Decorating do's and don'ts

I love decorating my home. It's one of my passions. Most of my life Ive just decorated with easy, little things. Then one day, about 15 years ago I had a neighbor who had her house decorated so beautifully that I asked her what she thought was key to making a home look warm and inviting but still stylish and beautiful.

I never forgot what she told me. She said, "Mrs. Darling, you will never go wrong if you have books, plants, lamps, and pictures in all your living spaces." Since then I have been sure to make that happen.

When we were building an addition onto our house ten years ago I poured over home decorating books and was a religious viewer of Home and Garden TV. I got many great ideas from them. I went to paint stores and spent hours going through the samples and comparing all the colors on the color wheel. I consulted with interior decorators and pretty much just ate, lived and breathed home fashions for a while.

That was ten years ago but I have still not bought the pieces for my tables and walls that I would like. I did follow the books on painting and color and texture but now I want to begin getting those pieces that pull it all together. To that end I've been tuning into decorating shows and decorating blogs again.

Over on the HGTV website I was quite intrigued to find this list of the top 25 home decorating mistakes.

I thought I would share a couple of them with you.

No 1 they admit is controversial. It's fake flowers. Now I have fake flowers in my house and fake trees. I draw the line at plastic flowers. They look like stuff we use to find in grave yards after Memorial Day when we were kids. But to have real flowers around is just too expensive. In the summer I usually have a vase or two of cut flowers in the rooms because I grow my own. But I'm not paying for fresh flowers in the dead of winter. I remember Oprah saying that fresh flowers were a must and she received so much negative email from it that she did another show and told everyone she still stands by what she said but she thinks there are now lovely enough fake ones on the market that they would do if you couldn't afford the fresh. Well they will have to do in my house, that's all there is to it.

No 4 is fear of color. That is not me! I love color. I don't have a white wall in this house other than my husbands office and that's because he out his foot down! You have to be careful though when going with lots of color lest the house ends up looking like a circus gone bad. One rule of thumb is to use touches of a color you really like in every room to tie all the rooms together.

Then there's the mistake of pushed back furniture. Oh my word, this one gets me too. Pull that furniture out and quit lining the walls with it. Turn something on an angle or pull the couch into the room to help define the living space.

No 8 is pictures hung too high. Longer ago everyone hung there pictures way high. Today that is out! I still have very good friends and, ahem, relatives that hang their pictures too high. Hang those pics at eye level, it looks so much better.

Another mistake they have listed is floating rugs and rugs around the toilet. Remember the days when everyone had those matching toilet rugs; one for the floor that fit around the bowl, one for the lid and one for the tank lid! And then if you were really lucky old Aunt Lydia would crotchet you a toilet paper cover to tie it all in! It's totally laughable now. My 20's crowds that reads this probably wont relate but I bet anyone over 40 recalls those things. In fact, I had them in my own house for years! Ladies, they are so yesterday, as our youth would say! Now I cringe at the germs that must have been in those rugs. I love Clorox wipes and I swipe down my toilets almost every day. The kids are suppose to take them around the ring every time they go but just like flushing; sometimes it gets done and sometimes it doesn't.

As for floating rugs they break up the design and contour and flow of your room. Put the furniture on or around a large accent rug instead of throwng a dinky little thing in the middle of the room. Oooooorrrrrr; marry a procrastinator that never gets around to buying or approving the purchasing of a rug and there your rug troubles will end! Can you tell I have some issues!?

And then theres the mistake of too many photos. HGTV says that it is not in good taste to crowd a table top with photos. But I wonder about that. How many of you have noticed that royalty does that a lot. There are many pics of Princess Diana sitting in front of a side table that is loaded with nothing but photos. I personally don't do it but Ive always been intrigued by all the photos in frames at Highgrove. Don't I just sound like Ive been there now! Ive always been intrigued by all the photos in frames at Highgrove; like I notice them every time I walk in! Okay, so Ive never been there but I was and am an avid fan of her and I have picture after picture of her with her table of photos. So I'm guessing if Royalty can do it, so can you.

If you are into decorating you need to go take a peek at the website by HGTV. So now lets here your thoughts and confessions. Come on, I've admitted to my faux pas now its your turn.