5 Interior Design Rules You Should Never Break

Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Always do this. Rules, rules, rules. Where’s the fun in that?

We definitely think you should design and decorate your home the way you want. But adhering to just a few simple mandates brings order to the chaos, says Leslie Stephens, owner of Leslie Stephens Design in Richmond, VA.

“When we walk into rooms that are designed using specific principles—geometry, proportion, scale, pattern—we can relax, our brains are at ease, it just … works,” she says. “As humans, we thrive on order, and that’s what good design is—using rules to make sense out of what is otherwise random.”