oceanna: Oh, I don't know. I think moving is a stressful experience, and letting go can be difficult (even if it's the right thing to do, whether we're talking about relationships or houses). It's quite possible that if you had sold everything and started over, you might well be missing at least a few of those things you let go of too early. :) It's never too late to sell!

On another note: I haven't learned much, I'm afraid, from my decorating mistakes. If I had, I wouldn't be at a standstill lo these many months. I guess the most important mistake I've made is to purchase something I am not absolutely in love with. We don't have a lot of money, but I'm not willing to settle any more. I'd rather have empty space and wait until I can fill a space (nook, corner, cranny) with something that is unequivocally the "right" piece. I've lost a several hundred dollars over the past few years purchasing something I wasn't sure about. Now I know: if I have the slightest bit of hesitation, I walk away. Easy-peasy.

Don't mix fantasy with reality.

I always dreamt of a cozy cottage; white slipcovered sofas, airy decor, dainty painted furnishings. So I scoured and gathered and put together my dream shabby enclave.

Then reality smacked me between the eyes. No way did that work with our lifestyle.

So I learned to readjust and pick things that still define me but don't need me to coddle them. I'd rather go play than babysit white furniture!

What a great thread!

Well, I'm a novice at decorating, but not so new that I haven't made my share of mistakes. I have to agree with organic about how important it is to NOT buy those things I'm not completely in love with. Along the same lines, I wish I had realized how tastes can change over time. They evolve and develop and sometimes veer in another direction all together.

Finally, I have learned that the process of decorating is just as important as the end result, for me. I enjoy pondering ideas(yeah, maybe way too much at times) and taking great care in finding things that create the surroundings that make me (and my family) feel joy and comfort. So, I've learned not to rush the process, but to embrace it, and when I do that, the end result takes care of itself.

I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this topic.

Jan

Good thread! I can relate to all three of you!

I think my biggest mistake is trying to decorate a space without having lived in it for long. I read somewhere on this site about a house "speaking" to you in order to guide you. When we first moved into this house, there was so much I didn't like, so I fought with the house. I grumbled that it didn't have this or that. Now I am finally letting my house speak to me, and I think it's helping. I still don't know what I'm doing (and like organic, don't have any extra $ to make mistakes with), but I think I'm finally at peace with the process.

Anele I have learned the same lesson. I tried to decorate before I moved in. I was so at a loss i let someone else pick the color - (mistake) then i ran out and just started buying things that went with that color, none of which I loved (mistake) ... basically i tried to make a room with little regard to how i felt about it.

I have learned to let the room define itself and go slowly. It took me a year before I picked the right colors and now i have nothing on the walls and empty shelves because I am now refusing to buy things just to fill empty space.

The room DOES speak to now .. maybe it was always speaking but I was too busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to force the room into being something it is not.

I feel so much better to see that I others have had that same experience. Maybe I am not hopeless!

WRITE it down. Do not rely on your memory. You may just be "Jeopardy-smart" but when your brain is already full -- that vital measurement for a rug or a sofa may be a bit "off" - and that mistake can cost you time, steps, money and even tears.

Measure, Measure, measure. Rooms, windows, doors and hallways, stairwells, closets. And then write it down.

Write notes on fabrics; wallpapers; rugs, floors, paint; where you found the best deal on lamps. Store Hours for your local hardware and home centers. Best takeout for late-night plumbing or painting sessions. Best cheap white wine. Best recipe for a killer martini .....

And photos really do say a thousand words. A photo can really show YOU a problem area. And it can show someone else too! I've been shocked and amazed whenever I have looked again at my own room photos.

And do take Before-and-After Photos. Those photos will help you remember all the change you've made!

oceanna I too moved from a very large house to a small one.
But, I had a sale and sold so many beautiful pieces of solid cherry because I didn't think it would fit,

My dining room, sofa table, accent tables but worst of all,
two beautiful French Bergere chairs that I had special ordered and paid 1499. each for.

They would have fit!!! If I had only measured !
Your not suppose to look back. What good does it do but I will never ever sell anything else that I know is "good stuff".

Thats one biggie I have learned.
The second biggie is what is in style now will go out .
If you love what you have ....thumb your nose at trends and embrace your style.

I haven't made that many decorating mistakes yet--primarily because I haven't made many decisions. I've been overthinking everything because I'm so afraid to make a mistake. So actually, maybe that's my biggest mistake: not doing anything. (No matter the result down the road, I don't think DH will ever let me forget how long it took to get there.)

I did make mistakes in picking out some of my cabinet hardware, interior knobs/hinges, and light fixture finishes. Because I didn't think through how it would all go together, I have had to work extra hard to find other things that bring it all together.

I was going to say that I made a mistake in hiring our designer but I can't say that--yet. True, I would probably have handled it differently if I were to do it over, but it hasn't been a complete mistake. I think I would have put more things in writing and I would have asked if she's a "blue" person.

I think I'm in denial about the other mistakes.

I have made my share and there is not enough room on the internet to list them. :) Did I learn? Who knows?

I've done most of the things you guys have done.
I moved and hung on to way too much stuff that later had to be sold.
I've bought quite a number of things that I haven't loved, just because they fit a nebulous idea of what I thought I should have. And you don't really have to "Love" everything you bring into your home either. Some things, you do need to settle for, especially if your budget is tight. Most of us could have the things we love if money were no object. I have a dresser in my bedroom right now that is fairly pretty, holds my husband's clothes very well, and is a nice, well-made piece of furniture. But love it? Nope. I found it through a classified ad 4 years ago for $75. I don't need to love it. But putting your home together with things you do love makes everything much easier.

What else? I've failed to have good measurements and I've also let someone else pick colors and fabrics. That's fine if the other person cares about it, but when they don't.....

So your mistakes are my mistakes too. One of my own is moving way too slowly. It's fine to take your time when choosing paint or fabric or furniture. But once you make your decision, it's a mistake to piddle around and fail to implement. I've lost a lot of joy in decorating by buying fabric, then, letting it languish in a closet for 2 years instead of making it into drapes that I could use and enjoy. I've bought fabric for chair seats and had it so long that I've repainted my room and need a different color. That's where procrastination can really cost you.

Red

A decorator told me one time to get a loose leaf binder and put everything about my home in it. Pictures, measurements, scraps of wallpaper, glue a small piece of carpet to cardboard, write all my paint numbers in a little book.....this was good advice.

I had a really large plastic bag and put all my info in it. Could see what I wanted to get out through the plastic. Carried an arm chair cover in the bag for color of couch. Left this bag in the back seat of car so it would not be forgotten on one of my mad-dash trips. It saved my hide more that once.

My most horrible mistakes have been picking out the wrong carpet and having to live with it for years. Hopefully, I am better about that!

Loved teacats post as it said it all. Could save ourselves a lot of grief.

Another thing I have learned from living in the same house for 41 years is that my tastes have changed a lot over those years. I want to update and make it a very comfortable home. I am getting there.

DL

Pesky ~~

Your post really hit home with me.

I'm caught in the same thing. The cottage decor pictures make my heart skip a beat. But I haven't done it because it wouldn't be practical with dogs and 9 months of rain a year here. I also think a white room would make me shiver when it's freezing outside, and there's snow on the ground.

So I have the practical but never stop drooling over the impractical. It's quite a conflict.

You actually tried it?

Lovemylilhome ~~

Thanks for shining some light on the opposite situation. Maybe if I'd have sold my LR furniture I'd be missing it. Not my BR furn, though. I looked for three years for the perfect armoire for my last house and finally found a one-of-a-kind antique that takes your breath away. Thing is, it's too big for this house. It's in the DR now because that's where the movers set it down. But it sure can't stay there. I'm hoping to find a corner for it downstairs which is sad as it should be a featured piece. I suppose I should sell it, but I just can't.

Texaspanhandler ~~

That's a great tip about the notebook. I'm not that organized. But I did learn to take some measurements with me and keep a dressmaker's tape measure in my purse when looking for storage bins. That helped immensely!

~~

I think there is something to buying only what you love, and of course most of us have to do that in a budget, some of us a very tight one. If we always buy things that are just okay, we end up with a just okay house.

I've also learned that if I see something that just blows my mind and I don't get it, I'll spend the next thirty years wishing I had.

I bought a wicker rocker that only fits through the front door! I wanted it upstairs in my office/den but the door opening is too small to get those legs through my 30" openings. So, it has been driving me crazy downstairs for years : ]

I learned the hard way that I hate high contrast! It jars me and makes me edgy (not in a good way). I bought a beautiful , large, expensive rug and hated it. Even lived with it for weeks, couldnt stand it. Re sold it at a loss, and moved on. I have examined my feelings and rethought other situations when a room unsettled me and realized it's generally about the contrast factor. A little or large lesson according to the situation.

I can second or third the not settling.

There's nothing wrong with off-white, beige, white, or cream. I've made the mistake of listening to decorators who say homes *NEED* color on the walls. I don't agree.

Squirrel, can you disassemble the rocker and put it back together upstairs?? LOL : D ...you know, like one straw at a time?

Great thread oceanna!

Hmmm, I have made all of the same mistakes as you all have... My first sofa was white with pink flowers and pink velvet piping. What in the world was I thinking!? I even bought a pink lamp to go with it, it WAS the 80's.

I did keep a hand-me-down chair a minute too long. It was an ugly plaid, very uncomfortable and clashed horribly, so wrong on many levels.

I let a small hole in a $3 garage sale leather chair (yeah, I got lucky) become a large rip that I probably can't afford to repair. It now sports a lovely swatch of duct tape.

I never throw anything out. I have my grandparent's BR set, and my grandmother's hope chest and end table; my Dad's bookcase headboard and coffee table that is waaay too long for our LR.

What a great thread!

I have learned...

...as others have mentioned, to buy those things I love, regardless of whether they are the right colour, the right style or the right trend!

...to not second-guess myself when I find those things I love. There will always be a better choice - doesn't mean my original choice was wrong or bad, just different. Now I tell myself 'don't look'!

...the world will not end if I make a mistake. I can either live with it or change it. Either way, move on.

...and I'm still making mistakes and (hopefully) learning from them!

Margaret

I really have enjoyed reading this thread.

Myself, I haven't lived long enough to make too many decorating mistakes. Packing stuff up at my parents (DH and Myself are living there until our house is finished. be nice if it were done this month!) anyhow, I keep finding things I've bought over the past couple of years for "my future house". Pictures, picture frames, other wall decorations...none of it really goes together and my taste has somewhat changed. I'm not getting rid of anything yet but I can't believe the amount of 'stuff' i've accumulated! We don't have gobs of money laying around either so I've decided with certain things I won't settle for unless I love (within reason) other things I get what we can afford and hopefully once you tie it all together it still makes you smile. :)

I have found that there's a lot of things i never had think about before such as how far to hang the dining room chandy from the ceiling. They make double roded decorative curtain rods? Can you mix that with this..? etc

I have become more thrifty in trying to find bargains. Love ebay. My goal is to not have a cluttered house!

I don't make mistakes.

I do make happy accidents that are currently forming their own country in my garage.

I've learned that I have a lot to learn!

Specifically...

I don't beat myself up when I make a mistake anymore. Happens to everyone.

I had no concept of scale until recently.

Like teacats, I take photos. In addition to overall shots, I also take close-ups on specific areas. It's a totally different perspective and sometimes mistakes are glaringly obvious there when I miss them entirely in the context of the whole room. I also take a ton of photos to compare when I'm moving things around a bit; I find it much easier to decide when I can flip back and forth between photos a zillion times.

If I dislike something the minute I put it in place, I'm never going to warm up to it. The "live with it for a few days" thing has NEVER changed my mind.

Decorating on the cheap is hard!

And finally, I am now familiar with selling on craigslist and my local consignment store. :)

Someone else mentioned buying things before our home was completed and we were able to move.
I did that...
I pre-bought STUFF...
and I haven't put a single pre-bought item up yet and we moved in 6 months ago. Funny though, I didn't pre-buy furniture because I wanted my home to "talk to me and let me know what it wanted". And that's working well, to listen to what she wants. But everytime I try to put up any of the pre-bought STUFF- my home starts to shudder until I take the STUFF back down.
You can almost hear her sigh of relief!

Chicory, Thanks, I'll have to check those legs but I seem to remember the rolled arms being too wide too :(

Pre-buying. Definitely. No more of that (unless it's something absolutely fabulous at a ridiculously low price that I *know* I can recoup). Some things worked, but others are now sitting out in the garage waiting for me to sell them for less than I paid for them.

Mistakes I've made:

1. Poor scale choices--not buying large enough art for the wall. Using too small of accents for the mantel, coffee table, etc.

2. Not saving up an extra month or two to get the best quality I can afford (in other words, buying cheap stuff that doesn't last)

3. Passing up on things I loved because of indecision (it's a fine line between that and gathering junk)

4. I'm a DIYer and I have made the mistake of trying to do certain things myself that I should have bit the dust and had the pros do. Have never regretted it when I hired them.

5. Trying to be "in" during a fast-passing trend. On the flip side, not being open to updated ideas now that I've got my style down.

fun thread.

I guess not having money when you move to a new home really works. LOL.

When I moved to my first home as a single person 16 yrs ago, I did not have money for anything so I lived with my my apartment furniure for a long time (like 9 yrs). That eliminated making mistakes by pre-buying. So, I have the experience of living in my home for a long time without being able to buy much whatever I did buy I loved and I bought well.

With my new home that I share with my BF, I kind of did the same thing. Only now there is money (not unlimited). I learned that you have to live in your space. He had a hard time with that because our home was so empty for the first year. But he does realize what I was getting at and the wait was worth it.

I don't feel that I have made any decorating mistakes. I love everything I buy and really don't do it on impulse. It must be left over from my single days as a home owner.
I also hired a ID to help me get started with my ideas but do not plan to use him for everything. I can say it cost too much (but not too much more that EA or Thomasville) but I can also say he has saved me that much in time and mistakes. He is a great person to work with and I bounce ideas off of him all the time.

I'm lying, I bought a cheap copy of a faucet and regreat wasting the money. It is broken. That's about it. I won't do that again.

I also have a scrapebook of my new furnishings with little fabric swatches and tons of pictures.

*cracking up at KGWLisa's response*

I guess my biggest mistake was listening when I'm told what I SHOULD want. I've told this story before... I grew up surrounded by accumulated-piecemeal, Early Attic/Neo-Yardsale, handmedown stuff because that's what we could afford. The subtext message was always that if you had matching furniture sets you had "made it"; this was reinforced by my mom and stepfather going on a bit of a spree at Ethan Allen when they married and getting a couple of rooms of matchy-matchy suites. Whoa, we were rich! So when I grew up, I bought a living room set and a bedroom set (secondhand, thank heavens) because that's what you were "supposed to" have. I guess that whole mishmash thing had had more of an effect on me than I had thought, because I grew to downright hate those matching sets. I got so bored by the lack of variety, that the dresser looked the same as the headboard which looked the same as the armoire! The living room set got Freecycled and the bedroom set went out on Craigslist and I went back to the piecemeal look. Sometimes fitting things into said... well, one of my friends calls it my "jumble" ;-) isn't easy when there are particular other issues like available space and budgetary limitations that must be dealt with (as evinced by another thread) but I'd still rather do that than cruise down to Bob's Furniture and buy a preassembled room-o'-stuff.

Another big mistake I learned my lesson from is NOT doing physical mockups. I botched a few things in the bathroom remodel at the previous house because I relied on my tape measure and sketches (manual and computerized). For instance, I should have mocked up the height of the sink, because that ended up being disastrous, and I should have mocked up the placement of the sconces because they ended up being too high. When the time came to have the sconces roughed-in I told the electrician to put them at "eye level" not knowing that the electrician's apprentice was well over 6 feet tall! From his POV he did it right, the mounting boxes were indeed at his eye level! I laugh now but boy was I mad at myself then because to fix it that whole corner of the room would have had to be rewired. Had I mocked it up and tagged exactly where the sconces should go, we wouldn't have run into that problem. Laying out sheets/blankets on the floor to mimic the space that would be taken up by an area rug has saved my butt several times... it's still somehow surprising to me how different a 7x9 and an 8x10 look even though "it's just a foot difference". Had I not piled some boxes in the odd spot where I need seating in my LR I would have bought a charming loveseat I saw on CL that would have been several inches too deep and interfered with the main traffic pattern of the room. Very bad!

Right now I'm working at finding a compromise between following my frequently-repeated advice to listen to one's house, which I DO think is very important, and making the darn house LIVABLE without blowing my bank account to smithereens. We've been "camping" for months in a half-furnished house - weirdly enough although we downsized by almost a third in total square footage, the layout is such that we actually needed more furniture! - and it would be OK if it were just visually incomplete but functionally it's a disaster. I know how long it can take for "perfect" to come along if you don't have money coming out your ears, and leaving things not functional because I don't/can't have "perfect" just doesn't do it for me. So I guess I'm agreeing with Redbazel in that you don't have to adore everything in your house as long as it does the job that it needs to do and is at the very least inoffensive to your aesthetic sense. (Who knows, you may just come to really like it, too. I bought a small RTA dresser at Target to put the bedroom TV on in the previous house. Put some new knobs on it and sort of ignored it - it was pleasant and inoffensive and got the job done. Just recently realized just how darn cute that little thing is!)

Can't believe I forgot to mention this big didn't measure mistake.

I collect perfume bottles and vanity items.
30 yrs worth.

I didn't have a huge cabinet for them so after we bought our retirement home
I went shopping and bought a huge Howard Miller Cherry, mostly glass cabinet, to go in my bedroom.

They delivered it after we moved in and it was too tall to go down the hallway
and make the turn into the bedroom.
Couldn't make the turn to go into any room down the hallway.

No cabinet the size I needed could turn.
They had to back it out and it had to be placed in the living room.

There was no option because it couldn't be returned for several reasons.

Since I have over 300 bottles and many vanity items I had to have that size.

Now , make lemonade.
I never got to fully enjoy my collection before because it was scattered all over the house.

This cabinet is in the room I live in and I think the contents are the most beautiful eye candy in the world!

This would really be a decorating no-no. Probably many of you would not ever
have "bedroom items" in the living part of the home but I'm over caring about decorating no-nos.
Could be my age !

Sometimes you have to go with no-nos for different reasons.
If you do, embrace it in a positive way.

At the end of the day.....its your home....your life.

What a great thread!

Kgwlisa, lol... love that response. Can I be vice-president of the country in your garage? (I assume you'd be president...)

My Big Mistake, and I wish I could say I've learned from it but I *still* ogle website furniture: NEVER buy furniture on which you haven't plopped your own personal derriere. We ordered our whopping couch four years ago, sight unseen, and have loathed it pretty much since it arrived. Ditto the Overstock chair which turned out to be pleather, not leather, as the description promised, but who's going to pay the $$ to ship the darn thing back?

I know various of you here have had really good luck with Internet furniture, and I envy you. But DH has put his foot down, and though I hate to admit it, I agree with him... no more! (sigh... that adorable JCP settee johnmari is looking at is just so perfect for our house...)

I agree with teacats about taking pics of your own rooms. I went to school for interior design, I can go into someone else's house and tell them how to improve it, but for a variety of reasons my house is always in a state of redecoration -- never "done." It is much harder to me to decorate my own space. I've been surprised at what I learn when I take pics to post on this forum, for example. As soon as I post the pics, I immediately see problems that I overlooked every day, walking through these same rooms. I think taking a pic forces you to be objective in a way that you can't be when you're actually in the room.

Most of my mistakes have resulted from trying to get a "bargain" on something. I'm always trying to save money and sometimes it's just better to pay the price to get what you really want.

I don't have a problem with "pre-buying", I have a problem with gifts.

Everyone feels inclined to give me decorative items that are obviously their style, not mine. I never know what to do, or where to put these things. I am grateful and honored by their gestures, but I sincerely can not live with some things... What to do!? My house is filled with "gifts".

I really agree on the taking pictures. I can't believe what I can see in a picture that I can't see walking by the same area dozens of times in a day. I learned that from this forum.

I learned that for me hiring a decorator is a huge mistake. I had one out to the house for about an hour and I thought everything she said was wrong -- I guess I'm too old and set in my own opinions.

When I was just starting out as a newlywed I went for fads and fashions in the house. I quickly learned that doing that will date a house faster than anything you can do. I never repeated that mistake.

What I've learned is that if it's something that my poor husband breaks his back putting in (tile, wood floors, lighting etc.) I had better get it right, and make it absolutely timeless. I feel so horribly guilty when I change my mind a few years later about something that he worked on so hard! Paint, fabrics, furniture - not nearly as important because those are things I can do.

My biggest mistake in my current house was picking gray carpet. I still have rooms of it that need to be replaced.

A biggy for me is scale. I keep buying furniture too large for the room. Oh I remember to take measurements, that isn't the problem, it's my brain that thinks everything will fit fine. Disregard that you can't pull a chair out without banging into a wall or another piece of furniture...or my dog walks backwards when he wants to leave the livingroom because he can't turn around. I don't even have that many pieces of furniture in the living room, they're just all so oversized they swallow up the room. In the furniture store I think more about how great the storage will be if I buy this humongous thing and how many people can sit on the extra-long sofa.

Now I have to spend more money to re-decorate the living room if I want to fix the problems I created by buying a gargantuan sofa and coffee table. I've made countless mistakes but scale seem to be the one I haven't learned from.

Good thread!! I am giggling at the "happy accidents" comment!

I have learned:

- Paint before we move in, or else I never will get around to it.

- Finish the details. In our last house, we did the kitchen - floors, cabinets, counters, appliances, sink...but didn't paint or do the backsplash until 2 years later when we were getting ready to sell. :( It was so nice but I barely got to enjoy it.

Mary

Paint_chips

You don't have to keep those not-my-taste gifts around. Tell people when you receive items how great something will look "in the office" and if they visit the office, tell them a visitor just fell in love with it and you HAD to give it away. (If you give it to Goodwill and someone buys it, it amounts to the same thing, no?)

Robin

What an interesting thread. I've really enjoyed reading about your experiences.
Over the years I've become much more at ease trusting my taste in styles and colors. In my current home, a 250 square foot apartment, if it doesn't fit, it REALLY sticks out like a sore thumb.
My most recent boo-boo was an easy chair that sat and looked fine in the store and was a horror once I got it home. I literally made arrangements that same day to donate it to our church nursery. Know what? They didn't like it either. LOL
But...for months and months I wanted something to create a little interest in my entry way..a very boring spot. One day I found a small dark-colored chest of drawers and fell for it on the spot. It was perfect and I've been pleased with it ever since.
Cream

Paint_chips you crack me up. When my ex and I married his Aunt Herta gave us a painting as a wedding gift. It was the most hideous thing I've ever seen -- kind of an explosion of brown, green and yellow swirls done with a tiny brush. I dunno what it was supposed to be. Funny thing is the whole family claimed that she had done many other paintings that were delightful.

For years and years we kept it hidden in the front hall closet where we could grab it quickly and stick it on the wall in a prominent position if she ever came to visit, which she never did as she was many states away. When we divorced I took great delight in handing it to my ex, "Here, don't forget this!"

Robin: I SO wish I had an office for this stuff! I used to put 'stuff' in my husband's office at work, but he was promoted and now offices out of home... And he still expects me to decorate his office. Very painful now that it is my own house instead of a place I would visit for lunches! :)

After I donate things then "it is empty there" and it just gets replaced by something worse! LOL I guess I need a stratigic donate and replace plan before I let anyone see "a hole".

For years people were giving us gifts of alcohol. Then everyone heard that we rarely drink. SO THEN the deluge of home decor started coming. *I think they are trying to drive me to drink.

What ever happened to giving something useful? Fruit, books, pretty notepaper, or even garden seeds- I love useful things. ANYTHING except some crazy thing with ceramic angels on springs or a ridiculously huge family portrait of the givers.

Ok, I think I have vented enough :)

My mistake: not dropping things off at Goodwill more often.

My biggest mistake is the joy of every store in town - CLEARANCE. I can not pass up a good deal to save my life, so even if I have no idea where that great red and gold vase is going to go, I buy it because it's $9.99.

You might think the county in my garage is gearing up for battle against kgwlisa! :-)

My biggest mistake in the beginning was to decorate solely on looks and style instead of comfort and our lifestyle.

Silk drapes? - not so great with 3 little boys (ditto to about 1,000 other things when it comes to kids - certain upholstery fabrics, light colored carpets, area rugs under the dining table, etc.). Intricate moldings on furniture or cabinets? Too much dust and grime to keep up with when you live in a windy desert.

I *still* make the mistake of Pre Buying - I don't know if there'll ever be hope for me in that area. But at least now I know to get rid of it when it doesn't meet our needs and is instead a major pain in the patootie.

Two years ago we wanted to buy a leather sofa and love seat but could only afford one. Instead of saving and waiting , we decided to buy a microfiber set ---ugh, uckk, ick. It was uncomfortable and became stained in a very short time (my kids are well-mannered and well-behaved, but there's not much you can do when they barf on the furniture). Last month I finally got fed up and sold the set and now we have NO sofa or love seat at all.

The mistakes I have made were made because I tried to do something totally different, instead of sticking to what I know I truly like. Each and every time I ended up feeling kind of "blah" after finishing the project. Any time I did something that was true to myself, I was thrilled with the end result.

My hubby always says...my wife will buy anything marked down! (I'm working on changing that, really I am!)
also...
I have learned the hard way...bring fabric samples home
before purchasing the all the yardage to do the project...I have a spare closet filled with fabric (not kidding here):(
Joann, hopeless on Long Island!

My #1 mistake has been to settle for a "bargain" instead of waiting to buy what I really love. In the end, those bargains have always cost me more. I've quit buying from any online auction site. The hassles from non-delivery or poor packing & breakage, misleading photos and descriptions, and the failure of the payment system to respond appropriately, makes the rare true bargain just not worth all of the other headaches and expenses.

A lesser, but still annoying mistake, has been buying black furniture. Maybe I'm a poor housekeeper, but the black tables and bookcases show every speck of dust. The ones I like a lot will be painted this spring, and the rest are headed to the thrift shop.