Is your lamp the wrong size? And other interior design questions to ask yourself

Her philosophy pairs neatly with Christian’s counterintuitive advice to add before you remove. ‘This may seem like a slightly controversial question to ask yourself if you feel like a room feels a little off,’ he says, ‘but I am a firm believer that you should add before you remove.’

He explains that when a space is evolving organically, newly added elements might seem jarring at first. ‘Whilst you wait for the rest, the room may feel a little off,’ he notes. ‘In these moments I always advise clients to hold fire, finish as planned, and then see if the room still feels like it needs an adjustment.’

In other words, don’t panic-edit. Sometimes balance emerges only when the room is fully realised.

Are your cushions causing chaos?

For Venetia Rudebeck, co-founder of Studio Vero, the problem often lies not with the sofa but with what’s on it. ‘Cushions are often where a room can start to feel a bit off,’ she says. ‘Too many, or all in the same size or fabric, can make a space feel chaotic rather than comfortable.’

Venetia’s strategy? ‘We always start with a common thread, usually a colour or material, and then build around it by mixing scale and texture,’ she says. ‘Our rule of thumb is one patterned, one textured, one plain, with a mix of shapes so it feels balanced and relaxed.’

‘We like contrast rather than coordination – linen next to velvet, a small check with a broader stripe – and we always let one or two cushions quietly pick up a tone from elsewhere in the room, whether that’s the rug, artwork or curtains,’ Venetia continues. ‘It’s about creating a mix that feels intentional and lived-in, not styled within an inch of its life.’

Are you letting the room evolve?

Ultimately, all of these questions share one throughline: patience. A truly great room doesn’t arrive fully formed. ‘Some of the best spaces evolve organically,’ says Rachel. Christian agrees, urging homeowners to see decorating as an iterative process rather than a one-day makeover. ‘When you reach that stage and are able to look at the room or all the elements as a whole, then you can see if it really needs an adjustment,’ he says.

So, is your lamp the wrong size?

Maybe. Or maybe you simply need more of them – tall and short, glowing and focused, working in tandem to layer the light just so. But that’s the beauty of these questions. They invite you to look, not to judge. The right answers will reveal themselves the longer you live with your space. In the end, decorating well isn’t about getting it ‘right’ once – it’s about asking, again and again: what does this room need now?