My Design Style

The other day as I was browsing on Pinterest I came across an interesting pin:  How To Overcome Decorating Paralysis.  It’s a series of posts that outline how to develop your own sense of style while decorating your home.  I recommend it.

I’ve never taken too much thought into the actual style of how I decorate.  I’m mindful of colors, but not really style.  Plus, living in an apartment limits things.  Not only do I have no power to change things I don’t like about my home, I also hate to emotionally and intellectually invest very much into a very temporary living situation.  Seeing as we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll get into a real house this summer, I figure now is a good time to start defining my style.

The first step in the style-development process was coming up with some words that describe how you want your home to look/feel/function, and then narrow it down to about five.  After some careful consideration, I chose these words:

Colorful, inviting, interesting, versatile, clean, and simple.

The way I confirmed that this is “my style” is by looking around my apartment for my favorite decorative items.  My favorites were easily described by most of my style words.

For example:

The window.  It’s so versatile.  Right now I have scrapbook paper stuck behind with pictures floating on top.  However, I can change the pictures, ditch the pictures, change the scrapbook paper, ditch the paper, etc.  So many possibilities.  It’s not very colorful right now, but I can make it more colorful if I choose.  It’s interesting because, well, big windows mounted on the wall tend to make a statement.  Clean and simple are hard to explain, but the window is both.

The orange lamp.  I bought it from TJ Maxx a few years ago on a weird impulse, but I don’t regret it at all.  I like the pop of orange (colorful), and the interesting pineapple-like design.  The basic white shade adds an element of simplicity, but I could easily change up the shade or spray paint the lamp a different color (versatile).

The candy machine.  We picked this up last summer at a consignment store, and I’ve been meaning to fill it with something fun ever since.  Any (inexpensive) ideas?  Anyway, it’s an unexpected interesting item that has some good color.  And yet it’s still really simple.  The ability to change up what’s inside makes it versatile, and it’s something that could work in several different rooms in the house—it’s on the mantle in my living room now mostly because it matches the couch, but it would also be fun in the kitchen or in a kid’s bedroom.

Anyway, I digress.  It was kind of an enlightening experience to assess the things I already have and gives me slightly more direction when making future decorating plans or shopping for décor.  My next step is to find lots of home décor pictures on Pinterest that fit my style.  Yet another reason to peruse Pinterest!