When you buy a new outfit that your best friend gently dubs a Glamour “don’t,” it’s easy to relegate it to the back of the closet or the donation box of your favorite charity. But a decorating mistake isn’t so easy to hide. Not only can errors in decorating judgment be extremely costly, any major misstep will likely be staring us in the face for quite some time.

Antique Accessories and the Bella Vista Buffet reflect a unique personal style.

Grouping items with similar colors, textures, or classic designs creates visual interest, such as the pieces shown on this bar from the Nicole Miller Collection.

If choruses of “What were you thinking?” are playing over and over in your head thanks to your last shopping expedition, take heart. According to Bobbie Burns Hughes, design director at Excelsior, there is hope for even the most decorating-impaired among us.

“There are ways to ensure a positive outcome when shopping for our homes,” Hughes relates. “One of these happens to be my favorite decorating technique: mixing clean-lined contemporary designs with more traditional furnishings or architectural elements. The method can imbue even a room full of museum-quality antiques with new life, and ensures your home furnishings purchase will never go out of style.”

“The fact is, mixing the old and new makes us look at everything with a new perspective,” Hughes continues. “When you want to wake up a tired-looking room, the answer is not to toss it all out to start back at square one. The key is to choose one magnificent piece as your new focal point. In the living room, it might be a sexy, new sofa silhouette in a fabulous kidney shape covered in sumptuous leather. In the bedroom, it might be a modern take on a traditional sleigh bed shape with glistening metal accents. In the great room, it might mean lightening up the entire space with a reflective surface such as a leggy, glass-topped table. The addition of one great piece suddenly makes everything look fresh and new!”

Design experts like Hughes suggest that most people will benefit from a mental lift after changing their surroundings. “Contemporary and modern designs are very popular now and many of the trend forecasters assume this is being driven by younger consumers who are continually searching for the new and different. But the truth is that it’s really older consumers driving the popularity of modern designs. Some of them are just tired of all the dusting that goes hand-in-hand with heavily accessorized, traditional interiors and are in search of a simpler design aesthetic. Others, particularly the Boomers among us, just don’t want to feel old. Women these days spend an incredible amount of money on maintaining their youth. So why would they want to spend a lot of their time in rooms that feel old and tired?”

While as consumers we are all attracted to “new,” Hughes cautions that few people are interested in fads these days. “No matter what the economy does, the luxury-minded consumer has no problem spending money on things that catch her eye. But when it comes to furniture, most are looking for investment pieces. Clean-lined contemporary and modern designs are a good bet because these pieces are destined to become the classics of our time.”

Sums Hughes, “The world of fashion is known for seasonal changes and trends that turn on a dime. There’s nothing wrong with indulging frequent shopping urges and if we make a mistake once in awhile, so be it. But apparel moves much faster than interiors. If you take your time when shopping for your home and buy what you love from a reputable company, you can avoid styles that will soon look dated. Just remember, when a product is handmade, with an emphasis on clean shapes and forms, using the very best of materials, you can bet it will last a lifetime. And that’s a long time,” she says, “to count all the compliments you’re sure to receive for your great sense of style!”

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