sttochka A great article.Thanks.

Rough Linen Return, donate, swap, sell! It's one thing to be miserable about it for a day, another to let it irritate you for months on end (or even worse, become a bone of contention with dear ones).

Iyare I Great article!!! You dont always get it right on the first go so sometimes, it helps to walk away from the project and come back after a time.

midmodfan I completely agree with Tricia Rose! We bought the wrong dining chairs ('Leaf' by Arper) last year, thinking the dining area needed rather inconspicuous furniture. But the place is much larger than expected, so the Leaf chairs were just too spindly. Instead of living with them, we quickly decided to use two elsewhere in the house and sell the others via ebay. Our new chairs (Eames Plastic Armchairs with dowel base) work so much better.

Lots of very useful ideas in this article. Thank you!

Marina Klima Goldberg - Klima Design Group Great post Laura! Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s what you have learned from it that counts the most. When I was starting out, I had a handful of mistakes specially when decorating a room, matching this and that.

kmarsek We wanted polished concrete floors in our entryway because they are beautiful and easy to care for. However, because the space was so small many contractors recommended doing a stained overlay. Communicating the color and finish to a contractor proved to be extremely challenging, though we used photos to illustrate what we liked. There's also an aesthetic difference between polished concrete and stained concrete, and the stained overlay we went with (due to the small space) has proven to be less durable than we'd hoped. We're seeing small chips in the finish and they are less than a year old. I had my heart set on concrete, but realize now I should have explored other options given the difficulty we had getting what we wanted. Our contractor redid the floors after we paid for the job because she wanted us to be happy with the work. They turned out slightly better second time around, but I'm still not 100% happy. I've covered them with rugs and am learning to like them.

jenberry72 When I renovated an old house that had white walls I picked paint colors for the living and dining rooms. The first time I walked in I hated the colors! But once I layered in the art and furniture and lived with it for a while, I realized it was more the shock of going from stark white to color. Sometimes it does help to give new colors, furniture, etc a chance before a "do over."

Elza B. Design, Inc. Nicely done!

the_misfit I second the comment about needing to let color "settle" a bit before getting used to it. Almost every time I've painted a room I've had an initial period of horror that I did something terrible. So keen is this feeling that I've found it hard to separate from the actual and accurate perception that I DID do something horrible. It took me at least a month to realize that I hated my supposed-to-be-pale-apricot guest room not because that was an outside-the-box choice, but because it looked like Pepto Bismol. (That color looked fine on my sample board, but boy, did it not work on the walls.) I found a color that was ACTUALLY pale apricot and painted again, and after the usual 48 hours of mental paralysis, I was delighted with the change - and have been ever since. Ditto the very vibrant grass green in the other guest room; the very pale spring green in the entire stair hall; and the exuberant turquoise in the powder room. You know the one thing I've consistently loved immediately? Wallpaper. No matter how bright or how busy, once I make the final decision (after weeks of agonizing and a small fortune in samples), it is simply a delight. Wonder why that is!

luchivaldes I can totally relate. Thanks for putting it altogether niftily!

seevolt I was living overseas and had a "color specialist" pick colors for our new home in the US before we moved back. I trusted her (and paid a lot!), and even though I looked at swatches of the colors, I figured she knew what she was doing. the result is a minty green bedroom and kitchen--a color I hate and which seems to be the opposite of the modern, edgy look I wanted. We've lived with it for two years, but now I'm ready to invest in a repaint...

JAN MOYER I think a lot depends on what you paid for a mistake, relative to your budget. You ordered a lamp online and it's too large and set you back 99.00 dollars? Oh well, use it someplace else. But a custom sofa is another animal. Ditto custom curtains! Large purchases, or costly ones require a test. Get a yard or two of expensive fabric before you order thirty yards for curtains. Sofas always look smaller and less bulky in a large showroom. They are like Christmas trees, they "grow" when they get in your room. Watch out for those that are all arms/fat and gigantic beefy backs. If you order locally, and the goof was huge, a 25% restocking fee and a new selection, is far better than living with a beast in the room on a custom piece, and often, you CAN fix your mistake. Most stores don't want you unhappy with a purchase. Beware of major sized online purchases. If a dining chair, order ONE and make certain you like it at your table. I recently sent clients to the NYC Design center to "sofa sit". Not a VERY common scenario, but it was a quick trip from their Boston location. I made arrangements in two showrooms, and sent them with a list. Out of FIVE, they liked ONE when they put their fannies in all. I was a bit disappointed none of those I loved but one, but on the other hand I can't be a sofa warehouse for every disappointed client's comfort level. In most cities, local shopping venues have diminished, leaving the "fast food chains" of low quality furniture. It's an unfortunate scenario, and leaves most with a limited selection. WAH!!!... is all I can say , ladies. WAH!!!!

owlmaster I had to laugh about the pumpkin house color. My parents did the same thing, but it was stucco and it never did fade. It grated on my mother's nerves even after they sold the house and moved on.

lebutterfield Great article. Mistakes are inevitable. Also, as usual, you are spot on, Ms. Moyer! An inexpensive oopsie is much easier to deal with than a costly one. Lastly, I have discovered that often, some of my favorite mistakes are merely a reflection of my "true taste." In other words, I brought home or chose what I really liked in my gut, instead of what I thought I was supposed to like or what was trendy. So, sitting with it and working with it a bit is a good idea before running back to the store. You know yourself better than you think you do.

oriah About a year ago, i painted my living room a color that was supposed to be grey. On two walls, it looked grey in the evening. The other two walls looked light blue just about all the time. I hated it but felt too lazy to repaint again so soon. About two months ago, i bought a used Crate & Barrel Lounge 93" sofa in coffee. Something about the dark brown made my walls appear the intended light grey. Suddenly the room felt more pulled together and i lost the desire (never had the drive) to repaint. Sometimes, just living with something you're not into can evolve into something you love.

Francesca The last house I lived in was a rental that wouldn't let me repaint. The bathroom upstairs was GREEN. I did what I could but I wish I had this then. Thank you for a good article.

katsterh Niftily...what a great word!

JAN MOYER pdesalvo,
Get the brushes my dear! Paint the cabinets! It isn't a sin. I will look great with the dark green counters, it will ligten and brighten the room. Anything in the softest ,just off of pure white sort of white. Also super with your wall color. You will see your counters in a whole new light. IT IS NOT A SIN. : ) Ninety percent of the feel of the kitchen is cabinetry. Paint, and a very GOOD paint job, is your answer.

juliekbrown also try moving pieces in other rooms around the house. it's a good way to refresh a look.

LOCZIdesign A really funny, practical, and helpful article.

Story & Space - Interior Design and Color Guidance What a funny article! Thanks for including my office pic. Although my paint color (New Glarus by Pratt & Lambert) wasn't a true whoopsie, I definitely loved it more after the artwork went up. I do agree - bolder wall colors need some bolder wall art.
Thanks again!

cami19 The lesson I've learned is to NOT live with it when it's a large piece and/or involves living comfort. Years back, we bought two new love seats for our living room. The minute the movers brought them inside, I KNEW they were wrong for the room and for us. My husband convinced me to "give them a try." Huge mistake. By the time he was willing to return them, the period for returns had passed. He then didn't want to sell them because he thought it was too much trouble. I hated those seats -- the only seats in our living room -- for the next 8 years. They didn't fit my body properly and they were high profile and I could barely see over the arm rests, which were so high they were only arm rests for someone 7 feet tall. I ended up sitting on the floor. In my own living room. Never again. Now, if something comes into my house and it's a mistake, it doesn't stay. It's gone.

lauranc Many years ago my husband and I decided we would build our patio using a treated wood floating frame and fill the squares with poured concrete. We spent four days leveling the 15x15 ft area by hand, floating the frame on rebar and gravel. The day of the pour, it was 90+ degrees. You guessed it, the concrete set up WAY too fast and we were crushed. It looked nothing like we had imagined and we felt like crying. A friend came over and recruited more friends. Everyone grabbed a brick and began to work the concrete smooth within each of the squares within the frame. The result? Better than we could have imagined! It looked like an ancient floor of an Italian wine cellar. We loved it.