it with its left and right neighbors.

Let’s say you want to change up your living room color scheme with analogous colors, you can utilize the 60-30-10 rule. It ensures balanced representation for each color. Designate 60% of your space to the main color—like your couch or area rug. Use 30% for the accent color, found in items like accent furniture or wall décor; and set aside 10% for smaller touches such as throw pillows or lamp shades.

Complementary Colors

Complementary colors are also a popular option when choosing a color scheme for the home. As many people know, complementary colors are two colors that sit across from each other on the color wheel, they’re the opposing colors! If you’re wondering what colours are complementary, purple and yellow, orange and blue, and green and red would make great examples.

In decorating with a complementary color scheme, choose one color as the primary shade while using the other as an accent. Think of furniture mainly in greens, complemented by pops of red accents. Try using the secondary color with wall decor and in a mix of accessories.

Color Temperature

Another thing to consider when decorating a room is color temperature. There are warm colors and cool colors. Cool colors include blue, purple, and green. Warm colors include red, yellow, and orange. Color psychology in interior design guides us where to use warm or cool tones for the right atmosphere. Warm colors in interior design are commonly used in places where people socialize. Consider using warm colors in areas like the kitchen or dining room. Cool colors in interior design are commonly used to create relaxing spaces, especially in areas like bedrooms and bathrooms.

You can mix warm and cool tones in your decor by using one more than the other. For example, opt for warm tones on larger items like walls and furniture, and cool tones on smaller accents to avoid visual confusion.

Navigating Interior Design Styles for Your Home

Uncover the spectrum of decorating styles by exploring the most sought-after popular interior design styles and home decor trends in 2024.

Traditional

In traditional design, you'll find European furniture and décor inspired by the 18th and 19th centuries. It is typically ornate and symmetrical, with carefully carved dark wood found everywhere from the legs of tables to moldings on the tops of cabinets. Wood paneling is also common. Each furniture piece is typically large, impactful, and elegant. Soft textures like velvet, silk, linen, and cashmere add a luxurious touch. Our traditional rugs could be a great choice to enhance your ambience.

Traditional interior design leans on restrained color palettes, often embracing monochromatic or analogous colors for elegance and harmony. For instance, the overall color scheme is neutrals like beige, cream, ivory with bits of color added in through intricate floral, damask, or stripe patterns.

Modern

Although the label of this style may lead you to think it focuses on the newest trends, the modern interior design idea started at the beginning and ended in the middle of the 20th century. Generally, it includes an abundance of straight lines, geometric shapes, and smooth surfaces and uses materials such as metal and glass. The color palette is similarly pared-down, often following an achromatic theme, with a few bright primary color accents.

Mid-Century Modern

Mid-century modern design, originating in the 1950s and 1960s, represents a striking blend of retro-futuristic aesthetics and a departure from traditional styles. This innovative style prioritizes simplicity and embraces sleek, curvy furniture pieces like the iconic egg chair. A defining feature is the broadened color palette, primarily centered around neutral tones while incorporating vibrant and bright colors such as teal, orange, and yellow-green. This diverse range offers an inspired selection for house color schemes. Take a look at our mid-century modern rugs to upgrade your color game!

This design trend merges natural materials like wood, glass, and metal with newer, manmade materials such as vinyl and fiberglass. Notably, plastic chairs and futuristic accents characterize this style, exemplifying its unique and practical approach to interior design.

Contemporary

Embracing the latest trends in decorating styles, contemporary style offers a dynamic and ever-evolving approach. Contemporary design evolves with the current trends, often starting from clean lines and a simple base similar to modern aesthetics. It features neutral tones and incorporates sleek metal, wood, concrete or glass accents. Think of open and airy spaces, like lofts with high ceilings. Contemporary design stands out by adding creativity through small details such as decorative moldings on walls, functional and innovative furniture, and statement pieces like art. Our contemporary rugs offer a stylish and cozy foundation to complement this aesthetic.

Transitional

Transitional style is all about finding a balance between traditional and modern design. While there's some overlap with contemporary style, transitional design maintains stability, unlike the ever-changing nature of contemporary design. To create a transitional interior, start with a mostly neutral color palette to bring seemingly conflicting elements together. Incorporate large, cozy furniture reminiscent of traditional homes, while also introducing square, glass, or metal-based lampstands and tables. Enhance the ambiance with decorative items like small sculptures and vases.

Eclectic

Eclectic style embraces energy and visual busyness.With its 'anything-goes' approach, it invites a blend of diverse furniture, lighting fixtures, and artwork into your space. This style allows you to cherry-pick elements from various styles and fuse them into your eclectic interior. While eclectic design offers creativity, finding the right balance is crucial to prevent a cluttered or poor interior design appearance. You can keep a sense of cohesion by thinking of using colors that work well together and patterns and textures that balance each other out. For instance, you might use a more muted color on a wall where you hang a collection of sundry pictures.

Bohemian

Similar to eclectic design, the bohemian style aims to embody a carefree spirit. It uses pieces from a mix of cultures from around the world and melds various patterns, textures, and colors. Many furnishings are vintage, and their worn-in appearance helps contribute to the beautifully nonchalant atmosphere that a bohemian interior displays. The color scheme for home decor is usually warm, with rich browns, oranges, and reds accompanied by cool, jewel-tone highlights. As for material, you can incorporate wood, metal, and smooth and rough fabrics. Bohemian style rugs cover the floor and are layered for depth and luxuriance, while plants scattered throughout to infuse natural freshness.

Rustic

The neat restraint of minimalist modernism is popular because it ensures that your home has an intentional look. Adding personality to modern spaces isn't limited to transitional or contemporary design. Rustic elements inject rough, organic charm into an otherwise bland room. In rustic decorating styles, furniture crafted from natural materials like wood and stone retains an outdoor-inspired rawness. Wooden ceiling beams, real fireplaces, and wood flooring amplify rustic vibes within a room. To complete the look, rugs made from animal skins such as sheepskin and cowhide rugs or plant-based fabrics add a final touch of rustic coziness.

Industrial

What started as a functional style in European factories eventually became a fashionable aesthetic intentionally sought after by homeowners. Its origin traces back to the repurposing of vacant factory buildings into businesses and living spaces in the later 20th century, birthing the industrial interior design trend. Industrial interior is characterized by bare brick walls, lots of rugged metal, exposed concrete, and gray and brown hues. Furniture often mirrors this aesthetic, featuring iron or steel chairs and tables, yet it's common to balance the industrial backdrop with a soft sofa and curated artwork.

Southwestern

Southwestern style is another rugged route to follow when decorating your interior. It distinguishes itself with unique architectural details such as Spanish-influenced terracotta tiles and patterns drawn from Native American art. Much of the choices made in furniture are also defined by what was available to the early colonists and frontiersmen that settled in what became the Southwestern region of the United States. Wood and wrought iron made up chairs, tables, lighting fixtures, wardrobes, and beds. As in rustic style, a southwestern home will also often have large wooden ceiling beams. Echoing the desert landscape, orange, red, yellow, tan, and brown dominate, with small amounts of blue and green. You can take a look at our Southwestern rug options to elevate your colours for house interior.

Navigating Common Interior Design Mistakes

The interior design of a room says a lot about you. It’s fun to express yourself with design, but sometimes, the process can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to consider when designing a room in your home. A single element could throw off the entire vibe. We’ve compiled a guide outlining a few of the biggest interior design mistakes to avoid. Whether you’re designing a living room or tackling another space, this guide will offer helpful insights.

Awkward Placement

Awkwardly placed furniture is one of the most common interior design mistakes. How does this happen? It usually happens when the space isn't measured accurately before arranging furniture. Planning the room layout before buying furniture is crucial. While pushing furniture against walls may work in smaller spaces like apartments, it can make larger rooms appear awkward and unplanned. After measuring the room, consider how the furniture will look in the space, and engage in a planning process to avoid this interior design style mistake.

Improper Lighting

Another common interior design lighting mistake is depending on insufficient light sources. There should be more than one source of light. If there’s a light on the ceiling, place a lamp on a coffee table. You can also get a tall lamp to place next to a couch or reading chair. The use of multiple light sources gives the room dimension. It’s also important to consider the type of bulb that goes into the lamp. Choose a soft white bulb instead of a fluorescent bulb to create a cozy feel in your home.

Incorrect Rug Size

Many people buy the wrong size of rug. One of the common living room design mistakes is buying a smaller rug, the rug should be big enough for furniture to touch it. You don’t want a rug that’s too small or the room may feel disjointed. A rug completely transforms the room, so you need the right size. Area rugs are the best option for most rooms. At Boutique Rugs, we offer trendy area rugs at an affordable price. We have over 15 years of experience in the industry, so we’re happy to help you with anything you need. Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions.

Decorating With Color

It’s important to keep the color scheme in mind when decorating to ensure that nothing is clashing. If you look at your home and think “something is wrong here,” it’s probably about your house color schemes. There are a few interior design mistakes to avoid when decorating with color. Try sticking to one dominant color throughout your home for unified aesthetics. Even if you prefer neutral tones, using color theory for accent pieces like wall décor or vibrant rugs can add personality without overwhelming the space. Opting for a single wall color, such as white, allows flexibility to play with various colors, textures, and patterns in furniture and accessories.

At Boutique Rugs, we curate rugs for different interior design styles, including colorful options to effortlessly infuse color theory into homes. Don't miss our sizing guide to steer clear of mistakes while exploring our diverse collection. Let us help you craft a space that truly reflects your unique style!