The top interior design mistakes to avoid this year

The days of white-on-white walls are fast disappearing, as we seek comfort and relaxation at home through a warm palette of colour and texture. But how to navigate the myriad options? Starting with where we get it wrong, Julia Green of Greenhouse Interiors sets the new rules for decorating through colour, calm and a little playfulness thrown in.

Using hero colours in isolation

Julia: A common mistake I see people make is not cohesively implementing their chosen hero colour throughout the space. Look at ways to unify hero colours so they aren’t standing alone without company, instead ensuring these hues are weaved through decorative objects and furniture. The most successful designs I have seen have managed to weave colour cohesively through their home like a well-made tapestry. The more subtle the tie-in is, the better!

Designer Julia Green of Greenhouse interiors used the Dulux Journey palette to breathe life into a sterile living space with warm pink tones punctuated by notes of deep plum in accessories.

BEFORE: The living space was in good order but lacked signs of life.

Using only neutral colours

Homeowners often select a neutral shade on their walls and stick to white for their ceilings and trims. The downside of this is that contrast trims on walls and ceilings can draw your eye from top to bottom, rather than allowing the eye to wander seamlessly. Instead, consider painting walls, trims and even ceilings in a single colour, to make the space feel more cohesive. That being said, contrasting pops of colour add balance which is equally important to the look and feel of any space. So, to avoid that floating feeling, ensure your room has an element of grounding through the addition of accent shades from your colour scheme through soft furnishings, textures, florals or artwork as an alternative to doors, ceilings or trims.

Julia’s most recent project used the colour, Dulux Lilac Light from the Dulux Colour Forecast 2024 Journey palette, on the walls, ceilings and trims.

Incorporating colour all at once

Another mistake people make is rushing to add colour throughout their home. Don’t feel pressured to do it all at once, start small and make measured, staggered choices. For a recent makeover I worked on in the Bellarine Peninsula, the walls were painted first in a neutral, greyed off pink shade – Dulux Lilac Light, from the 2024 Dulux Colour Forecast Journey palette – before any other choices were made. The clients lived with that for a few weeks to see how the light interacted with the colour throughout the day, before we approached the rest of the space and introduced bolder pops of colour from the palette to add layering and interest.

Designer Julia Grreen from Greenhouse Interiors says colour and pattern are key to creating inviting spaces.

Forgetting about mood

Colours evoke different moods, so it’s important to consider the look and feel you want to create in the space before landing on your hero colour. For example, I always opt for a calmer palette for the bedroom, as it is a place of rest. A living room on the other hand is where you spend much of your waking hours, so it’s good to liven it up! Pale pink is known for its calming effect – it’s gentle, easy to live with and can add warmth to a space, compared to an austere white shade. It’s also extremely versatile. The emotion it evokes can change completely depending on how it’s styled, which is why it’s a shade I like not only for living areas but also bedrooms.

The wooden dining table has been finished in Dulux Swedish Blue.

Selecting the wrong colour

Most homeowners are apprehensive of colour or they have concerns that colour may make their home feel too bold, which is why choosing the right colour is such a critical step in the design process. Incorporating colour is such an amazing opportunity to inject your own personality and story into the home, so I encourage it wherever possible. My biggest tip is to start with a neutral shade, to create a safe base that easily allows for the introduction of other colour and styling changes over time. If you’re new to using colour in your home, start small and make measured choices. Try living with colour, even if it’s a referenced cushion or decor object. The best thing about the 2024 Dulux Colour Forecast palettes is that all of the hard work is done for you. Their carefully considered palettes are designed to take the brain strain out of companion colours that work well, so when all else fails, look to the experts who have done the hard work for you – it’s foolproof.

Must even steak be politicised? The American Heart Association recently recommended eating more “plant-based” protein in a move to counter the Health and Human Services Department’s new guidelines calling for more red meat.

Few would argue that eating a Big Mac a day is good for you.

On the other hand, growing evidence, including a study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that eating more meat—particularly unprocessed red meat—can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in the quarter or so of people with a particular genetic predisposition.

The APOE4 gene variant is one of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s.

You inherit one copy of the APOE gene from each parent. The most common variant is APOE3; the least is APOE2.

The latter carries a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, while the former is neutral. A quarter of people carry one copy of the APOE4 variant, and about 2% carry two.

APOE4 is more common among people with Northern European and African ancestry. In Europe the variant increases with latitude, and is present in as many as 27% of people in northern countries versus 4% in southern ones. God smiled on the Italians and Greeks.

For unknown reasons, the APOE4 variant increases the risk of Alzheimer’s far more for women than men.

Women’s risk multiplies roughly fourfold if they have one copy and tenfold if they have two. Men with a single copy show little if any higher risk, while those with two face four times the risk.

What makes APOE4 so pernicious? Scientists don’t know exactly, but the variant is also associated with higher cholesterol levels—even among thin people who eat healthily.

Scientists have found that cholesterol builds up in brain cells of APOE4 carriers, which can disrupt communications between neurons and generate amyloid plaque, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.

The Heart Association’s recommendation to eat less red meat may be sound advice for people with high cholesterol caused by indulgent diets.

But a diet high in red meat may be better for the brains of APOE4 carriers.

In the JAMA study, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute examined how diet, particularly meat consumption, affects dementia risk among seniors with the different APOE variants.

Higher consumption of meat, especially unprocessed red meat, was associated with significantly lower dementia risk for APOE4 carriers.

APOE4 carriers who consumed the most meat—the equivalent of 4.5 ounces a day—were no more likely to develop dementia than noncarriers. (

The study controlled for other variables that are known to affect Alzheimer’s risk including sex, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and education.)

APOE4 carriers who ate the most unprocessed meat were at significantly lower risk of dying over the study’s 15-year period and had lower cholesterol than carriers who ate less. Go figure. Noncarriers, however, didn’tenjoy similar benefits from eating more red meat.

The study’s findings are consistent with two large U.K. studies.

One found that each additional 50 grams of red meat (equivalent to half a hamburger patty) that an APOE4 carrier consumed each day was associated with a 36% reduced risk of dementia.

The other found that older women who carried the APOE4 variant and consumed at least one serving a day of unprocessed red meat had a cognitive advantage over carriers who ate less than half a serving, and that this advantage was of roughly equal magnitude to the cognitive disadvantage observed among APOE4 carriers in general.

In all three studies, eating more red meat appeared to negate the increased genetic risk of APOE4.

Perhaps one reason men with the variant are at lower Alzheimer’s risk than women is that men eat more red meat.

These findings might cause chagrin to women who rag their husbands about ordering the rib-eye instead of the heart-healthy salmon.

But remember, the cognitive benefits of eating more red meat appear isolated to APOE4 carriers.

Nutrition is complicated, and categorical recommendations—other than perhaps to avoid nutritionally devoid foods—would best be avoided by governments and health bodies.

Readers can order an at-home test from any number of companies to screen for the APOE4 variant.

The Swedish researchers hypothesize that APOE4 carriers may be evolutionarily adapted to carnivorous diets, since the variant is believed to have emerged between one million and six million years ago during a “hypercarnivorous” period in human history.

The other two APOE variants originated more recently, during eras when humans ate more plants.

APOE4 carriers may absorb more nutrients from meat than plants, the researchers surmise. Vitamin B12—low levels have been associated with cognitive decline—isn’t naturally present in plant-based foods but is abundant in red meat.

Foods high in phytates (such as grains and beans) can interfere with absorption of zinc and iron (also high in red meat), which naturally declines with age. So maybe don’t chuck your steak yet.