How to Decorate with What You Love

You’ve probably heard it before – “decorate with what you love.” It’s a simple truth. The only way to really fall in love with your surroundings and feel at home in your home is to fill it with the colors, textures and things you love.

It sounds easy enough, but it’s amazing how quickly we can fill our homes with things that we don’t love. Sometimes those are things that we absolutely need so we just put up with them. Oftentimes it’s just a bunch of unnecessary items that we don’t need at all. Sometimes it’s a color on the wall that we don’t really like, but that we’ve been living with because it was there when we moved in and have never taken the time to change it. Sometimes it’s because we don’t fully realize what we love.

If any of these suggestions resonate with you, it’s time to work on changing your home into a place you can fully enjoy. Begin by walking around your home with notebook in hand. Write down how each room makes you feel when you are in it. For instance, “this room makes me feel relaxed” or “this room makes me feel chaotic.” Next, walk through each room again and write down what you love about each room and what you don’t. Finally, go from room to room and write down what purpose you would like the room to have and what you would like it to feel like when you are in it.

Next, it’s time to get physical. Gather a box and going from room to room, put into it the things that drag you down; the things that you readily dislike or that you just have an overall negative reaction to. Don’t spend a lot of time over-thinking your choices. Go with your gut reaction – if you don’t like it, then put it in the box. Move quickly through each room so that you don’t second-guess yourself.

Once you’ve removed all the physical items, walk through each space again. What is it that stands out now? How does the room make you feel? What do you love and what do you dislike? What purpose do you want the room to have and what do you want to feel like when you are in it? Write it all down.

It sounds redundant, but by the time you have completed this exercise again, you will have a better idea of what you want for each space.

After you’ve done this, go from room to room and write down actual things you can do to make the room closer to what you want. If it means replacing the curtains or the rug, write it down. If it means changing the furniture arrangement, write it down. If you need a focal point, write it down. If you want more soothing colors, write it down. If you aren’t sure what you need, write that down, too.

Finally it’s time to take your list and start implementing the changes. Replace the curtains and rug. Rearrange the furniture. Create a focal point. Introduce a more soothing color palette. Don't rush into these changes if you can't afford them at all once. Do what you can. The important thing to keep in mind is now you know what you'd like each room to become.

If you still aren’t sure what you want, that’s okay. Transformation takes time. Take some time and live with your edited rooms. Give yourself time to consider what you’d really like for each space. Take time to find out what colors, textures and things you love.

Just don’t become complacent with your home and settle for surroundings that you don’t love. Work at it a little at a time – one room at a time – until your home begins to take shape and resonates more fully with your heart.