When we get the decorating bug we all want to jump right in!
Don’t do that! Stop. Let me give you a plan of what to do BEFORE you start decorating your home. I promise it will set you up for success….
Everything important to us deserves some planning time. Our homes should be no exception to this. It can be difficult to know where to start with decorating our homes, but it is actually the steps we take before we decorate that are key.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed I want to give you FOUR steps to follow. These make up an action plan to help you feel prepared and confident as you start your decorating project.
Let’s jump in…
1. Think about how you want your decorated home to feel.
How you want your home to feel is so important. It can be a vague idea to consider, but not something to skip over. Whether it is some describing words that you note down, or a collation of images that evoke certain feelings for you, both these exercises are worth doing to help you nail how you want your home to FEEL.
I hear you saying, “what if how I want my house to feel changes once I start decorating?”
It's ok, your aspirations will probably will change and morph a little. Nothing has to be set in stone. The beauty of having your feeling words and images gathered in a notebook, Google document or Pinterest board will act as a foundation before you begin.
Trust me, it will keep you true to the vision for your home moving forward.
Here is an example of my living space. When I think about how I’d like my home to feel, the words that spring to mind are cosy, classic, collected, textured, vintage, welcoming, meaningful, lived in.
Do you see any of these describing words in this image? I hope you do, and that this will help you as you venture into how you would like to feel in your decorated home.
TIPS
(to help you discover your feeling words and images)
Go walk out in nature and notice the colours and textures that appeal to you.
Watch your favourite movies that depict family life to see how the interiors appeal to you.
Think back to your childhood home, or any homes that make you feel relaxed, note what it is about them that you love.
Collate a Pinterest board of images that resonate with you and note the feeling that they invoke for you.
2. Think about how you like your decorated home to function.
All the homes we love to spend time in have been beautiful, I’m sure. But if you dig a little deeper, it’s often their function that has brought us the most joy.
As you think back on these special homes, the way that you interact with them and how easy they are to navigate, are key things to understand and nail in the process of decorating your home.
Be honest here. this is not about other people.
how do you want your home to function?
Focus on the function of your home first and then the decoration journey will be like icing on a delicious cake! A poorly functioning home is like a stale cake that no amount of sweet icing will ever disguise.
TIPS
(Some factors to ask yourself as you think about how you’d like your home to function)
Consider the age and stage of people who live in your home.
Be realistic about the multi-purpose rooms in your home. Does your second bedroom really work as an office, bedroom and craft centre?
Think about how people circulate and move through your home. Is this a pattern you want to keep or change?
How long are you planning on staying in your home?
3. Consider current pieces that work with your decorating vision
It is unusual to replace all the furniture and accessory pieces when we decorate our homes. Even if we plan to update or find a pre-loved piece for our homes, before we do, we need to spend more time thinking about the things that we plan to keep.
we might keep a piece out of love, its proportions, or due to budget restraints.
regardless, we need to consider how these pieces will work in our overall decorating vision.
Here is another example from my own home. My dining room table is on the redder side, but it is the perfect size and rather than sanding it back and re-staining it, I decided to keep it in its current state for the time being. I didn’t want it to be too precious about it, and this fits with wanting my home to feel welcoming and lived in.
So, I added walnut toned chairs, a white pendant and artwork, along with lighter decor pieces to balance out the red tones in the table.
TIPS
(How you can think about using current pieces to benefit your decorating vision)
Modify large furniture pieces using paint or upholstery.
Note down the pieces you plan to keep. Do they need to stay in their current location, or could you move them into another room once you start your decorating journey?
Pool all the accessory pieces from your home together. Take an inventory so you can experiment with grouping them together differently (once you’ve done these 4 steps first).
4. Embrace the fixed elements in your decorating journey.
All homes have things that we would like to change. Whether it is the size of the home or its architectural features, or smaller things like flooring material or extra fireplaces, the sooner we embrace these things the better.
It's time to be brave and take an inventory of these fixed elements in our homes so we can be more mindful of them as we start our decorating journey.
Surprisingly, it is these unique built-in features of our homes that make them interesting and rememberable.
Often it is the way we style or design the use of the fixed elements in our homes that is key to our decorating success. So instead of thinking you have to hide them (though you can), often embracing the things we can’t change about our homes is a great way to go.
TIPS
Consider a rug to help hide a floor with a tone that doesn't suit your style.
Use window treatments to disguise small or a symmetrical windows.
Use table and floor lamps to replace harsh over head lighting.
Paint can be a great way to disguise unwanted architectural features.
Replace handles and paint cupboard fronts of build-in cupboards.
Style un-used fireplaces in interesting ways to embrace quirky architectural features.
Let’s recap…
These are the 4 steps you need to take BEFORE decorating your home.
Think about how you want your decorated home to feel.
Think how you want your decorated home to function.
Consider current pieces that work with your decorating vision.
Embrace the fixed elements in your decorating journey.
Do these things first and you’re well on your way to jumping into decorating with confidence! You’ve got this…
Lastly, if you need more individualised help with decorating - it could be advice on one room, or a bigger decorating project, feel free to reach out to me here. We can jump on a phone call and I can learn more about what you need - I’d love to help.
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