Top 10+ Home "Rules" We All Follow—That Actually Make Things Worse

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

Picture walking into a living room where every piece of furniture hugs the walls like they're afraid to venture into the center. This setup might seem logical—more floor space equals a bigger-looking room, right?

Wrong. While some people believe that a room looks larger when all the furnishings are pushed up against the walls, quite the opposite is true.

One often unsaid home staging tip is that when staging your home, you should float furniture away from the walls whenever possible. Pieces should be placed to create an obvious flow of traffic through a room.

When you push everything to the perimeter, you create a dead zone in the middle and make your space feel like a waiting room. It might seem like putting furniture against the walls makes a room feel bigger, but it can actually make it feel disconnected and empty.

Floating furniture in the middle of the room creates a more balanced and cozy arrangement.

Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

The matchy-matchy trap catches even the most well-intentioned decorators. You find the perfect throw pillows that match your curtains, which match your rug, which matches your wall color—and suddenly your room feels lifeless.

Avoid staging your home with color schemes of walls, carpets and furniture that match each other closely. It depletes the energy of the room, and photos fall flat.

Buyers won't know why they don't like the home, but they won't. This coordination overload actually works against you by creating visual monotony.

Instead of sophistication, you get a space that feels flat and uninspiring, like a hotel room that's trying too hard to be inoffensive.

Small Rugs Save Money and Space

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

Here's where being budget-conscious backfires spectacularly. That 5x8 rug might seem perfectly adequate for your living room, but it's actually making your entire space look cramped and poorly planned.

One of the most common mistakes is choosing the wrong rug size. Rugs can be a significant investment, and novice designers might be tempted to cut costs by going with a smaller size – but don't fall into this trap!

A too-small rug can make your room feel cramped. The visual impact is immediate and jarring—furniture floating on a tiny island of rug creates disconnection.

This 5×8 (I'm guessing), is way too small for this large family room. Visually, it cuts up the space and it isn't the right scale for this large room.

Your room deserves better than looking like it's wearing clothes that don't fit.

Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

Those cute little frames scattered across your walls aren't adding sophistication—they're creating visual noise. When chatting about scale, the #1 design mistake has to do with artwork on the walls.

For some reason, people are often choosing small frames and small pieces to hang in their homes and it drives me bonkers. Small art gets lost against large walls, making both the artwork and the wall look inadequate.

The magic happens when artwork takes up substantial wall real estate. An easy rule of thumb for hanging art above a bed, or any piece of furniture, is that it should fill at least 1/2 to 2/3 of the space.

Think of your wall as a canvas that needs a bold statement, not a whisper.

Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

The beige-and-white obsession has reached epidemic proportions, driven by the myth that neutral equals sellable. But here's the reality check: Greige, in its ubiquity, had become a design cop-out.

Instead, Smith has worked hard to embrace color ever since coming to this realization, playing with pairings including burnt orange with navy and dusty plum with ochre. All those "safe" neutrals create spaces devoid of personality and emotional connection.

Clients are responding emotionally again. They're feeling something in their homes, and that matters more than timeless neutrality.

Your home should reflect who you are, not what you think a potential buyer might want five years down the road.

Overhead Lighting Is All You Need

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

Flipping on that overhead light and calling it a day is like wearing only one piece of jewelry with a formal outfit—technically functional, but missing the magic. Lighting being left as an afterthought or last-minute haphazard addition is the biggest mistake you can make.

Another mistake is using cheap fixtures with no dimmers or installing lighting that's just enough to provide basic brightness. This results in a glaring bright or dimly lit dull house with no ambiance.

Harsh overhead lighting flattens your space and creates unflattering shadows that make everyone look tired. The trick is to layer lights to form soft glowing pools of light.

A balanced and creative installation of ambient lighting like table lamps, task lighting, and accent lighting ensures a comfortably lit, beautiful home.

Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

The open-concept craze has spawned another misconception: that vast spaces should stay relatively empty to maintain their openness. This minimalist approach often backfires, leaving large rooms feeling cold and unwelcoming.

Oscar and Suzanne have a large room with beautiful built-ins and paneling, but it feels underwhelming due to a lack of sufficient furniture. Rebecca recommends adding a sectional sofa and additional chairs to better utilize the space and connect the architectural elements with the furniture.

This would prevent the room from feeling sparse and make it more welcoming. Large spaces actually need substantial furniture to feel grounded and proportional.

Without enough visual weight, your beautiful open floor plan becomes an echoing cavern instead of an inviting gathering space.

Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

Pushing Furniture Against the Walls Makes Rooms Feel Bigger, Matching Everything Creates Perfect Harmony, Small Rugs Save Money and Space, Tiny Artwork Adds Delicate Charm, Everything Must Be Neutral for Resale Value, Overhead Lighting Is All You Need, Open Floor Plans Need Minimal Furniture, Natural Light Should Never Be Blocked

While natural light is precious, the fear of blocking even an inch of it has created some seriously awkward furniture arrangements. Natural light makes a space feel open and inviting.

Placing furniture in front of windows or blocking light sources can make a room feel dark and cramped. But here's what nobody tells you: sometimes strategic window coverage or furniture placement can actually improve how light works in your space.

Consider how a tall bookshelf beside a window can create intimate reading nooks, or how window seats can maximize both light and function. The key is working with light thoughtfully, not being enslaved by it.

Sometimes the most beautifully lit rooms have furniture that partially frames or interacts with windows rather than cowering away from them. These "rules" persist because they feel safe and logical on the surface.

But great homes aren't created by following formulas—they're crafted by understanding how design elements work together to create spaces that truly serve the people who live in them. Ready to break some rules in your own home?