4 min readThere are a lot of rules in interior design: don’t mix metals, stick to one tone of wood, ceilings should always be white, and every room needs a focal point, to name a few. These loose guidelines and more have been passed down through generations of designers, with each new class of interior experts picking and choosing which general rules they want to follow and which ones they don’t mind breaking.
“Design rules are a helpful place to begin, but the rooms I love most are the ones that bend those rules with intention,” designer Chanel Sansregret of Studio Miles Design tells House Beautiful. “Those unexpected choices are often what make a space feel personal, lived-in, and a little imperfect in the best way.”
While personal taste should guide the design in one’s home, knowing which rules these experts would actually ignore can be helpful and even inspiring. As they say, well-behaved designers seldom make memorable interiors.
We asked a handful of interior designers which design rule they break most often, and one answer came up again and again: Small spaces should always be light and bright. Here's why that old rule no longer holds up.
There’s this idea in interior design that if a home has a small room or space, everything that can be done to make it look larger should be done. However, many designers feel this is an antiquated notion.
“Bigger isn’t always better,” designer Allison Handler offers. “Sometimes you want a room to feel intimate and enveloping.”
This rule is broken most often for the same reason why the powder room has turned into a “jewel box” space in recent years: designers are more likely to take risks in rooms with smaller footprints, as Trish Lynn of Colette Interiors puts it. Many people want their living room—probably the largest room in their homes—to be comforting, inviting, and familiar, so trying out something new in a space as important as this one isn’t as encouraged by designers and design enthusiasts alike.
A darker tone enveloping a small space can make the room feel more intimate and soften the physical boundaries, designer Glenna Stone adds. With a dark color, such as a deep blue or rich green, the individual details of a space are harder to spot, especially if the lighting is kept dim and ambient.
“I think [painting a small room a light color] can actually emphasize the limitations of the space,” Mark Schubert of M2 Design Lab explains, adding that the goal of decorating a small room shouldn’t be about making it feel bigger but about making it feel intentional. Choosing a lighter tone for the walls won’t add square footage, and sure, the illusion of a bigger space might make it feel less cramped, but as long as this room is decorated well and with its footprint in mind, then it shouldn’t feel cramped anyway. “Trying to make every small room feel visually larger can sometimes strip away the opportunity to give it personality,” designer Dezirae Bruni says.
Based on the paint colors designers are predicting to blow up in 2027, it seems that this rule is one that will continue to be broken. The same goes for wallpaper or tile too, though, adds Handler; paint doesn’t have to be the only way to cover the walls. “I’d rather have a small room with personality than a large room with no point of view,” she says.
Other Decorating Rules Designers Ignore
Designers had plenty more to say when we asked about other decorating rules that no longer hold up.
Always Match Wood Tones and Finishes
This is one of those rules that makes more sense in theory than in real life. While keeping every wood tone and finish the same may create a more uniform interior, it can also make it feel flat.
“For us, cohesion comes from the overall tone and character of the materials rather than repeating the same finish everywhere,” Lynn explains. Inconsistencies like these give a home more life and character, while the opposite can often give off a showroom feel.
This isn’t to say that matching wood tones, finishes, and metals will always look rigid or flat, but this rule is encouraged to be broken so one doesn’t pigeonhole themselves into only purchasing set elements for their home. If you love a hutch that’s a darker tone than your cabinets or dining table, you should still buy it.
Stick to a Single Aesthetic or Style
The design elements in a home, but more specifically in a room, should be coordinated, but they don’t have to match. In aesthetics, colors, patterns, and styles, as long as everything creates an uninterrupted flow, then that’s all that matters to a lot of designers.
“I often have clients asking me if something looks weird or off because it doesn't match,” designer Yena Jung explains. “The matching of all the furniture or design elements makes it look cookie-cutter and makes it seem like you ordered a full set of things online from an image or from a big-box retailer's catalog.”
A room doesn’t need to fit neatly into a certain category to feel cohesive, Sansregret adds. Borrowing elements or pieces from different eras and styles can make a home feel more personal.
Ceilings Should Always Be White
You wouldn’t treat your walls as an afterthought, so why are you forgetting about your ceiling, aka the “fifth wall”?
“I never understood why we were supposed to pretend it wasn’t there,” Alexis Vitale of Vitale Design Group says. “Painting it a color, continuing wallpaper overhead, or wrapping it in wood can completely change the way a room feels.”
Designer Justine Wolman agrees, adding that ignoring the ceiling and leaving it white can make the room feel less intentionally designed. While a white ceiling can be beautiful, it shouldn’t be the default choice.
