By Rachel
We’ve all heard the saying “Home is Where the Heart is”. When our hearts are involved we do our absolute best and pour everything we are into something. We want to give it our all. It’s hard to give our homes our all if we are not passionate about them. Because of this, I believe that the way you choose to design and decorate your home is extremely important. If you do not love the look of the space you live in, then odds you will not be motivated or passionate when it comes to homemaking. Part of what makes your home special is the care you take in designing it and the attention to the details of your space. There is so much that goes into creating your home but a good place to start is by discovering what your home’s design style is.
So how do you do this? Pinterest and social media tell us what is trendy at the moment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that is your style. If all you do is follow trends, you will forever be changing your home to fit the latest popular design that is bound to be out of style next year. I have been guilty of this. I used to look at pictures on my Pinterest home page and the houses of influencers and think “that’s pretty. I should do that.” The problem with that was, I was just seeing something pretty and not stoping to consider if that was how I wanted my home to look and feel. What feels like home to one person, can be pretty to another but still not their style. It took me awhile to find what my style was, but now that I know I am able to start collecting things that I will probably forever keep in my home.
So back to the question of how do you discover what your style is?
Start by looking around your house.
What do you have in your house that you have had for years? Then ask yourself why you’ve kept these things? I have some old suitcases that I have had for about 3 years now. Which may not seem long but I am only 22 and haven’t had my own space outside of my parents house for very long. One of these suitcases was gifted to me by someone who knew I loved decorating and old things, and the other I found at an estate sale. When I first got them I stacked them on top of each other and used them as a side table in my dorm living room. Then I moved into an apartment and used them as decoration in my bedroom. Now I live in a house and use them by my bed as a nightstand. The reason I’ve kept them is because I have a love for old things. I think they bring a lot of charm and nostalgia to a home. I also have a love for the simplistic old fashioned way of living, and love that older pieces in my home reflect that love. Because of that, I will probably use those suitcases in my home decor for most of if not all of my life.
I also have several wreaths that I have collected over the years that I use. some of them are seasonal and I use them for holidays, and some I just have up year round. I’ve been through different styles of wreaths but ever since I moved out of my parents house they have been a part of my home decor. For me wreaths bring a sense of coziness and life to a home. These are both things that make my heart happy and I will probably always use them in my home as well.
Once you start looking at the things that you have had for awhile and ask yourself why you love them, you will probably start seeing a pattern. For me, I love things that are old. Old things have stories to tell, and by using them in my home it’s almost like I am adding those stories to my own, and continuing a life that would otherwise have been forgotten. I also love floral things. Not the in your face busy floral patterns that used to be popular with curtains, but rather just small floral decals. Things like pictures or kitchen dishes with little floral details.
Some of the things you’ve owned for years might also be something you hate. Maybe they’re things you own simply because you can’t replace it. Maybe it’s a bed frame you got for free. Or a dresser that was handed down to you. Take note of these things too and why you don’t like them. This will help you discover what styles you don’t love and will help you stay away from it in the future.
Come up with some keys words to describe how you want your home to feel.
When you think of home what words come to your mind? What do you want you, your family and your guests to feel when they enter your home? I want my home to be cozy and inviting. The kind of home where you can tell that care has been put into every detail. From the blanket basket with multiple blankets for guests, to the cake stand filled with yummy treats on the kitchen table, I want my home to feel inviting for all who cross the threshold. I also want my home to feel nostalgic. For me, I want my home to reflect a simple slow paced life. Home is not for the hustle and bustle. It’s for slowing down and being present in the moment your in, the good moments you’ve lived, and all the good moments to come. I can reflect this feeling in my home by being intentional with what details I bring into my decor and design.
Whatever words describe what your home means to you, write them down somewhere and use them to guide the way you style your home. For me these are words like cozy, inviting, nostalgic, simple ect. For you they could be colorful, bright, moody, comfortable, ect. There are no wrong answers! Your home is special and set apart from everyone else around you, so go with whatever feels right for you and your family.
Get on Pinterest.
Pinterest can be a great place to find inspiration. If you don’t have one already, make a board for home design inspiration. Use the words you just came up with to find inspiration. If one of your words was cozy then look up cozy home decor, or cozy living rooms, and see what comes up.
Save pictures of homes that you are drawn to, and ask yourself what it is specifically that you like about those pictures. Also take note of any similarities within the pictures your saving. Maybe the living rooms your saving all have leather couches. Or you’ve saved lots of rooms with an accent wall. Get very specific and look at the details. What do the light fixtures look like? Are you drawn to rooms with lots of decorations or minimal decor pieces? What about texture? are you drawn to the modern industrial design with lots of metal, or do you prefer wood textures? Or maybe you like a mixture of both. Do like furniture and finishes with patterns or do you prefer them plain? You can also get more specific and add different categories to you board if you want to.
Being able to identify what it is exactly you like about a room’s design will help you discover what you personally like.
Create an inspiration board.
I love doing this! Start creating a collage of all the things things you liked about the pictures you saved on Pinterest, and the things you know you would like in your home. Canva is a great platform to do this on! You can set up an account here, https://www.canva.com/ .
I recommend doing this because putting different designs, textures and colors together will help you see if they would all look good together. Don’t be afraid to play around with this step! Mix a bunch of different textures and styles together. The worst it can do is look bad on paper, and then you’d just change it until you found something you liked. You might be surprised by what looks good together and what your drawn to. Be very specific and add details like pillows, dishes, lamps, rugs, ect. Basically anything you will be using in your home.
This step is also very useful because you can use this board anytime you are out shopping for your home. If you’re questioning whether or not something will look good in your house, you can refer back to your inspiration board and see if it matches your chosen aesthetic. Here are a few examples of different inspo boards I’ve made.
And last but definitely not least…
Put your heart into the process.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, It’s hard to be passionate about our homes when our hearts are not in them. So add things that are important to your heart. If your faith is important to your home then add some print outs of scriptures or pictures of Christ or biblical scenes. If baking and feeding your family is important to your heart than add fun ways you can add personal touches to your kitchen and dining area. If essential oils are an important part of your family, come up with a way to display them and make them a part of your homes design.
As homemakers, we get the privilege of creating the physical, emotional and spiritual space in which our family lives and are raised in. Home is where the heart is, so put your whole heart into yours. If you do this, you can’t go wrong with designing your home.