Sure, you want to reflect your personal style, work in some sentimental possessions and be comfortable in your living space, but you don’t want to commit a major decorating faux pas in the process. If you’d like to make sure all your decorating desires smoothly blend together, take note of these tips. Also, remember that your Chicago, Illinois furniture dealer is always there to help with your decorating needs.

Choose furniture that fits. Measure before you shop – it’s that simple. Your furniture shouldn’t be too big for the room, and conversely, if you are in a space with oversized rooms or a large open space like a loft, you may want to consider oversized furniture. After all, you don’t want your pieces to get lost in the room or look like doll furniture in comparison to the features of the room.

Take it easy on the prints and patterns. After you have a color scheme for your room, find two or three patterns – stripe, plaid and small print to coordinate with the colors. Keep one as the main pattern – it can be larger. The other patterns should be small. Stop there. It’s enough!

Place your rug with a grouping of furniture – do not let it float all alone in the center of the room. Not only can this be dangerous, as someone could easily slip or trip on it, but it’s not very visually appealing either.  The rug should help set the border for your furniture grouping, with the edges tucked under the front legs of the furniture. Chicago, Illinois furniture dealers have wonderful examples of this in their showrooms. Check them out.

Playing off that last tip, keep your furniture in groupings. Do not push it up against the wall all around the room. Leave walking space behind at least some of your pieces and keep seating out of corners unless you are tucking in a reading nook. This will give your room a lighter feel.

Offices are sometimes difficult to lay out like the rest of your home. Visit your Chicago office furniture store and ask for ways to make your office as trendy and comfortable as the other rooms.

Take it easy on the collectibles. Unless you have a specially-built display room for your favorite collection, put out a grouping of a few pieces where they are well-displayed and pack the rest away, or use them in other rooms as a theme through your home. You can always rotate them like a special museum exhibit.

Family heirlooms don’t have to be displayed in your home unless you love them! If an heirloom is not your style or you just think it’s plain ugly, don’t decorate with it. Take it to Antiques Roadshow and see what you can get for it, pass it on to a sibling or just put it out at a tag sale. If you do love it (or them), follow the rule above.