A room overloaded with decor is a room trying to tell a thousand stories at once. In the end, you’re the one getting lost in the noise.
You’re attacked by throw pillows, knick-knacks, and enough wall art to open a gallery. Overdecorating is a sneaky beast that lures us with promises of coziness but leaves us drowning in clutter. It’s the kind of space where your eyes don’t know where to land because there’s just so much going on.
Now, the cozy atmosphere you were going for is buried under layers of too many patterns, textures, and trinkets.
When this happens, you’re over-decorating. So, before you reach for that next item, let’s talk about how too much of a good thing makes a mess.
4 Ways to Tell You’ve Over-Decorated
If you’re teetering on the edge of over-decorating but aren’t sure if you’ve crossed the line, we’ve got some tips to help you check.
Below, we’ll share four telltale signs you’ve gone overboard and show you hot to bring balance back into your room.
So, you may have over-decorated if:
1. You’ve Sourced Everything From One Style
Decorating with a single style in mind can give your space a sense of unity, but also make it feel one-dimensional and a bit boring. If your room is 100% mid-century modern – sleek lines, tapered legs, and geometric patterns galore – it’s uniform, but also static.
Decorating in one style sounds good in theory, but the lack of variety becomes predictable. If you want personality, you need to leave room for it.
How to Fix It:
Play with different styles in your room. Mix and match complementing styles to bring back the liveliness in your space. For example, pair your mid-century pieces with something unexpected, like a boho rug or an antique mirror. Even subtle changes can create a contrast that adds that missing depth.
Don’t be afraid to blend elements from different eras or design philosophies. Of course, be careful not to lose control, the key is to find balance, not add decor for the sake of it.
2. You’ve Over-Thought Your Decor
If you’ve agonized over every tiny detail in your room, to the point where it looks like a showroom, you’ve gone over the precipice. While you should plan your decor, if you think about everything down to the last coaster, the room will look staged.
For example, if you arrange your coffee table with perfectly placed books, candles, and a curated tray, it will be Instagram-worthy, but also sterile. The space won’t evolve naturally, so it will become a set piece where everything has its exact place and nothing can be out of order.
Another sign of over-thinking is second-guessing your choices. You rearrange furniture, swap out decor items, or hesitate to commit to a layout because you’re worried it won’t be ‘just right.’
How to Fix It:
Perfectionism stifles the charm of a personal, lived-in space. Break free from stiff expectations and welcome imperfection. Not every detail needs to be flawless, you need to allow your space to reflect real life with all its quirks.
Instead of arranging books with military precision, stack them casually or lean a few against each other. Leave some open space on your shelves for spontaneity, like a spot for a souvenir from your next trip.
3. You Live in an Unruly Jungle
Plants bring life to any room – it’s a fact we can’t deny. But if you’re surrounded by so many plants that some have withered weeks ago without you noticing, it’s time to recalibrate.
When plants dominate every corner of the room, they can overwhelm the space, especially if they’re on their way out. Instead of adding to the decor, the plants compete with it and trigger disarray.
How to Fix It:
Curate your greenery. Don’t fill every nook and cranny with plants. Choose a few standout pieces that capture attention and let them shine.
But if you can’t keep up with their needs, it’s a good idea to think about decorating with artificial plants, instead. You can choose, for example, faux hanging garlands, group them together in an empty area of the home, and use them as a low-maintenance display. Or, you can have artificial topiary to accent areas like entryways.
In any case, make sure your plants bring calmness to the space, not turn it into a wild thicket. Be selective.
4. You’ve Added too Much Color
Color is a powerful tool in interior design, but when every wall, cushion, and accessory is bold, it’s more exhausting than energizing. In most cases, a room with too many competing colors is disorienting.
If your living room features a bright red couch, lime green walls, and a mix of patterned pillows in various shades of the rainbow, it’s easy to see how the result could be jarring.
How to Fix It:
Scale back the hues by choosing a color palette of two or three main colors and complementing them with neutral tones. Don’t take this to mean you should eliminate color. Instead, experiment to see how to use it more thoughtfully.
For instance, if you have a bold-colored couch, let it be the focal point. Then, choose more subdued tones for the surrounding decor, so that they don’t compete with the couch. Use this philosophy with any other colorful focal point and allow it to shine instead of dimming it.
Conclusion
Over-decorating is one of the easiest traps to fall into.
But the good news is – every over-decorating issue has a simple fix. Don’t shy away from editing, experimenting, and changing things up.
Enjoy the process and remember that sometimes in interior design, less really is more.
