Design 101: Interior Design Basics, Explained Simply

Learn the fundamentals of interior design—layouts, color, proportions, and the everyday decisions that shape a room. Straightforward advice from Havenly's designers.

Scandinavian living room with cream sofa, wooden chairs, geometric rug, and neutral palette creating airy, cohesive space
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7 Items That Make Your Home Look “Low Quality,” According to Interior Designers

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Living room with brown leather sofa, green velvet chair, marble coffee table.

Design 101

Havenly vs Decorilla: An Honest Comparison (And How to Pick)

Havenly and Decorilla are both online interior design services that match you with a real designer and send back a shoppable plan. The short version: Havenly fits most projects; it's faster, more affordable, free to start with AI, and available in person, while Decorilla is built for renovation-level jobs that need custom technical drawings. Here's how to tell which one fits your room.

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The Havenly Team · · 10 min
Bedroom with a wood dresser, upholstered bed, and green striped

Design 101

Should You Use ChatGPT for Interior Design? (An Honest Answer)

Should you use ChatGPT for interior design? For some things, yes. ChatGPT is genuinely useful for brainstorming styles, naming what you like, talking through layout ideas, and roughing out a budget. It falls short on the parts that actually finish a room: it can't show your real space to scale, the products it suggests often aren't buyable, and its links are frequently wrong. The honest rule is simple. Use ChatGPT to figure out what you want, then use a purpose-built service like Havenly to actually do it: free AI to visualize your space and real designers to finish the job.

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The Havenly Team · · 8 min
Living room with green velvet sectional, best online services

Design 101

The Best Online Interior Design Services of 2026 (Ranked by What You Actually Need)

There's no single best online interior design service; there's a best one for your project. For most people, that's Havenly: free to start with AI, $199 per room with a real designer, $699 in person, and 3D renderings included in its full-service packages. A premium service like Decorilla mainly earns its higher cost for renovations that need custom technical drawings. Here's the honest, use-case breakdown so you can find your fit fast.

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The Havenly Team · · 10 min
Contemporary living room with charcoal sectional, natural wood table, and neutral monochromatic palette

Design 101

11 Home Decor Choices Professional Interior Designers “100% Regret”

Learn from interior design mistakes. Havenly designers share 11 home decor regrets and how to avoid them.

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Kelsey Clark · · 6 min
Airy, minimalist living room with floor-to-ceiling cream linen curtains, bright windows, and organic modern aesthetic

Design 101

How to Hang Curtains Like an Interior Designer: 5 Simple Steps

Hanging curtains the right way comes down to five steps: measure twice, choose the right fabric for the light you want, pick a curtain style, match your hardware, and install high and wide. The cardinal rule? Mount the rod close to the ceiling and well past the window on each side, then let the panels just kiss the floor. Havenly designer Brady Burke walks through each step below.

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Kelsey Clark · · 6 min
Warm mid-century living room with slatted wood credenza, floor lamp, and framed botanical art creating a cohesive, organized aesthetic.

Design 101

How to Hide Cords in Your Home: 7 Designer Tricks That Actually Work

Brainstorming ways to hide cords without rewiring your house? We’ve got you: Clip them along furniture legs, run them under rugs, paint them the same color as your wall, or obscure them entirely with a strategic plant. The trick isn't making cords invisible—it's making them blend in so well your eye stops registering them. Below, Havenly designer Brady Burke walks through seven low-effort fixes.

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The Havenly Team · · 10 min

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