Tip #1: Starting from scratch can be overwhelming, so why not start with what you have?
I've even gone so far as as to start taking a visual inventory of just about everything in my apartment with snapshots (I know, crazy - but this is also useful for insurance purposes). I've already uploaded hundreds of pictures into my computer and have sorted my decorative pieces into 5 categories:
- keep! - perfect as is
- change! - keep but with new paint, fabric, etc.
- upgrade - same exact idea, whole new piece!
- sell - item no longer needed, but could still potentially be worth $
- donate - item no longer needed and deserves a new home!
Seeing my furniture, vases, curtains, rugs, and so on isolated in individual snapshots has given me a whole new perspective on them. I can now print them out, cut them out, and mix and match my stuff. Isolating your stuff forces you to see it in a whole new light. Maybe this one lamp that keeps ending up in your bedroom over and over matches your living room motif better after all. You just never quite noticed it before. Humans are creatures of habit and they stick with safe choices that have worked for them in the past. Change can be good though too. It can add that little zest to your home style recipe.
Tip #2: Don't conform to a style just because it's trendy. What do you already love? That can be timeless.
My infatuation with cobalt blue:
Cobalt blue glass is something I've always had an affinity for. And one of the best places to find these pieces for a good deal? Thrift stores. My bubbly blue vase (with an inventive texture that has grown on me) was a Five Dollar Find & my lovely set of 4 coffee/juice glasses were $2.50. After photographing my cobalt blue collection, I filed it all under keep! and decided my new kitchen is to include cobalt blue in its palette (it currently has no real focus or color scheme).
Tip #3: Fuel your motivation with inspired rooms & designs that already exist!
I've also started an official Home Decorating Binder that I've filled with magazine clippings of inspirational rooms + an official Home Decorating Folder on my laptop which is now full of word documents covering the color schemes and themes I've envisioned on a room-by-room basis.
The tenant who lived in my apartment before me is still on the mailing list for West Elm and Pottery Barn, two catalogues I would have recently ignored in my top roman college days. Thumbing through the pages depicting those perfect unattainable rooms would have been cruel to my younger self. Now I see these perfect rooms as perfect pictures of hope for what could be mine.
Don't get me wrong: I am still cheap and on a tight budget (those student loans don't pay themselves); however, my fleeting disposable income can now be spent on curtains as opposed to the umpteen amounts of ink, paper, and supplies it took me to get through art school alive. No more cardboard night stands for me!
The problem?
I don't exactly have a new place lined up yet. This is the one huge obstacle holding me back right now. So for the next month or so, all I can do is imagine what my place will look like. At the moment, I am searching for a 2 bedroom 2 bath small home to rent, ideally with the semblance of a yard for the dog. My decorating visions are planning for such, but only once the place is stapled down can I really, truly fulfill my need to decorate! It seems I'm going to have this bug for a while.
------------------------- Disclaimer ------------------------
I am in no way affiliated with any of the products, publications, and resources I may mention. I name specific things as I deem them potentially useful but they are merely opinions and nothing more. You do not have to share in my opinions whatsoever and I respect your right to respectfully disagree.
I am in no way affiliated with any of the products, publications, and resources I may mention. I name specific things as I deem them potentially useful but they are merely opinions and nothing more. You do not have to share in my opinions whatsoever and I respect your right to respectfully disagree.
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