How to Decorate Your House for YOU

One of the most common comments I get is: “I need you to come decorate my house!”. So tonight, I thought I would share a few of my favorite tips and tricks for decorating your house to fit YOU.

Firstly, I should share a bit of how my passion for decorating my home came about. When Tom and I first married, we lived in a tiny 700 sq. ft. apartment complete with cinderblock walls. If the cinderblock wasn’t enough to stifle any creativity, our student budget and transient state of home-living definitely were. I didn’t want to spend the little money we had on decorating because we knew we were living their temporarily and wanted to spend our money on our ‘dream home’.

When we found our house we instantly fell in love. We moved into our 3200 sq. ft home with nothing but 1 bed, 1 crib, 1 couch, and a tiny table. To say I was decorationally overwhelmed would be an understatement. We didn’t have much budget to decorate, and we didn’t have even a fraction of the furniture we needed to cozy up this huge house.

So we started small. I separated my “For The Home” Pinterest board (you know that you have one, or at one point used this same name as your catch-all Pinterest board!) into categories that fit with our home (i.e. Front Room, Kids Bedroom, Bathroom, Guest Bedroom, Loft, Kitchen). Delete pins that are not relevant to your space. So maybe I think that “Tiny Home” is AWESOME, but it doesn’t offer me any inspiration for my space – so “like it” and move on. Do not pin images that are not useful to you. Each pin I pin has some element that I am considering or dreaming about for my home. Quite often I will pinpoint that one element in the comment section so that I can remember when I go back through my board for inspiration (i.e. “That light fixture”).

It was a few months before we bought a couple more couches for our home. It was a few months more before I finally decided to start painting our walls. It was a few months even more before I felt like I was ready to let people “see” our house (because everyone wants the grand tour when you buy a new home, and you want to show them – once it looks the way you want). So be patient. Wait to decorate until you KNOW what you want. If you try to rush it you could be stuck with a bunch of crap that you aren’t in love with, and wanting to replace a year down the road.

Here are a few things to consider when you find yourself in a decoration rut:

1. Organize your Pinterest boards to work for you. This way, you just need to pull up your “Master Bedroom” board to see what things you like. Look for themes in your pinned pictures. Do you tend to Pin spaces with white walls, simple decor, bright colors, wood tones?  Once you can pin-point a couple major themes that you are attracted to, start decorating your room accordingly. Click here to follow me on Pinterest!
2. Don’t be afraid to START! You may give yourself a hernia if you try to decorate an entire room on a short timeline. But if you know you want reclaimed wood, white walls, and brass accents in your bedroom – then start collecting. When you walk by an amazing lamp at Target that fits into your theme, buy it! It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what your bedding, headboard, or nightstands are yet – if it fits into your “goal-theme” then it will work with whatever else strikes your fancy down the road. TIP: I like to look at an item and say “If I go home without buying this (insert item here), will I think about it repeatedly until I come back and actually buy it?” – if your answer is yes, do yourself a favor and just get it.
3. What items do you already own that could work in your space? Go dig through your high school momento boxes. You may find some funny, and amazing treasures that you wouldn’t mind looking at on a daily basis. These personal items make me smile each time I look at them – they represent my history, and have many stories to tell.
4. Don’t worry if it takes a long time to ‘come together’. There isn’t a room in my house that is “finished”. Some of my friends like to play the “what has Megan changed since last time I was here” game. And there are always MULTIPLE items that have been relocated, purchased, hand-made, or over-hauled. Being patient while you create your dream space will ensure that you don’t waste your money on the mediocre. You deserve amazing.
5. Decorating your home does not need to be expensive. Shop thrift shops, sales, DIY, and for the local peeps: check out the Facebook “Cache Valley Classifieds” group, there are always gems on that site. Get your hands dirty, learn how to do it yourself! This has single-handedly been the driving passion behind my ‘crazy house projects’. I thrive off of the satisfaction that comes from figuring out how to make my home dreams work in my budget. Most of the time – that means I will be googling some new skill. This is what puts a jiggle in my step and a song in my heart ;).

So go get your hands dirty.