Creative Interiors: Smart decor is all in the windows, and walls, and accessories ...

When decorating our homes, we should be aware of some common mistakes to avoid. HGTV designer Karl Lohnes and custom window fashions manufacturer Hunter Douglas have put together a top-10 list of the “all-time, most often made decorating mistakes.” You’ve heard from me on two of them — having more than one focal point in a room, and rushing your decorating to get it done in a day. Lohnes and Hunter-Douglas offer more caveats that bear repeating:

1. For example, most people will plan the furnishings and wall coverings first, then leave the window treatments for last. Wrong! Window coverings should be considered right from the beginning.

Not only can window fashions create pleasing illusions of depth or height in a room, scientific studies have proven the quality of natural light in a space actually affects our moods and health. Choose your window fashions early on in the decorating process to set the room’s comfort level.

2. Another common mistake is choosing wall colors that are too pale or washed out. As a general rule, the larger the room, the more depth a wall color needs. The colors do not have to be bold, but they should be strong. For example, if a bold and bright colors aren’t in your palette preference, opt for a dark tan or dusty chocolate.

3. What about those skinny, wimpy trims and moldings? Best thing to do is try to make them disappear. If you have trims of 3½ inches or smaller, paint them the same color as the wall to make them “disappear” and add a feeling of height to a room. Select a window treatment mounted outside the window frame from ceiling to floor to hide the trim completely.

4.A room’s focal point is important and should be highlighted.If it’s the window, many people will overdo the window treatment. If the view is spectacular, frame the window as if framing a picture. The picture is the view and the window is the frame.

6. Artwork that is hung too high is all too common in many homes. Simple rules: the bottom of the artwork should be 8 to 10 inches above the top of a piece of furniture such as a headboard, sofa or credenza. If the artwork is large, then start at 4 to 6 inches above the top of a piece of furniture. Artwork hung in a hallway or in a stairwell should be hung so the middle of the art is 66 inches off the floor or step.

7. Hold off on buying accessories until you find just the right ones. It is better to have one or just a few perfect pieces of art such as wall hangings or table art, rather than many insignificant “filler” pieces. 8. If you already have many favorite accessories, group them together. You can create a big impact with many small things rather than scattering them around the house as clutter.

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Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, a Naples interior designer, is the author of “Mystery of Color,” available at www.amazon.com and at www.barnesandnoble.com.