Anyone who has tried to play amateur interior designer will admit to making a few mistakes.
The red, white and blue floor tile in the foyer. The purple “wash” on the white kitchen cabinets. The royal blue carpeting in the family room.
Selecting the interior design elements of a house can be a complicated endeavor. There are colors, textures, fabrics and materials to consider. How should they blend together? What will set the space apart? What if the countertop color just doesn’t match the floor tile?
New home buyers are faced with making all these decisions at once, perhaps before buying all their furniture and accessories. A look at how builders, architects and interior designers approach design reveals ways to avoid making common mistakes.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make is they tend to insert a lot of color in the background and what they don’t realize is they are locking themselves into that color for 10 or 15 years or however long they plan to live in the house,” said John Biever, owner and design director of Omaha-based Model Interiors, which designs model homes for several Chicago area builders.
The main background areas to consider are floors, countertops and walls. Those areas often are key focal points and they can be costly to remodel later.
“We advocate keeping the background neutral,” Biever said. “If it’s in a neutral tone you can insert colors later” with furniture and accessories.
Also, there are ways to add design elements in small doses throughout a house. A row of sage tile in a kitchen backsplash or on a bathroom wall can make the space inviting without overdoing it. Add tile with decorative scrolling and a raised surface and the added texture can blend with nearby furniture.
Those who simply must add a burst of red in the kitchen should do so on an island countertop instead of the main countertop area, Biever said. “If it’s a small space, that will be easier to change later without a big expense.”
Another mistake consumers make is designing rooms individually, without any thought to how the rooms flow together. “They’ll want to take their house one room at a time instead of looking at it as one place,” said Gail Forlani, design coordinator for Palatine-based Insignia Homes, which is building homes base-priced from $340,000.
When making design selections, buyers should look at the model or floor plan and think about how the rooms flow together. What rooms can be seen from the foyer or the kitchen, for example? The design in those rooms should tie together, whether through the use of color or the type of materials used.
When a kitchen adjoins a family room, the type of wood used in the kitchen can be used as trim in the family room and throughout the first floor. A cream marble tile used in the master bathroom could be added on a fireplace in the bedroom to help blend those spaces together.
“A house should flow as one,” Forlani said. “You don’t want to do black and white in this room and tan and green in this room.”
The color scheme could be strong in one room and more subtle in an adjoining room, as long as there are colors, textures or materials to blend the rooms together.
“You don’t have to do the same proportions of color, but there should be a thread that ties them together,” Biever said.
When trying to add personal touches to a space, buyers should avoid adding too much visual clutter. Busy tile or vinyl patterns can be distracting to the eye. They will take away from the overall design theme instead of reinforcing it. “When you’re starting out from scratch, less is best,” said Michael Menn, a partner with Design Construction Concepts, an architectural, building and remodeling firm in Northbrook. “You can always add, but it’s not as easy to subtract.”
Another consideration is the size and dimensions of the space. Is it a two-story room? Are some rooms, such as a den or library, enclosed? “Two-story spaces are always going to seem larger,” Menn said. “You’re not going to do it in a real dark color because the rooms will start to seem smaller.”
Rooms that are enclosed can be designed with more individuality because it is not as important to blend them with an adjoining room. “If you really want blue carpet, maybe select a room that is not connected to everything else,” Biever said.
Also consider the design in the context of how the room will function, said Susan Schreiber, a partner in DiamondSchreiber Homes Inc., a Highland Park-based custom builder whose houses are priced form $1.3 million. “The room on paper may look fabulous, but where is all the furniture going?”
When looking at a floor plan, a buyer may like the large rows of windows in a family room. All those windows, however, will affect the placement of furniture and electronic equipment.
In a master bedroom, think about where the bed will be placed. Are the walls long enough to fit a bed, side tables or an armoire? “What am I looking at if I have the bed here. Will I be looking right into the bathroom from the bedroom?” she said.
Another mistake consumers make is in selecting products and finishes without seeing them first. They may look at a catalog, a picture or a small sample when placing the order. A small tile sample might not show a wavy texture or all the grain patterns, for example. “One of the things we have learned is the importance of seeing what you’re buying,” Schreiber said.
This approach is particularly important when buying granite, as each piece is unique and could contain different color variations. When selecting granite countertops, buyers should choose the actual slab of material that will be used to make their countertop, she said. “You just have to be prepared to take that extra time and energy.”
And, when all else fails, turn to a professional. In expensive custom housing, many buyers hire interior designers to handle all those decisions. “It is money well spent to have a decorator who does the leg work and who is in the business and can say, `Yes, those beautiful floors will go with those cabinets,’ ” Schreiber said.
Next Saturday: How to use materials and colors in bathrooms.
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Allison E. Beatty is a Chicago-area freelance writer. If you have questions or information to share regarding new home buyers’ product and design choices, write to Choices c/o Chicago Tribune, New Homes section, 435 N. Michigan Ave., 4th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611.
