As many know, Instagram is a highly-competitive social media platform. Getting the most ‘likes,’ views, comments, and follows from strangers across the globe is generally the goal moderate to big Instagrammers make for themselves. Even big Instagrammers with well over a million followers on the platform rejoice as their number of ‘likes’ and following increases with time. In order to achieve success on Instagram, one must post high-quality, relatable photos and generally be active on the app.

Although we often see posts pictures of food, nature, hair, makeup, and nails, another common thing Instagrammers post are images of their bedroom or other aspects of their interior space. Some of us like to share the progress we have made with decorating, say, our bedroom or like to show off a new furniture piece we recently bought.

While we may post glimpses of our interior design online just for fun, other times, we deem it serious business. Regardless, we want to receive compliments and generally want people to recognize the hard work we contribute to our interior space.

But truth be told, these are some of the things professional interior designers cringe over when they see them on Instagram:

1 - Posting trendy furniture or décor simply because it’s “cool”

If there’s anything that’s overrated when it comes to interior design on Instagram, it’s people posting trendy décor and furniture pieces merely because they believe they will them get a lot of ‘likes’ and other forms of attention. Some will even go out of their way to repost others’ trendy interior design photos for more social media traction. In all honesty, seeing people constantly posting or reposting design trends just for “clout” is exhausting.

Posting design trends on Instagram without actually liking them not only makes these trends seem overrated to the eyes of many, but it can also be a slap in the face to professional interior designers who genuinely love to apply those trends to their clients’ interior spaces. These posts take away the meaning and beauty behind these trends that they deserve.

When it comes to designing your own home interior, it’s good advice to never include something in your home that you don’t love. If a certain style, object, or color scheme doesn’t sit right with you, you are by no obligation to incorporate it into your space, no matter how trendy, cool, or snazzy it is. You have the power to include what you want in your interior space, even if it’s something that others find dated and out-of-style. But never, we repeat, never assume that adding an object you hate to your interior design will force you to love it because it won’t.

2 - Interior fashions that are forced into environments where they don’t fit

Just like certain articles of clothing or shades of makeup, not every little thing or every little detail looks suitable when placed in all interior spaces. For instance, dark walls are not very suitable for a home with minimal windows and limited artificial lighting. However, dark walls might be absolutely gorgeous in a space that is large and well-lit. The same idea applies to all sorts of interior design objects and trends.

To only include a certain color, piece of furniture, or décor item in your interior design simply because you like it and not because you know it will be a great addition for your space is a bad idea. As much as you might like to add an old, wooden vanity to your modern master bedroom, it’s probably just not a good fit and will never be unless you revamp the entire interior design.

A good designer knows that even if they like a certain piece, they have to refrain from adding it to their space if it just doesn’t look right and clashes instead of complements. It’s a hard and sad decision to make, but in the end, it’s worth it if it means having a more solidity put together interior space.

3 - Cluttered interior spaces

Even in maximalist interior spaces, clutter is never trendy nor attractive. What do we define as clutter? Too much stuff, stuff that isn’t properly arranged, too many things for the eyes to look at, little blank space, and general messiness… In other words, if looking at or being within a space confuses you, hurts your eyes, gives you a headache, or makes it harder to walk around, it’s probably cluttered.

Just by looking at a tiny photograph of an interior space, a professional interior designer can usually tell right off the bat that the space needs to be decluttered. Clutter is one of the biggest enemies of interior design in the 21 ^st century. Although minimalistic design is fading out of style, cramped, tight, overstuffed spaces are certainly not fashionable in design today.

How can you ensure your interior design isn’t cluttered? Apart from adding plenty of traditional storage, consider adding furniture to your space that doubles up as a form of discrete storage, focusing on quality over quantity, and learning to let old furniture and décor go when they are not longer suitable or no longer fit in your interior space.

With a decluttered home, you can benefit from better sleep, lower levels of stress and anxiety, and greater productivity and focus.

4 - Overexposed styles and trends

When things are popular or on-trend in interior design, it’s not uncommon that we start seeing them in stores, in our friends’ and family member’s homes, and even on our favorite social media platforms like Instagram. But seeing them everywhere – literally everywhere – is boring and, not to mention, is quite annoying.

A big problem with social media, as much as we love it, is that trends fade out seemingly quicker and more suddenly than they became popular. With Instagram being flooded with millions of photographs, it’s all too common for us to get sick of looking at the same old things over and over again. Interior designers feel just that when they’re looking up common interior design tags and find the same design styles and trends being regurgitated all over the app.

While we can’t end overexposure of interior design styles and trends, what we can do is keep from looking at interior design photos on social media if we fear we will get tired of the current design trends too quickly. Social media tends to speed things up for us, but taking the time to unplug from social media and keep in the present is a great solution to letting interior design fads fade from our interest as naturally as possible.

Of course, design trends can be overexposed outside of social media as well. The solution? If you love something, even if it is “overrated,” add it to your space anyway. But if you loved a trend but find yourself hating it now that everyone else loves it, you probably won’t find that love for it again anytime soon.

Conclusion

Although we treat Instagram like a competitive environment, it doesn’t always have to be if we genuinely love the platform as a source of social entertainment. However, at the same time, we are often careful with what we post as to not embarrass ourselves in the near or far future.

While it’s our Instagram account, and we can choose what we wish to post on it, sometimes what we post is not always a good reflection of what we are or what we do. Sometimes, unfortunately, posting images of our interior space leaves professional designers cringing, and us? Well, sometimes we cringe a bit too when we later come across those photos. Likewise, we may cringe at the interior design photos others post too.

Next time you’re playing around with your interior space, a good guideline is, if you wouldn’t post it on Instagram or would only post it on social media simply because it looks cool and not because you love it, don’t do it or add it to your space!

If you need more interior or exterior design-related tips and tricks, check out the rest of our blog posts.