Interior design secrets can be learned through understanding the 60-30-10 rule, which is a simple way to choose colors for your home. Breaking specific rules can help create an interior that is personalized, inviting, and chic. Here are eight interior design rules that should be broken:
- Don’t mix bold patterns.
- Only paint small spaces light colors.
- Art must be hung on the walls.
- Your dining table should match dining chairs.
- Furniture should lead the design.
- Don’t use dark colors in small spaces.
- A sofa should float in a space.
- Matching everything.
- White paint everywhere.
- Minimalist art framing.
- Wood finishes should match.
- Art should only be hung on walls.
- Only paint or wallpaper small spaces in light.
- Keep things symmetrical.
- Use white furniture.
- Keep ceilings neutral.
- Use a mix of colors.
- Use a mix of textures.\n18
📹 7 DECORATING RULES YOU SHOULD NEVER BREAK | INTERIOR DESIGN BASICS
7 DECORATING RULES YOU SHOULD NEVER BREAK | INTERIOR DESIGN BASICS Interior Designer: Kristen McGowan Do …
What is the 70 20 10 rule in interior design?
The 70-20-10 Rule is a design principle that suggests a balanced scheme by keeping 70 elements in one color, adding 20 in another color (fabrics), and 10 in an accent color (cushions, décor objects). The pattern rule suggests mixing large with medium or medium with small, never large with small. Prints should share at least one color in common. The Wow Factor Rule emphasizes adding a wow-inspiring focal point in a room, such as a painting, lighting fixture, mirror, or furniture.
What is the 80 20 rule in interior design?
The 80-20 rule in interior design is a strategy to create a balanced and harmonious space by choosing one dominant style or color scheme for 80 of the room and a contrasting or complementary style or color scheme for the remaining 20. This approach ensures a cohesive look without being too boring or chaotic. For example, a modern and minimalist room can be achieved by using white, gray, and black, while adding bright colors or patterns for the remaining 20. For a cozy and rustic room, wood, natural fabrics, and earthy tones can be used, along with metallic accents or geometric shapes.
What is the 60 30 10 rule in interior decorating?
The 60-30-10 Rule is a classic decor rule that suggests that the 60th color should be the dominant color, the 30th color should be the secondary color or texture, and the last 10th color should be an accent. The 60th color represents the overall color of the room, while the 30th color serves as a secondary color that supports the main color while adding interest. By following this rule, you can create a visually appealing and visually appealing space.
What is the 60 40 rule in interior design?
The golden ratio is a design principle that helps achieve a balanced room layout by assessing the floor space covered by furniture. It suggests that nearly 60 percent of a room should have furniture, with 40 being clear. Geometric designs, such as circles and arcs, can add intrigue to interior spaces. Squares can be represented through key furniture pieces like dining tables, beds, or sideboards. Circles symbolize unity and infinity, while bold geometric shapes can add visual interest.
Curved dining chairs can complement hard angles, while linear chairs can add structure to round tables. The golden ratio also guides furniture selection by providing a proportional framework that aligns with balance and visual harmony principles. This allows designers and homeowners to make informed choices about the size, placement, and coordination of furniture within a space.
What is the 70 30 rule in interior design?
The 70:30 rule is a popular interior design rule, where 70 of a room is in one style and 30 in another. This creates a unique and eclectic look, making the space more personal and individual. Matching everything is not recommended, as rooms benefit from extra texture, depth, and pattern. Anchoring the room with one style or color or shade ties it together and serves as the foundation. The balance 30, driven by accents, accessories, art, and statement objects, adds visual appeal and makes the room more interesting and dynamic. This rule also works well when developing a color palette, as it allows for a visually standout space by coding the room in one dominant color or tone.
What is the rule of 3 in decorating?
Grouping objects in threes can create eye-catching decor features and balance, making the composition more engaging. For example, placing three taper candle holders at different heights on bookshelves or a decorative bowl on a coffee table can create a visually appealing composition.
For furniture arrangements, grouping three pieces together can help define a space. For a casual arrangement, unify three items of varying shapes and sizes, such as a chair, side table, and artwork. Add a rug to anchor the vignette. For a more formal look, create symmetry by flanking one object with two pieces of furniture of the same or same scale.
For style, use the rule of three with artwork, placing three pieces of art over a king bed, all equally spaced two inches apart. Hang two larger pieces of artwork below with a small mirror above to create a nice little vignette. For gallery walls or display series of prints, stretch the rule of three to become the rule of five, seven, or nine, sticking with odd numbers.
What is the 80 20 rule in decorating?
The 80-20 rule in interior design is a strategy to create a balanced and harmonious space by choosing one dominant style or color scheme for 80 of the room and a contrasting or complementary style or color scheme for the remaining 20. This approach ensures a cohesive look without being too boring or chaotic. For example, a modern and minimalist room can be achieved by using white, gray, and black, while adding bright colors or patterns for the remaining 20. For a cozy and rustic room, wood, natural fabrics, and earthy tones can be used, along with metallic accents or geometric shapes.
What is the 3 5 7 rule design?
The room’s stained glass windows struggle to allow enough light, causing plants to falter. To fill a large surface without appearing cluttered, the “3-5-7 Rule” is used. This rule involves styling with odd numbers to create an asymmetric but visually pleasing arrangement of things. Groupings of three can be more visually pleasing and memorable than perfectly symmetric arrangements. The “3-5-7 Rule” expands this concept to larger odd numbers, particularly clusters of five and seven.
Designers often talk about the dynamism of odd number groupings, but sometimes more than just three things are needed to fill a larger surface or area. Five and seven provide more wiggle room without going overboard with a multiple of three or another unwieldy number.
What is the 3 5 7 rule of decorating?
The author struggles with a room with stained glass windows that don’t allow enough light, leading to faltering plants and requiring relocation. To fill the room without appearing too cluttered, they use the “3-5-7 Rule”, which involves styling with odd numbers to create an asymmetric but visually pleasing arrangement of things. The rule is expanded to larger odd numbers, particularly clusters of five and seven. This allows for more wiggle room without going overboard with a multiple of three or another unwieldy number.
The author decides to use stacks of books and larger pieces of larger pottery to fill the room, flanking the centered Primrose Mirror and long SIN candelabra with two sets of seven items. On the left side, they use an organic shaped Dumae candle, an H and M Home pot, a thrifted ceramic basket, two stacks of books, a secondhand rattan vase, and a splay of dried hydrangeas from their garden. On the right side, they use two candlesticks, a Leanne Ford pitcher, a vintage painting, an old shoe mold, another stack of books, and a Terrain marble pedestal bowl. Both sides have two taller items, allowing the focus to be on the mirror and the beautiful original stained glass windows.
What is the 70-20-10 rule in decorating?
The 70/20/10 rule is a design strategy that involves using one neutral color for 70% of a room’s décor, followed by a rich color for 20%, and a bold color for 10%. This creates a well-rounded design scheme. For example, in a bathroom, Carrara quartz walls line the shower and vanity, while neutral gray walls serve as the 70 backdrop. Dark Italian Walnut cabinets and mirror frame represent the 20 color, while brightly colored hand towels and coordinating artwork tie the room together.
Incorporating black in a retro-themed kitchen enhances the other colors, while custom floral mosaic tile wallpaper and white shaker-style cabinetry add a dramatic look while maintaining a classic and interesting look.
What is the 2 3 rule in decorating?
A room may be divided into two sections, the larger of which is a 2:3 space and is intended for larger furniture items such as sofas, beds, or dining tables. The smaller of the two sections, which is also a 2:3 space, is designed to accommodate secondary items such as storage or seating. In order to achieve optimal organization, it is recommended that furniture be arranged in accordance with the 2:3 rule.
📹 Interior Design Rules You Need to BREAK
In this video, I go over some of the interior design rules that you need to consider breaking! I go over some of the most popular …
Standing ovation on “wood is beautiful, stop stressing”. Before there was an internet, people inherited real furniture from their parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, even great-grandparents. No one rejected a beautiful old sideboard, dresser, or armoire because the wood tones didn’t match your hardwood floors or mantle. Sheesh. We certainly didn’t paint something gorgeous & sturdy with baby-blue chalk paint just because it was made from walnut and not oak, or had a few dings in the wood, or didn’t fit our vision of the month. Seriously. If I see one more person paint over a FABULOUS Mission-era buffet with lavender chalk paint I am going to scream & throw things. Treasure the beauty, durability, and class of real wood furniture made well, or pass it on to someone who will understand and greatly appreciate its value.
I broke a big rule in my home. Living in Scandinavia, your home should be bright, light and have light wood and such. When i bought my farmhouse it was light and bright. Now 6 months later, it is dark. Dark brown furniture, dark wallpaper and paints. And i love it. William Morris beautiful wallpaper, dark earth tones in the paint and almost all white is gone. It is not all wrong cause in the 18th century, these types of farmhouses was in a darker palette, and this old wooden house deserves to be brought back to its former glory. Its bould and like you said so well, its comforting and cavelike, without being to drastic, like living in a black hole.. 😉 The house told me what it wanted and it said get rid of the white! Thank you for sharing Nick!
Re wood tones: friends were renovating an old Ontario cottage that had layers of paint on the walls and trim and layers of paint and linoleum on the floors. After months of work, they got down to beautiful birds-eye maple trim and the entrance hall, which extended down the centre of the house, was alternating narrow strips of cherry and oak for a vivid striped effect. It was stunning. Congrats late 19th-century Ontario!
The biggest issue I have with “rules” is that they are someone else’s opinion. Now, if we all want to do the same thing, have the same look, I say, “go for it”. However, expressing oneself when decorating our environments has zero rules other than BE WHO YOU ARE. If I like it, that’s all that matters.
Definitely good advice to break the white/light walls in small place. We live in a 400sft rv park model (tiny house living). Walls were initially white. Last remodel, I painted the walls a warm gray (valspar mountain hideaway) and love it! I think it makes the place seem so much more “expansive”. Probably because the subdued color makes the walls recede, where as the white walls were more noticeable and made the place seem boxy. Our place also has lots of windows, so no problem there with light during the day, and at night, very comfortable/cozy feel to it, which I didn’t get with the white walls.
As someone who is stuck with light grey walls and grey wood floors in my apartment, my solution to the wood tone issue is to make every other wood surface warm so that the “cool” grey tone becomes the outlier and not the focus. I have the thick, textured wool-jute rug, walnut legs on the coffee table, a beige-ish colored fabric on the sofa, a brass arm floor lamp, rattan accents on the media console, jewel tone throw pillows, etc. and it helps to take your eye off the fact that the base of the room is cool toned
At some point in the 90’s my mum swapped out most of her wood furniture in various tones for pieces all in the exact same shade of oak. The result was…not good. She loved it, everyone else was polite and pretended to. I rescued some of her cast offs and they all still live happily together in my space.
I never understood the problem w/mixing metals or woods. I think it adds such a personality to the space. It speaks of the time you’ve spent curating your life. Especially if you’ve lived through different trends. I love my more classic dark wood floors with the honey colored armoire I bought in the 90s etc. I always purchased whatever was considered “timeless” or “classic” for the period, the things that “would never go out of style” (spoiler: they never were and always did) but b/c they were never too trendy they still kind of work. My house tells the story of my life, where I’ve been, who I was. I would never toss it all out and buy a set of matchy-matchy showroom furniture.
At my old place (a working horse farm with two small kids and 40-60 students) our walls and trim were high gloss, bright white- recommended by our painters. Very little stuck or stained that paint and what did was easy to bleach out. When I went to sell it 13 years later, all I had to do was wash the walls with a bleach spray cleaner and they looked brand new.
Regarding wood tones, pick two undertones and stick with them. For instance, I have an orangey oak in my home as my main tone (cabinets and mantel, ect.). I keep most of my woods in the tone family of orange oak. Then, I have a secondary wood tone that is a dark walnut with reddish undertones. These two wood tones are implemented throughout the space creating a dynamic and CURATED look.
I completely agree with you on the use of dark paint or paper in a small room. It can work out in a beautiful and ‘comforting’ way. When I was a child, I made a ‘secret room’ for myself in the closet space under the stairs, that I practically lived in. So, I get what you mean by humans having this desire for cozy, more intimate, warm spaces. I also like your statement on mixing metals, and wood. I think if done well; mixing either can show more personality, rather than always going for a strictly cohesive plan might. Thanks, as always. 🙂
I have a tip for you!! I accidentally had the combination of paints to use up and ended up doing first coat in satin and then two coats on top in flat. O M G! Best of both worlds. Rich sumptuous matte! Yet it has this feel of satin underneath that doesn’t shine through, but it lends the sturdiness somehow. Doesn’t feel chalky, naked, flat paint. Feels more substantial. Try it, you’ll love it!!!
I’ve taken your advice about dark spaces. I absolutely love them. Summer last year I moved into my first ever 1 bedroom apartment. 528 ft.². I put a very dark gray peel and stick wallpaper that almost looks black throughout most of the apartment. The space is absolutely stunning. It’s cozy and intimate. Especially at night where it looks like a lounge. I have large windows so during day light can come in. I have to thank you Nick because you were the reason why I had the confidence to make my apartment a dark space and it payed off
I have been leaning towards satin paint for a bit of drama in the rooms I paint. It’s not in your face like semi-gloss, but it is enough to make the room a bit more high-end feeling. I also love painting with dark colors. I never thought I would, but just painting one wall black or dark green just cozies up a space.
I love wallpaper in small rooms, especially the bedroom. It just feels so cozy! And thank you so much for explaining paint sheen. Now I know to paint my paneling in a satin instead of flat to bring out that nice texture. Also, when I bought my 1939 house, I was definitely one of those people stressing about wood! All the original wood is old growth pine, which you can’t really get anymore. Not to mention that it was stained/lacquered a cherry wood color, except for the floor, which the previous owner refinished natural. I am NOT going to refinish any of that original wood — it’s still in great shape and just needs a bit of polish. After much trial and error, I found that what looks great is a mixture of natural oak and natural cherry. Of course they don’t match exactly, but the oak has a similar grain pattern to that old growth pine while adding a lighter tone so that everything doesn’t look that orange-colored cherry wood samey-samey.
One of the most beautiful paint jobs I’ve ever seen was in a dining room. The owner had painted the room a jewel tone (red? I think?) in 12″ stripes, alternating between semi-gloss and satin finish. The natural or indoor lighting hit each strip differently, giving the room an incredibly different look. All it took was painter’s tape and a yardstick.
I broke the small room, light paint color rule for my office and love it!! I went with Sage Green Light by Sherwin Williams, which is pretty dark (especially when the second darkest paint color in my home is Repose Gray) and it is gorgeous! I feel like I can focus well with it and that it actually expands the room in a sophisticated kind of way.
I had an average sized bedroom that did have one window but it had an outdoor walkway over it so it didn’t get any sun. I really lived there a while to decide. I finally decided that nothing was going to make it bright and sunny so go with cozy. I painted it the color of milk chocolate. It turned out great and everyone who saw it loved it. When I sold it was almost the favorite room.
Something interesting about paint: I have an old home, and my closets were very dark. I painted them with the shiniest white paint I could buy, and they were transformed. These were long, walk-in closets that got little light from the doors. Another time, my church had to start using a dark, narrow stairway during renovation. We painted it with white, high-gloss paint, and the difference was amazing. Suddenly it was clean and bright, and you could see every step.
I did semi gloss in my house. My painter was border line horrified. Lol. Questioned my decision a number of times. I asked if he was willing to come over once a year to fix the places in my walls where I had rubbed the eggshell off from washing kids finger prints off (high traffic areas) he said no. Semi gloss it is then! Would I do it again? Probably not. The only reason being, when touching up the dings in your wall you can visibly see the touched up area. Now that my kids are older I’m going to start slowly changing each wall to eggshell. No regrets in the ease of wall washing though.! On another note… is there not a feature wall right behind you? Or is that a continuous flow of another room🤔
Matching wood tones is probably why someone covered my beautiful old growth Douglas fir flooring in the 70’s. Saved this softer wood for me to have! It is a very dominant color pattern, but, amazing wood. It is so unique that cedar, cherry, and dark old furniture all seem to blend(or I’m just design blind). Unfortunately, it is very hard to match with any other modern wood flooring.
My husband always used matte finish paint for the walls even though we had kids and pets. He couldn’t stand to see any shine on the walls. My father-in-law was a professional painter from Wales, so maybe he influenced him. I always had a Magic Eraser handy and we had to touch up the paint more often.
I just moved and my new appartment has about 18qm. But it has big windows to east/south direction and therefore it is very bright. And i have decided (and thanks to your article i am really sure now) to paint three walls of the main room in a dark warm antracit. Some of my furniture ist antracit as well and i think it will kind of melt into the walls and will make the room feel bigger and tidier. And i think the colour will highlight the natural wooden floor and natural wooden windows… i am do exited to start renovating!
I went with matte paint this time around, and I love it. I have an older home with plaster walls and that matte paint hides a century’s worth of imperfections. Matte paint is less durable but it’s much easier to touch up. You don’t typically need to do a whole new coat, which is why rental units often have matte paint.
My home is mid century/eclectic and very colourful. With how much colour there is in my space ir doesn’t matter as much if not every single colour is repeated. There is quite a bit of intentional repetition though. Something I made sure of is that they’re all quite equally saturated so they are balanced that way.
I’ve noticed that very few interior designers here on youtube, show examples of their own work (Sophie Paterson comes to mind as an exception). Is that because of privacy laws or NDA’s over in North America, regarding customers? Genuinely curious, as I would have thought that using one’s own portfolio would really help convey their own personal touch, and really emphasise the lessons they convey.
I like the your point about dark cosy places, which might work for a small bedroom or a nook/cove. However, I think there are practical reasons why a bathroom, or any water-using space, should be bright and well-lit: cleaning. You’ll spot mold or leaks right away in a bright room and go about fixing them asap, while in a dark room you might be breathing mold for months before realizing there’s a problem.
After perusal interior design trends over a period of over fifty years, I can tell you now that there has never ever been any hard and fast rules about interior design. Look at the weird crap from the seventies or the idiocy of the boring oversimplified neutral colorless present design. It kind of proves my point. The only real rule is to repaint your house all white before you move out or sell it.
Just bought a flat/matte dark highly saturated olive (LRV 17) paint for my fireplace room walls today. Lower half of the room is a white gloss board & batten. (and a fabulous “tribal” pomegranate red area rug going on the hardwood floors)! I’m getting braver with design choices, thanks to you, Nick!
Question about your personal design course, We’re in the process of buying a new home. Hopefully, we’ll be moved in by May 2023. Right now we’re dealing with houses getting snatched up before we can make an offer. All of that being said, will this design course still be beneficial for a home we haven’t moved into yet? I don’t exactly want to redesign our current home.
Hi Nick, can you make a article on your thoughts about hardwood floors and LVP? I currently have hardwood floors (long skinny one in honey oak finish) and they definitely need to be redone; however I have been debating whether I want to refinish them or actually lay LVP on top and give my home a more modern look. Do you think that’s crazy idea considering a lot of people prefer hardwood? Thanks
I nearly always end up breaking the rule about light colours in small spaces. My mind say, “What the heck. It’s a small space. Embrace the small.” I decorate most of my bathrooms in strong, dark colours most of the time. The one in my last home ended up being teal paisley with gold accents. I also mix metals. I am currently renting, so changing out taps is a ‘No’. So my bathroom has chrome taps etc, but I mixed it with gold wallpaper border and accessories. Rules are made to be broken.
For the longest time–literally, years–I was a super-minimalist of the John Pawson school. All VERY white/light/bright/pale. Well, I am STILL a super-minimalist. But ever since the pandemic lockdown staying-at-home-all-the-time thing, I’ve been leaning more and more into dark/moody/dramatic (though I think I have yet to see a super-minimalist dark/moody/dramatic space…incompatible looks?) so I’m all in breaking that “don’t paint small rooms dark” rule.
I think the trick with small(er) spaces is to reduce the contrast against the walls. If you have all light toned furniture and art, then painting the walls dark will increase the visual contrast and make the room look smaller. If you have all dark furniture, and the walls are all light colors again the same thing applies so to make a small room look bigger you need visual harmony. I’m not saying everything has to be all dark or all light colored, but for the majority to be similar.
Love this article! I’m so glad you touched on wood tones as this is something I’m currently stressing about. I have an oak bed frame with white drawers and a white dresser. However, I have walnut nightstands and chair in the same room. The way I have made it cohesive is by tying in the color from the oak with wicker. So, the nightstand drawers are wicker, the seat of the chair is wicker, and I put a wicker tray on the dresser. Also, I am seeing mixed wood tones more frequently!
These rules and rule breaking conventions are helpful. Because there are future home sellers out there and renters that want to appeal to the masses. Having a wide appeal can translate into money in the form of offers or security deposit (returned in full if you’re a renter). For the rest of people, have at it.
Nick’s on point 👈. I agree. Small dark spaces are Comfortable, Cozy, and Chic. I absolutely adore my small dark Bathroom. Next I’m painting one wall in my Dining Area Matte Black. The Designers that don’t or won’t break the rules are NOT responsible for paying YOUR Mortgage or YOUR Rent. I agree with Nick. It’s YOUR place. Go for it Throw YOUR personality in those rooms and enjoy YOUR Living Spaces.
I think I’ve settled on maximalism with house of hackney wall paper, curtains, gold leopard lamps with gold and forest green shades .Have a vintage / antique 36 round pie crust solid brass table tray top made in Africa i just bought on facebook marketplace.The person that sold it to me family member brought it home fromAfrica in the early 70’s .It is well over 50 yrats old. African animals on the tray, hand carved on it .Need a new sofa and chairs.Need new everything and have some antiques i want to incorporate in .
Worth noting about the pain sheen is also that wall paint used to be quite matt in the past. It was generally when new plastic based paints started appering post WWII that you really started to get a bit more sheen on your walls. So if you have an older home and want to decorate more or less true your home’s time period, that might also be a reason to consider matt wall paint.
Matte/flat paints tend to burnish, developing shiny spots, when you clean them. Behr had a “flat enamel” that was flat, but scrubbable. Great stuff. High-gloss will reveal EVERY FLAW ON THE WALL … you need to take the time to fix all the issues, add a flawless layer of drywall mud and sand it smooth, then prime and paint. Eggshell is my fave. One trick for matte walls is to paint your choice of colors then apply a flat clear coat water-based top coat. TEST THIS because it will change the color slightly. ********* Color cohesiveness: If you are going to do a “pop of color” it should be a KABOOM as Nick shows. ******** Wood tones? The choice of wood in the past was based on the use: oak for durable flooring; walnut, cherry, oak, pine, or whatever for furniture, mahogany if you were rich, and no one worried about it.
hi Nick, i agree that i don’t like accent color walls, but i find it difficult to understand how to use color, apart from painting THE ENTIRE room one color. and even then, it’s kinda hard cause if the rest of my apartment is white and i just wanna paint my room pink, and i don’t wanna do an accent wall, would i paint the whole thing pink and then feel i’m in a peptobismol bottle and then i step out into a completely white thing? idk, i really don’t understand how to transition colors throughout the place, and also what to do in homes with defined rooms vs open floor plans. a article on this would be so helpful!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
Totally agree, and the paint sheen one meshes with my experience. Unintentionally glossy ceilings are a nightmare (think shabby student rental with glossy white ceiling- not good!) but your examples were lovely. Flat paint on the walls is excellent too if you are covering up an unfortunately textured wall- like plastic faux wood paneling. I was childless with no pets and the trim was just pieces of 4×1. Did everything in flat (even the trim) and it looked quite classy with rugs covering the sub-flooring and a curvy chaise lounge commanding attention.
Yes!! You’re right on about the psychology 😂 actually I love when small rooms are dark colors. It is SO cozy, it instantly calms my anxiety and I feel like I have no distractions. I’ve always wanted a dark office for this reason. And if a room is already small, like a half bath or powder room, that smallness should be embraced! That’s was she said. But for real, this is SO important and no one talks about it enough. What do you think of a high gloss super dark color for a half bath?
I don’t mind mixed finishes, but I don’t like mixed metals, if that makes sense. So like matte black with nickel, but not gold with silver. I think the biggest issue for me is mixing warm and cool. I just don’t like it. I can see brass with gold because they’re both warm and too much bright gold isn’t my thing, so you can temper it with brass. Rose gold and copper I think also go together, even if rose gold fixtures aren’t quite my thing.
Great article!! Quick question about the cohesive colors. I watched that article and I don’t recall if you talked about the same thing you did in this article. Which is warm versus cool shades. How do you put together your color palette based on the tone, coolness or warmness of the colors? I am tentatively planning to do different colors on the two floors of our home. The bottom floor, which is a huge room that is a TV room & full size bar with a billiard table. Turning that floor into a lounge with black, cream & cognac colors. I hadn’t quite decided on the main floor which is the kitchen / dining room, 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Think I am leaning toward the blue / green families but don’t know how to make it work with cognac tiled floors in several of the rooms. I think it will be awhile before I can convince my hubby that we should put down wood floors.
Love your website, but what a shock today! Not that you think that one should break I.D. rules, but that you broke one of your own! At about 17:50 minutes in, you show a room with a PINK couch! You certainly wouldn’t have a pink couch in your house, but were brave enough to show that you don’t disapprove of pink as a pop of color.
For those in apartments, matte paint means no wallpaper. I’ve yet to find a brand that can assure me that putting up their wallpaper on my apartment’s matte walls won’t rip it up completely when I move out. I wonder instead then if I should just paint it the color I want and then paint it back when done. They told me not to and I do want my deposit back when I move, but I want to make the second bedroom that’s my office a lot darker,or else all of the furniture I want to buy will be pointless with the current light beige walls. Something’s gonna have to give 🤔
I really hate the trendy gray fake wood floors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen real wood floors that are gray. If I were buying a home and it had those floors, it would either be a deal breaker or there would have to be a clear plan to replace them ASAP! You said they are from around 2013, but they are still just about the only thing people are using for floors. I keep waiting for the trend to end and then you’re going to see a lot of remodeling happening when everyone is ripping those awful floors out! I’ve seen people put those floors over their real wood floors! Ick!
I loved your talk about colors and space. I AM WITH YOU ON DARK BATHROOMS! I love the cave feel for private activities like a bathroom. I would amend your small space color rule by saying to beware of blinding colors like fuchsia, neons, pastels, for small spaces. Those colors are great pops in large spaces, but in small spaces you just feel like the inside of a marshmallow peep.
Just had all my walls and ceiling re-textured to Level 4 smoothness. All the walls and trim will be Behr’s Scuff Defense matte finish in Blank Canvas, with the exception of the bathrooms and kitchen. Matte finish paint will keep that wonderful plaster-y, chalk-y appearance. Today’s matte paints are not your mama’s matte paint–they’re much more cleanable than in the past.
A word to the wise: Years ago, my sister painted her bathroom black. All black. Walls, floor, ceiling, commode, sink … everything. And then she tried to do her makeup in that bathroom. Zero (well, practically zero) light reflection. It was a nightmare. She repainted it something lighter the next weekend and had to put on her makeup for work in her kitchen those 5 days in between.
Thank you Nick. When I decided to repaint my living and dining areas I decided with Matte walls and Satin/Pearl for the baseboards, doors and trim. I have a modern NC town home and felt this fit the design of the home. The only place I would do a Satin/Pearl finish on the walls would be inside closets and inside window sills. The window sills would be easier to dust and clean. My sills are extra deep. Satin/Pearl inside closets helps prevent scuffs.
Always enjoy your articles! I find a bit that the “design rules” became a bit to ridged. Good design has always been more about “pirate guidelines” That said I think the dark powder room is almost a rule not breaking a rule. Where else do you want the security of a cave than in a bathroom for more public use ? 😂
Love your take on these rules! I have a tiny like 80 sq. ft. bedroom in an old house with slightly textured plaster walls and high ceilings, and painting the walls a deep rust color was just the thing to ground the space and introduce a real sense of warmth to it. Given we only use the space for sleeping/cozy activities, it’s a brilliant contrast to the sort of lighter, airier, more active rooms in the house which are painted with complementary lighter tones.
Just had my place painted with all flat paint (except in the bathroom) because the high gloss trim looked really bad in my opinion. I love it. It makes the traditional elements like crown molding look a bit more modern and custom and less like pre-painted molding from Home Depot. Also it was less expensive both in terms of paint and labor.
Did I ever tell you about the time I worked in a very conservative industry, and they had a smaller shared office repainted? (I think 3 people were in there.) Deep raspberry. One of the bosses came in and when he saw it, he said “It looks like a bordello.” Honestly, it was cool, and by some complete coincidence I later had a flat that had a deep raspberry and white bathroom. I loved it.
Acorn? That one threw me. But I love mixed woods, it looks much friendlier and more natural to me. And the bathroom that has the free standing tub I painted a rich brown and tiled the floor in a brown/rust pattern (looks like stone). It’s so cozy, especially at night since I put a hanging light fixture over the tub with a pink salt light bulb.
I love lots of different wood tones mixed together. I have a few beautiful antique oak pieces mixed with midmod cherry, mixed with a dash of 90s unfinished pine hutch that has mellowed and darkened with age, and it all absolutely works in -get this – my contemporary style house with the cathedral ceiling in the living room. the wood helps to bring down the ceiling a little while keeping everything very neutral, which is my aesthetic. Because we tend to move often (or did in the past) I am married to cream walls for quick home sales…I bring my color in via art, pillows, etc. dare I say…play with wood more? 😯😊
I love this!! I’ve been mixing light and dark warm wood tones in my kitchen, and I’m currently painting a tin roof ceiling, also in the kitchen, an off white color in semi gloss (white duck). The white appears soft but at the same time the semi gloss accentuates the pattern of the tin. I love it! 😊 I recently found your website and your articles are great!! You’ve been inspiring me to let loose and be creative while designing.. I’m very particular so I normally feel a lot of anxiety. I’m excited to start having more fun! Thanks!! 😊
The 2020 place I was lucky enough to rent when I needed to move to another city for some reason chose the hardware of 2010 and is all brushed nickel/ chrome in the kitchen of the open living space, all of it with greyish ‘wood’ floor. I didn’t want to buy new decor to match with weary colour schemes. I wanted to use my own beautiful furniture. So I put in all rose gold/copper colour lights, mirror, accents. Even a touch of toned-down brass. It may not have been a decorator’s ideal situation, but I somehow made it work for us. I think it’s a lot to do with undertones, intentionality, and creative combinations with less-expensive accent decor like cushion covers & other accessories. Also Nick’s tip about grouping by function, although TBH that was mostly accidental!
Hi Nick, thank you for all the wonderful work that you do, week after week. It’s so fun and enjoyable, thank you. Something happened in this article with the editing: it zoomed in and out, which was distracting; I started waiting for the next time it was going to happen, as it made me feel slightly sick, and certainly detracted from what you were saying. Again, thank you for all you do; you’re a real addition to the world. I rewind quite a bit, and your articles make me chuckle and laugh 😊👍🏿🌷
Great advice not to be afraid of trying out darker colors in smaller rooms. We don’t have a large bathroom, and I’m glad we didn’t go for the usual white walls in there. We got dark grey tiles on the floor, and on the walls in the shower cell (about 1/3rd of the room), with dark red meranti wood paneling and mirrors in the dry area, with the sink cabinet built out of the same meranti. Even 10 years after the remodel, stepping into the bathroom makes me happy about the way it looks. About mixing metals… I think that going all out on using the same metal throughout, especially if it’s one that stands out like black or copper, often gives the place an over-designed, contrived appearance. I think the advice on thinking about function to determine when to mix and when to match works well… kind of what we’ve done so far subconsciously in our home.
Yes, on flat paint for a modern look. My mom’s mid century house has flat/matte finish on walls, ceilings, AND trim! The trim is flat enamel. On furniture and decorating I agree that matching a color palette or all woods can become boring. I think most of us don’t go to a big box outlet and buy a whole suite of stuff, but instead collect and inherit pieces over time and curate our own space.
Um…Nick…when you are trying to educate your audience, ya might want to avoid saying “There is some rules…” within the first minute. Did you know, when speaking English, “there is some rules” about how to correctly use grammar? Lucky for you, ya got a pretty face and professional design advice that is (nearly always) on point!
I agree with your take on dark colors and small spaces. I enjoy darker walls, but recently painted everything a pale grey with white trim work. I liked it for 3 months, but now I find it lacking, especially in my bedroom and dining room. Overall, the lighter walls seem bland, my art collection doesn’t pop, and every room seems a bit sterile. This summer, I’m planning a return to darker intimate colors and jewel box rooms where my collections take center stage.
I’ve ALWAYS pushed back on the “light walls make a space seem bigger” dogma. For me, nothing is more expansive than darker colors, because they create the illusion of the depth — much like the infinity of outer space itself. Does looking up into the sky during the afternoon make nature look bigger than when you look up at a dark sky at night? Not in my mind.
I recently painted my two upstairs bedrooms and upstairs bathroom. I did everything in semi-gloss, ceilings and all. I also have two Great Dane-Mastiffs and when they shake their heads you get “splashes” about halfway up the wall. Also, they sometimes have problems with “happy tail” and with a split tail the blood spatter from big dogs will make your house look like a CSI scene. The previous matte paint was far too hard to clean. Then there’s the grandkid… LOL It’s not may favorite decor style, but it works for the circumstances.
Anyone who puts matte paint in a bathroom is crackers. They’ve lost the plot and clearly aren’t the ones responsible for cleaning or at least, haven’t been in the past. I want to have serious words with the previous owners of my place because of the matte paint they put in the bathrooms. The wall board has molded, the paint has dripped down the walls, and it literally wipes off onto your clothes after someone has a shower. YOU CANNOT CLEAN MATTE PAINT. Let that sink in. Eggshell-semi gloss in the bathrooms and kitchen. PERIOD. Anything else is disgusting and nasty and I don’t care how many kids or pets you do or don’t have.
I love your articles, I’m not much of a commenter but I find rules just so faschinating. Many times I feel like they become “rules” instead of “guidelines” and start to live their own life. Like, do you really think that mixing woods look bad, or have you learned not to do it and that’s why it stands out to you? I work as an editor, for novels, so I come across a lot of writing advice /”rules” like “don’t over-use suddenly*” has somehow become “never ever under any circumstance use *suddenly or your manuscript sucks”. And I will admit, I do notice every “suddenly” in every book I read, because it has become so ingrained in me. But I know that it’s not a fault with the individual book, or the individual “suddenly”, but with the weird “rule” that has somehow conditioned me to notice a perfectly fine and ordinary word. 🤔
I bought a house that needed interior paint. I was glad because the walls were shiny like the old 1950’s oil based enamel kitchens and bathrooms, which I hate. On my way to buy the paint my 47 year old daughter said to make sure to get eggshell, it’s the most popular finish for walls. I had a terrible time because the shiny walls require a lot of prep for the new paint to adhere. I’m almost 80, my husband passed away 5 years ago. I was thoroughly sick of the entire job by the time I finished. Guess what guys, the paint dryed and was exactly the finish on the walls before I started. Eggshell is shiny. I cannot conceive of going through that much work again to have velvety looking matte walls. You want easy to care for matte walls? Use exterior grade latex flat enamel.
I use to always only want bright, light spaces in my house, I liked dark broody spaces but mostly for like English manors in the country side. I then saw a photo on pinterest (when looking up green living rooms) of a room with massive floor-to-ceiling windows with very dark green walls, a black obsidian fireplace, low hanging dark bronze lighting (dimmed) and a bunch of plants filling in the space with dark green lounge sofas strategically arranged. It looked like the best place to curl up and read a book on a rainy day. I became obsessed and now I want my own super dark moody lounge room with massive windows.
Love article! So: historically, an old house with hand done plaster walls almost always had wainscoting and Mat paint on plaster, higher sheen on wood(?). Hides imperfections of the lime plaster and provides protection to wall? Realize might be more of a question for Bret Hull, but not sure he does paint vs just historic moulding.
I have dark rubbed bronze in the bathrooms. Sadly, the stopper finish comes off with oil rubbed bronze. Moen has sent me a new one, but honestly the finish comes off with cleaners/toothpaste (which has bleach)/etc. I wish my stopper was a stainless steel color. Makes since because how many toilet bowls have handles matte black/oil rubbed bronze, etc. Those are usually stainless.
One important issue with “Matt” paint is the fact that it is porous. Meaning it is way more susceptible to any kind of grease, oil, and dirt….which makes it then more difficult, or near impossible to clean….which you can do, but it’s left with a scar…which will lead you to having to paint the whole thing over. If you don’t have mouldings to protect high traffic areas, i would suggest going with an eggshell. Just investigate the different brands. Some are more Matt than others.
I use different metals; however, if it looks clashy, I paint it. I have a couple wood colors, all warm tones. I sometimes use Briwax to make it closer, but not usually. My new frames are champagne, a new color for me. Very pretty, but depends on the tapestry I insert, then again, I may add a bit of champagne to the design. I have a couple plant pots to paint metallic champagne, the frame has green matting. I was test driving peach, but champagne suits me better. I have a mirror frame gold and cream… cream will shift to champagne.
An alternative view to painting walls dark is that nothing is as expansive as space or the night sky. A black or near black colour can open up a room in a marvelous way. It doesn’t have to “shrink” it to cozy. There are also home-planetaria now which can project highly accurate night sky views onto ceilings to further accentuate the vastness. It all depends on your perspective.
There are no rules, only opinions. Any rules are made up by people in whatever industry and change as trends change. Trends come and go and pushing a trend just means making people who follow them spend more money on silly things like set-about decor items. As stated in the article, what you use depends on your lifestyle. But overall, decorate/paint/use furniture that makes you happy and to hell with trends and ‘rules’.
Feeling so much more confident now about choosing black faucets and gold handles in the kitchen and a warm, mustard-like colored couch in the living room for that pop of color in a mostly neutral, natural color pallette, and golden-oak window and door frames mixed with a light beige coloured wood floor 💗
I think woods are a lot like metal colors, if they’re close but off it looks like you tried but missed. Whereas if there’s bigger diversity it can work just like that brush gold with black on the metal. Also, I think as far as function goes it ought to be similar just like with the metals. And then your outliers can be different use pieces.
Just painted my bathroom a beautiful dark blue. Against my better judgement, I went with satin because that is what they recommended. I wish I would have went with my gut. I love, love, love the color but I can’t look past the shine! I think I will either add a matte coat or lightly sand the walls. The shine on dark colors make it look cheap to me.
The wood color rule is an example of a rule developed by lazy interior designers, probably representing one furniture company or catalogue, wanting to make life easy for themselves by having customers purchase sets. (Sets are often gaudy, just fyi). Nothing screams ‘oligarch’ or ‘got rich with a crypto pyramid scheme’ as much as a home that is too coordinated. If you mix and match different wood types and stains it signals a home well lived in. It means you have developed your home over time, it means you are likely doing antiques and vintage pieces and that means you have taste. If you are going for an old money, eclectic style look, mix your wood with reckless abandon.
Re: Paint sheens, flat walls are a mistake in the bathroom. They are more absorbent and can allow mildew & mold. Satin is great & since most bathroom lights are directed down, a sheen rarely shows. Unless you have a fan that you always use when using the tub or shower, it’s also better to use a satin on the ceiling! My house was built in ’64 & had no fan in one bathroom. The flat paint actually started to peel.