So, you have a teeny-tiny living room? Better paint it white! And of course, use only small furniture pieces. Aren’t you tired of hearing stuff like this? What if you hate white walls? Or find small furniture annoying? Well, don’t do it. Nothing good, new and fresh ever came from strictly obeying the rules. Interior design, especially, should be fun, daring and in coherence with your personality, so go ahead, dare to look beyond Decor cliches and express yourself through the way your home looks. Naturally, you can’t break all the rules, some of them are there for a reason, but here are others that are okay to ignore.

Paint a small room white

Okay, let’s start from our prime suspect: the rule of white walls in a small room. The lighter the color of the walls, the brighter the room looks and therefore an illusion of spaciousness is created. Here comes the big question. If your room is already small, do you really care if it looks big? Small doesn’t have to look cramped, it can look cozy. And if you are using deeper tones, you can still save the day with a shiny instead of a matte finish and a few strategically placed mirrors (opposite to the light source).

Use sets of furniture

Blue velvet sofa + blue velvet armchair + blue velvet ottoman = boring. Really, it is not written in stone that you should buy all your furniture from the same brand and the same collection. Have fun with it. Buy a modern sofa and complement it with a rustic coffee table and an armchair of a completely different color.

Make your seating cohesive

Classic dining rooms always have a lengthy table and six dining room chairs all of which are part of the same collection. Just like the previous rule, this one is better when you ignore it. Mixing and matching an assortment of dining room chairs makes the look more casual, but not less stylish. All that matters is that you find one uniting element, e.g. the color or the style, and mix everything else up.

Wooden floors are the best for the living room

In the “old days” we had wall-to-wall carpets. Now we have the trend of hardwood flooring everywhere. Yes, they do have that special warm charm, but that doesn’t mean other materials can’t contribute with their unique aesthetics. You can achieve a great look with decorative concrete which will be a great backdrop for a modern, or mid-century modern interior design style.

A pop of color is a must

One of the oldest cliches in the interior design book is that every room should have a pop of color to break the monotony. However, there is nothing wrong with an all-neutral room. It reflects a sense of elegance and nothing can compete with that timeless look. So, if you are feeling pressured to include a bright red vase into a monochromatic room – don’t.

A rug should anchor the room

You’ve heard about this one – all great rooms start with a rug and the rest of the room is built around it. However, if you have a quirky furniture piece (e.g. a retro leopard loveseat), it is okay to build the design around it and include the rug last. You can keep it simple, to prevent overwhelming the room with too many incoherent patterns.

The design must be symmetric

The bed goes in the center of the wall and on each side you place a nightstand. The painting above is symmetrical with the center of the bed. It is probably how your bedroom is decorated and how most of the bedrooms out there are. Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t be otherwise. There is so much beauty and personality in imperfection, and you should feel free to go off-the-center a bit and use different scales and shapes.

So, what do you say: are you ready to become a Decor rebel or will you leave the revolutionary moves to someone braver? Dare to try! Who knows what is to be discovered along the way?