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Have you ever looked around at your space and asked yourself: Why does my home look so boring? Finding the root cause of a dull living space can prove challenging because everyone has their own interpretation of what makes a home boring. Some might attribute it to an excess of monochromatic colours or a lack of meaningful artwork. At the same time, others might find too many clean lines and lacklustre materials reason enough to contemplate a complete renovation.
When it comes to dealing with a dull home, your interpretation of what makes a home boring is a major factor.
You need to ask yourself what will infuse life into your home and showcase the space's unique features, and this should be based on how you want your home to make YOU feel.
If you want your home to feel energising and uplifting, you could make it your mission to bring in a diverse colour palette and eccentric decor elements.
If you crave a space that feels calming and rejuvenating to come back to at the end of a hard day, perhaps you need to enhance the comforting, tactile qualities of the space and cultivate a relaxing ambience.
Whatever you're hoping to achieve, we're going to explore 7 reasons your home might be feeling bland - these are basic rules of thumb everyone should consider as a starting point for making their home more interesting. So let's explore.
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7 Fixes for a Dull Interior Design Aesthetic
1: Using the Wrong Colours
Choosing colours for a space can be daunting, after all, there are many beautiful hues to choose from. When trying to avoid boring colour schemes, it gets even trickier.
Here are a few reasons why your colour scheme might be lacking interest:
Not enough variety: While single-colour schemes can look sleek, sophisticated and seamless, without proper attention to texture and quality, they can make the room look bleak. If you fear an overwhelming colour palette, consider a neutral base with colourful accents, e.g. colour drench your walls in a neutral hue and layer colourful accessories such as throw pillows, vases or artwork.
Not enough attention to shades and tones: When choosing colours for your home, the hue is just one factor to consider - you should also pay attention to the shade (how dark the colour is) and tone (how saturated/vibrant the colour is). This is especially important for those who prefer a monochromatic colour scheme focusing on one hue. Balancing the design with different colour intensities can help create more depth and infuse interest into your space. Â
Not enough texture: We'll discuss texture more later in this post, but when it comes to colour, think about infusing different textures into your space. For walls, consider elements such as embossed wallpaper, textured wall finishes, or accent walls to enhance the foundations of the room.
Not enough balance: Balancing different colours within a space is an art. Consider the 60-30-10 rule: allocate 60% to a dominant colour, 30% to a secondary colour, and 10% to accent hues. This is a technique commonly used to create a balanced aesthetic.
The wrong colour in the wrong room: The orientation of a room has a huge impact on the colours that suit it. Things to take into account include the size of the room, its position in relation to how much natural light it receives and the type of room, e.g. kitchen, living room, bedroom, etc. Check out our article on this topic for more guidance: Choosing Room Colour Based On Natural Light | A Guide for North, South, West & East-Facing Rooms.
Colour works with many other decor elements to create a cohesive space, but it can't do 100% of the work - so if you're relying on colour alone to transform your space, remember that there are many other things at play.
The Fix:
When finding the ideal colour scheme for a room, it's crucial to assess the space you're working with. Everything from the size of the room to the direction it faces can affect what a certain colour looks like in it.
Consider colour theory when choosing colours for your home, and find complementary hues, not neglecting attention to colour psychology and the atmosphere you want to create in each room.
Explore the possible reasons for a lacklustre colour scheme laid out above, identify what's causing the problem and consider how you can remedy the room's colour balance.
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2: You Haven't Established an Interior Design Style
There are hundreds of interior design styles out there. Some people base their entire design on a specific style, while others cherry-pick their favourite attributes from complementary styles to curate a personalised space.
If your home feels dull, it could be helpful to consider your attitude towards its interior design style, or lack thereof.
When putting together your interior design, it's common to blindly mix and match different accessories and decor elements without considering if they go together - this could result in your space lacking coordination.
Another common misstep is trying to make uncoordinated styles work together. For example, if you're trying to combine a minimalist and maximalist aesthetic, you're likely to struggle because these styles are quite literally opposites. It's not about avoiding contrast, as contrast can make a space more interesting, but it's about making sure the styles can harmonise to create a complementary result.
The Fix:
Find an interior design style that works for you and your space. If you're new to interior design styles, it might be worth doing some research to see if an established interior design style suits your taste. If you know what you're aiming for it's a lot easier to navigate what works and what doesn't.
Feel free to blend styles to achieve the desired look. Consider styles such as French country style and cottagecore, or maximalist and Dark Academia.
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3: Neglected Walls
None or not enough wall art can make the space feel empty and echoey, even if you've put a lot of thought into the rest of the decor.
While blank space has its benefits, like in minimalist interiors, it can make a room lacking in character. Artwork and wall decor allow you to showcase your personality, so don't miss the opportunity to make the space reflect a piece of you.
The Fix:
Employ a variety of elements to spruce up your walls and create depth and visual interest within your space:
Wall Decor: Curate a collection of paintings, prints or photography that speaks to you and your interior design style. Beyond the typical wall art, consider how you can add depth and texture to your walls with items such as fabric tapestries, wall hangings or wall decor made from unique mediums such as ceramics or wood.
Wallpaper: Wallpaper is in right now, and with so many styles available there is something for every interior design style. Consider creating an accent wall with wallpaper, or go the maximalist route with an eclectic pattern for every wall.
Curtains: Carefully select curtains that suit your interior design style. Look out for patterns that tie the room together and textures that add depth to the space.
Lighting: If you depend on that pesky overhead light to illuminate your space, consider hanging fairy lights or implementing sconces to create balanced lighting and add interest to your walls.
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4: Not Enough Texture
The textures at play within an interior work together to create visual depth and dimension. Not enough variety of textures can make a space appear monotonous and lifeless.
The Fix:
Consider bringing in a balanced collection of textures in your space using some of the following options:
Interior Foundations: Tiles, hardwood floors, textured wallpaper or wall finishes, wood panelling, wainscoting or beadboards, exposed brick or concrete walls, and stucco or plaster walls.
Surfaces and Furniture:Â Solid wood, rattan, wicker, marble, granite, stone, leather, metal, and glass.
Upholstery and Fabrics: Corduroy, boucle, chenille, linen, natural cotton, bamboo, velvet, wool, silk, and jute.
Decoration: Textured paintings, multi-media or plaster artwork, rugs, fabric wall hangings, plants, metallic accents, ceramics, baskets, throw pillows and blankets, and mirrors.
The more texture you incorporate, the more depth you'll create. If you want to maintain a simplistic aesthetic, keep the textures balanced, opting for complementary textures such as marble and stone, or velvet and silk, depending on the style you're trying to achieve.
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5: Neglected Floors
Empty floors can significantly impact the overall look and feel of a room. Often overlooked, flooring plays a crucial role in defining the ambience and aesthetic. When floors are left bare, it can create a sense of emptiness and blandness, contributing to a lacklustre atmosphere within the room. Be especially wary of this slip if you're trying to create a cosy space. Unadorned flooring can sometimes result in a room feeling cold and unwelcoming.
The Fix:
When considering the impact flooring has on a space, it's, first, essential to take into account the underlying foundations. For instance, if you're dealing with hardwood floors adorned with intricate patterns, you might want to showcase their beauty rather than conceal them with rugs. On the other hand, if your floors are unremarkable and lack visual interest, they could be contributing to a lacklustre feel in the room, and adding rugs or other floor coverings could help enhance the overall aesthetic.
As a rule of thumb, large rooms can feel more echoey and empty, which can be remedied by a large area rug, or, for a more eclectic or bohemian look, consider layering different rugs - this can also create more of a cosy feel.
In small rooms, large area rugs can make rooms feel larger with a sense of continuity - just leave some floor space around the edge of the rug in small rooms to avoid the room looking cramped. Â
6: Low-Quality Materials
As well as balancing decorative elements to make your space feel more interesting, it's important to consider the quality of the materials you use in the majority of your home.
Opting for durable, high-quality materials pays off in the long run, despite the initial allure of cheap materials.
Too many low-quality materials can affect the authenticity of a space. Additionally, these materials typically suffer more from wear and tear, showing signs of damage more quickly which can also affect the aesthetic of your interior design.
The Fix:
Choose durable materials and, if possible, sustainable so that your space remains sleek and authentic. Avoid too many synthetic materials, and opt for natural materials and textures wherever possible.
Consider some of the following materials for your home furnishings:
Metal
Stone
Leather
Linen
Rattan
Cork
Cotton
Additionally, take note of this list of low-quality materials which are generally best to avoid:
Poor-quality vinyl flooring
Low-grade carpets
Plastic
Synthetic fabrics
7: It Doesn't Reflect Your Personality
Picture this: you've spent hours upon hours curating and arranging your home to look a certain way, and in some people's eyes it seems perfectly aesthetic, but something about the space just doesn't sit right with you. If this sounds like your scenario, consider if you've designed your home to reflect your personality and style.
The Fix:
It's easy to blindly follow trends because it's what everyone else is doing, but it's important to ask yourself if the design you're trying to achieve is evergreen. Evergreen designs are those that will stand the test of time in terms of how long they will remain looking stylish and trendy to you.
Consider blending different interior design styles to find the right balance that suits you. Why not make a mood board or write a list of decor elements you like so you can explore ideas before making permanent changes? Most importantly, make unique design choices without fearing breaking the rules or being unconventional; your space should reflect your personality and taste, creating an environment where you feel truly at home.
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