I was recently interviewed and asked to share my decorating 101 advice and thought it would be fun to share my answers here with you on the blog. Each one of these interior decorating questions could use their own blog post to properly answer, but I did my best to succinctly answer each question. If you’re looking for some quick tips and tricks to decorating a home you love, this post is for you!
1. What is the best way to transform a room?
Paint will always be my first solution to any budget decorating problem! However, the quickest, easiest, and most economical way to transform a room is by transforming the walls. Paint, wallpaper, and/or molding will instantly transform any space. In the pictures below, I show how I transformed my bedroom walls in a weekend using wallpaper and paint. Click on my recent post 30+ DIY Accent Walls: Interesting Ways to Transform Your Walls to see some more beautiful examples of how to easily transform the walls of your room.
2. What are the new trends of 2021?
We are seeing a lot of moody colors, rich velvets, and worn earthenware pieces incorporated into the white backdrops this year. Warm wood textures are being added into rooms with slat accent walls, fluted cabinetry, and fluted doors. Fluted design as well as “granny cottage chic” continues to trend. And while I continue to love a neutral color palette, I’m loving the warmth of the new trends and recently added a beautiful green paint to my kitchen island and warm wood beam over the entry: Beautiful DIY Wood Beam Room Divider Tutorial.
3. How would you go about making a room look larger?
To make a room appear larger, I recommend lightening and brightening the space with paint and ground your furniture with a proper-sized rug. Also be sure to hang your curtain rods floor to ceiling to give the illusion of taller ceilings.
4. What do you consider the fundamentals of decorating?
Knowing your decor style, creating a cohesive sense of harmony and balance throughout the home, and knowing how to create focal points in each space are the key fundamentals to good decorating. There is a lot to unpack in those three concepts, but in a nutshell, creating beautiful spaces has a lot to do with having each decor element fit together with the larger whole. When you are true to one decor style, even an eclectic one, creating spaces that feel peaceful, harmonious, and cohesive is easier to obtain.
My style leans most closely towards French Provincial Farmhouse. I incorporate a lot of rustic and elegant pieces throughout my rooms that can easily be mixed and matched with furniture from different spaces in my house and even outdoors. I’ve chosen items that are repetitive, harmonious, and balanced which helps the house feel pulled together and cohesive.
5. Your best advice in restyling an outdated space.
If a complete room makeover isn’t in the budget, refresh the space with paint, peel & stick flooring or wall treatments, and updated soft furnishings. My boys’ bathroom was a space I wanted to completely gut; however, a bathroom remodel wasn’t in the budget. I instead transformed their bathroom with peel and stick wallpaper, paint, and new accessories: Boho Farmhouse Bathroom.
6. What paint palettes are on trend in 2021?
I’m seeing a lot of deep, rich, and earthy paint palettes with muted hues right now. Paint companies change their suggested paint palettes several times a year, so it’s better to decorate with what you love rather than what is currently suggested as the trendy color of the season.
7. What is a 5 minute trick to refresh your tablescape?
I keep hedge clippers on hand at all times to clip free foliage for my table centerpiece! Adding fresh foliage to an ice bucket, or vintage vase will refresh your table in less than five minutes.
8. What is the main purpose behind creating a home that makes you happy?
A beautiful home sets the stage for memories, nurtures and restores our spirit, and acts as the backdrop to our lives as the main character! Everyone’s home should be filled with things that birth joy. I believe home should be a place that nurtures and restores the souls that reside within.
9. What is the best DIY project you ever created?
If you want to improve the appearance of your home, I highly recommend tackling some (safe) DIY projects that you’re completely unqualified to do! In this home, I am currently most proud of the bookshelves my husband and I built in our media room: DIY Built In Bookcase and Cabinets. You can watch the video below to see how we went about creating these!
10. How do you create a cozy home?
While not everyone shares the same decorating aesthetic, most people appreciate a home that feels cozy! I create coziness in the home by surrounding myself with warm woods, soft textiles, good lighting, plants and flowers, and a soothing color palette.
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Great advice! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Great visuals.