We've all been there. We stand with a palm smacking our forehead or murmur, as one renovating friend often does, "I'm gonna need a minute alone." The material we loved in a swatch turns hideous on the sofa. The paint that looked bright yellow in the paint store morphs into hot-dog mustard on our walls. The chandelier that seemed unimposing in the showroom looks like it's landing from another galaxy. Oh well.

But here's the thing: Part of pairing decorating with ongoing sanity and fiscal solvency is learning to mask our mistakes. Sadlier's inventive husband, for instance, saw crashing waves in his wife's blue bloopers. Before long, Sadlier was tracing two-foot templates of waves in a border where ceiling met wall. And, so no one would miss the theme, she added colored fish and turtles. "Now it's the room everyone talks about," she says. "Only our real friends know it was a decorating goof." As important, Sadlier never had to paint that cathedral ceiling.

Our blunders can be the start of something beautiful--or at least the beginnings of enduring wisdom. Read on as experts and homeowners recount the mistakes they've masked, reveal the tips they've learned and share the best ways to shrug weary shoulders and move on.

Right the Wrong Floor

Terry Willitts, author of Simply SenseSational Decorating, chose white linoleum for her first kitchen floor. Then came the dirty feet. She quickly covered the floor with inexpensive sisal area rugs, easy to pick up and rinse off. And if you get a stain on sisal, buy some fabric paint and a stencil and brush on a fun pattern, says Cindy Piccoli, host of HGTV's Decorating with Style. "You can do that on linoleum too. Prime it and use special floor paint," she says. "The benefit is that you feel really clever after fixing a mistake that could have cost a lot of money and heartache."

De-fang the Botched Paint Job

Painting every room teal made one marriage teeter more than the paint ladder. But Rebecca Rahl, owner of Rebecca Rahl Interior Design in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., jumped to the rescue. "Try a faux finish of cream or gold over the teal," Rahl suggested. "Do touches of shimmering color. Or wallpaper." Of course, the best way to avoid this disaster is to test-paint first. "Pick your color plus three others around that range--a cool, a warm, a light, a bright--and paint a yard swatch on each wall," says Scott Dolphin, designer for the Lowell Hotel in New York City. "Never, ever pick color off a chip."

Undo the Overdone

When June and Dan Wasserstrom of Richboro, Pa., decided to turn their son's nursery into a more feminine one for their new daughter, they sponge-painted two of the blue walls pink and added pink-flowered fabric pretty much everywhere . "It looked like Phantom of the Opera: half was this beautiful cloud scene from before and half was this pink thing that looked like Hawaii," says Dan. "Our mistake was not realizing that the room was fine as it was. It didn't have to be pink or full of flowers to be a girl's room." To fix it, the Wasserstroms axed the flowered material , repainted the pink walls blue and ordered a simple white sheer fabric with moons and stars. "Now it's the world," says Dan. Two rules come to mind: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And, less is more.

Lighten the Lamp's Load

The classic lighting goof is trying to make one or two lights do all the work in a room," says Pam Horner, manager of Lighting Education for Osram Sylvania in Danvers, Mass. Luckily a goof of omission is easily fixed. Add three-way lamps (with 150- watt, not 60-watt, bulbs) to tables and dimmer switches to overhead lights. Add accent lighting to a plant or painting. "What you want is light coming from several places and directions," says Horner. "It's that mix of directions that's visually interesting." Of course, the first step is to know what you want to see .

Blend in That Family Heirloom

When Alice Daniel and her husband, Ben, moved to Fresno, both knew Ben's childhood furniture would never fit in their new small house. One piece, however, did squeak through: a gargantuan 8' x 5' pine bookcase--not exactly an easy item to integrate. Instead of despairing, however, Alice set the case in the large entryway where its size wouldn't dwarf the other furniture. "Eventually we'll get rid of it, but right now it gives a homey appeal to the entry," she says. "And it's made me realize that hand-built shelves would look great in that space."

Bringing in something new, heirloom or not, can be tricky at best, a sore thumb at worst, says Kimberlee Hanson, head designer and co-founder of Hudson Dry Goods in New York City. "Don't just add one new thing to a space. Add accents that complement it. For instance, if you add a red mohair chair to a room with neutral tones, buy a couple of red candles, add fresh red flowers or set out magazines with red in the cover. That's easy to do without breaking the budget."

Play Movable Chairs

The new sofa and chairs arrive and you hate them. Before you relegate them to your next garage sale, try a little rearranging, right into the next room, if necessary . "Rearrangement is part of correcting," says Lauri Ward, author of Use What You Have Decorating and guest on HGTV's Decorating With Style. "It changes your mindset." Maybe the room's off balance, the furniture's too far apart or one piece is out of scale with the rest (i.e., the heirloom bookcase). "The best arrangement is a U-shape made with a sofa and two chairs," says Ward. "The worst is the L-shape with a sofa and loveseat. Try having a conversation. I call it 'twist and shout.'"

De-sterilize That Trendy Look

You've opted for the ethnic, bohemian look that's all the rage, but now your living room looks like a '60s dorm room, or a page out of a catalog. What to do? "People try too hard to create a statement," says Hanson. "They think bohemia's laid back and so they buy the look, the sound, the smell. That's a big faux pas. A little bit of bohemia adds a nice ambiance, but then pull in pieces from your past, like old photos. Inject a little levity. Design is about personality. Pull something of yourself into the space. That's how you set it apart."

Cast a Fresh Eye on Your Walls

There may be nothing wrong with your furniture, says Ward. Your walls may be closing in on you. "Sometimes people have art hanging on every inch of space, even tiny walls," she says. "But you have to pick and choose. In the winter, put up black and white photos, in the summer pastels. But don't feel compelled to hang everything. Otherwise your eyes have no place to rest." Ward's rules: "Every room needs one blank wall to rest the eye. And if a wall is less than 36 inches wide, it shouldn't have art on it at all."

An Ounce of Prevention

Most designers can't even get their minds around hiding mistakes because they are so bent on preventing them in the first place. Below they come up with a list of sure-fire ways to minimize postdecorating moans.

• Proceed slowly. Cindy Piccoli, host of HGTV's Decorating With Style , has just moved to a new apartment and hasn't yet decided on her color scheme . Instead of a hasty decision she might regret, she's opted to slipcover two new chairs in inexpensive white duck cloth. "I can dye them or paint them with fabric paint and have some fun. Eventually I'll upholster them, but now I have the time to decide what colors and fabric I want. And I can put the slipcovers back on if I have a kids' party. They're a great temporary solution."
• Make a plan. This is perhaps as close to a mantra as decorators get. "If you have no organized plan, you will soon have a collection of garage sale items ," says designer Rebecca Rahl. "You need a floor plan and a color scheme . Then you can shop the sales and pick up quality pieces." Designer Terry Willits suggests keeping a dream notebook. Tear out magazine pictures of rooms you love. Start a "favorite things" box that includes materials, pictures, wallpaper, even cards you're drawn to. "That's a tangible way to educate yourself about what you really like," says Willits. Another option: Go to decorating showrooms and see what works.
• Get some help. "You don't need a professional to decorate the whole thing," says designer Scott Dolphin. "But have a designer come to your home for two hours to make some suggestions. He may suggest things you haven't thought of: a new conversation area, a different traffic pattern, how you can use the room ." Linda Hardy, interior design instructor at the Art Institute of Dallas, suggests asking your friends what they think. "If you start to hear a consensus, start there."