When your client finally closes on their home, they're going to be excited to start making the place their own. But going overboard with decorating concepts or placing furniture in the wrong configurations can make a home look cramped and uninviting. Help guide your client's eye for interior design by steering them away from these furnishing mistakes recently highlighted by realtor.com®: Making a Home Picture-Perfect Secrets of the Staging Pros Staging Outdoor Spaces 6 Ways to Spruce Up a Home With Staging Oversized furnishings. "Measuring a space is imperative before you purchase anything," Will Saks, a designer with Homepolish, told realtor.com®. "You need to understand the dimensions of a space so the scale will feel balanced. … While a large, overstuffed Chesterfield might look great in the store, in a tiny apartment it might end up looking like a fat guy in a little coat." Cramming too much in one room. Empty spaces and walls in a room can be a good thing. How much furniture should you put in? It depends on the aesthetic you are trying to achieve. "If you're going for a more sleek look, stick to a few key pieces in a room to create the feeling of openness," Saks says. "The same goes for artwork — one large frame can create an art gallery feeling." Decorating a room around a legacy piece. Your client's armoire or overstuffed chair may hold sentimental value to them, but decorating an entire room around it may be a mistake. Home owners who feel attached to a piece of furniture may feel compelled to do a certain layout or color scheme that could be completely wrong for the space, realtor.com® notes. Suggest that your client place the furniture nonfocal part of the house — if it's a chair, put it in a corner of the bedroom, for example — or have them place it in storage until they can figure out how it fits into their overall design concept. Looking like a catalog or interior design magazine. Don't try to copy a catalog. While it can be beautiful, it doesn't always have a "home" vibe. "The most interesting designs are ones that are aesthetically mixed," Saks says. He suggests adding a vintage or one-of-a-kind piece that makes the space feel more personal and curated — a new sofa paired with a vintage credenza, for example. Artwork and accessories from Etsy and flea markets can also help make a home feel unique, he says.

Source: Realtor.com