Get Schooled: The DOs & Don'ts of Design

We loved this article, I.O. METRO Get Schooled: The Dos and Dont's of Design, by Mina Mineva, which featured an I.O. METRO Designer and Design Tips in Columbia Home & Lifestyle magazine.

"Design consultant Becky Erdel encourages homeowners to be brave and take the pre-makeover test: Pretend you’re a guest and enter your home through the front door (rather than the garage entrance), and scan the décor. What is the first thing you notice? Motel art? Furniture lined against the wall? Empty space in the corner? Now take an even closer look. Are the bookshelves completely taken over by collections of figurines and school photos?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’re not alone. The women attending CHL’s decorating class at I.O. Metro were embarrassed and amused by their decorating mistakes. After some whispered consultations, the participants listened attentively as Becky led the class through an information-packed discussion on how to fix the most frequent decorating errors in a reasonably priced way.

25 Design Taboos
Displaying too many family photos
Televisions competing with focal points
Unattractive recliners
Rooms having no focal point
Cluttered focal points
Insistence on matching
All furniture hugging the walls
Leggy furniture arrangements
Boring negative space
Fear of color
Artwork hanging too high
Overdone themes
Poor traffic flow
Keeping too many things on display
Visually lopsided rooms
Outdated accessories
Light switches, thermostats and vents in the center of walls
Exposed wires, cables and plugs
Uninteresting reflections in mirrors
Improper scale
Motel art
Area rugs that do not relate to the furniture
Rooms that do not flow in to each other
Underdressed sofas
Entire collections in view"

Read more by viewing the full article: http://www.columbiahl.com/2009/08/io-metro/