How to Embellish Interior So Home Is Pictures Perfect

What are the most common mistakes people make when it comes to accessorizing? Interior designers Dana Eggerts, Carmen Olsson and Pam Stovall gave us their observations.

“Pictures are the No. 1 thing people have trouble with. The size and the way they are hung is generally wrong,” said Stovall.

“If there’s a little wall space in a hallway, people hang a picture on it and it’s either too low or too high,” she said.

Her advice?

Hang pictures at what would be eye level for the average person, a little lower for big pictures. Little pictures can be grouped together with a big picture.

If there are three children in the family, have their pictures framed the same and hang them in a row, but put all the other little pictures together for a collage. Pictures generally look better with bigger mats; it makes them look more like a piece of art, she said.

But maybe a picture is not what you want for that little blank wall space in the hall.

For a big wall, one large, framed art piece may be a better look than many varying size pictures, Stovall said.

Eggerts agreed that the artwork people display is usually too small and believes most people put too little on their mantels as well.

“Size is the biggest mistake most people make,” she said. “People buy the same things [designers] would but they buy them too small. I always opt for larger,” she said.

Olsson said most people add one item and think they’ve accessorized. “They need to stagger things like the height on picture frames,” she said.

And then there is the perceived need to have matching lamps, end tables and other accessories, the designers said.

“We don’t have to have two matching everything in life. Not all your tables are the same quality wood, and the picture frames don’t have to match your tables,” Olsson said.