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Ready for a home makeover, but have no clue on where to start?
Have you been looking at the same ugly surroundings for so long that it’s making you ill?
If so, I get it – and I completely feel you. Decorating is scary!
Ambiguity is hard to deal with, and therefore, when we don’t have ALL the answers it’s easier to push it off as long as possible.
Don’t feel ashamed because here, there is no judgement. In fact, we moved into our home 9 years ago and I have yet to unpack all of our boxes – one of these has functioned as a makeshift cabinet in my bedroom.
Now I feel like you might be making your judgements of me. Shame, shame.
Someone once told me that perfectionists procrastinate because they want perfection, which never comes if you don’t start with something imperfect.
That might be your problem – but it’s definitely not mine.
I can handle imperfect, sloppy and unorganized just fine. In fact, I envy people who have OCD – I wish my home was always that clean.
The reason I never jumped in to decorating was because I was afraid of wasting time painting a wall or buying some expensive furniture I would end up hating. I am a little commitment-phobic.
I was never motivated enough by any one style to spend the money, time and energy transforming my home – so my home remained a mish-mosh of accumulated styles, hand-me-downs, etc.
That is – until now… Thank you, Pinterest.
Seeing some of the recent trends; homes with bright light colors, beautiful woods, and soft geometric patterns spoke to my soul.
I figured out what I’m drawn to is a mixture of a few styles, namely boho-chic, mid-century modern, and coastal-chic. I guess, as the saying goes – I became woke AF.
Images like the one below all of a sudden sparked that, “my house HAS to look like this,” desire in me. It was no longer a want and now all of a sudden a need.
I think in order to really be motivated to act, something has to stir inside of you. It is the feeling of being in love. With inanimate objects.
suck me, beautiful
You go weak in the knees and get gushy inside over a fucking rug and pendant basket lamp.
That’s what it takes to get that, “I’m gonna decorate the shit out of my house,” fire lit.
If you don’t feel compelled to act, it’s possible you just haven’t seen a style you love yet. Check out the inspo gallery here for some kick-ass designs you can steal borrow from others who clearly know what they are doing.
Okay, so now what? You want to make out with that rug and feel your bottom caressed on that Sherpa chair, but how do you go from desire to reality?
In my former life I was a project manager which requires working backwards from a bigger picture end-state goal – home decorating is no different.
One just has to componentize the process. This is the way.
It’s not that hard if you start small – (that’s what he said).
You could commit to doing a thorough deep-clean on one room and re-arranging its contents, right? I mean when you put it that way – it’s not that big of a deal. N. B. D.
If you’re brave enough to try – these are my suggestions for how to tackle that behemoth home décor transformation you’ve always wanted, in a way that won’t break the bank, and is completely do-able!
The main steps and a break-down of each one is beneath:
- Declutter
- Clean
- Choose Your Theme
- Evaluate What You Have vs. What You Need
- Create a Mock Layout
- Lay The Foundation (paint, rugs)
- Install Fixtures (lighting, curtain rods)
- Furnish (repurpose, buy or DIY)
- Add Finishing Touches (accent pieces, paintings, pampas)
Step 1: Declutter
Basically, move out of your current home. Well, one room. The goal here is to get this room what they call, “show-ready”.
When you are getting your home ready to sell, you should hide all of your personal items; clutter, pictures, knick-knacks, and miscellaneous junk you’ve had strewn about because it never had a proper home.
make these go away
So we’re moving you out, but only do this one room at a time.
Unless you are some kind of God, doing your whole home at the same time is a recipe for disaster – and then you’re going to blame me. Don’t. Do. That.
Place all of that crap your lovely belongings that you’ve been hoarding – into a box, placed in the garage, or in the room you’re not focused on – wherever is best for you that isn’t in the room you are tackling first.
You might need a few of these later on, but if you really want to get that designer home ambiance, you are probably always going to display less.
Gorgeous interiors are simple and minimalist – my opinion – and the rest of the world’s (so proves every magazine or design site).
No matter what theme you pick, having a fresh slate will make it easier for you to visualize your new room design. Since chances are you’ll be painting or laying down a new rug, clearing out as much as possible before you start is going to make life a lot easier.
Step 2: Clean
Once you have removed the clutter and a lot of the existing furniture from a room, you’re going to want to clean everything in that room thoroughly.
Don’t skimp on this step! It’s easy to want to put it off and get to the fun stuff, but the cleaning is important and can actually improve the look of the room without any decorating at all.
Cleaning might also include some minor (or major) repairs, such as repairing broken screens, spackling any wall-holes, or refinishing wood trim – if needed.
Assess any issues with the room and determine the level you want to go to in fixing them.
Vacuuming, mopping, deep-cleaning carpets, and washing windows is mandatory.
You might need to clean the walls and remove any scuff marks or other dirt on the wall. Magic Erasers work great for this purpose.
If you are planning on painting the walls (which I highly recommend, even if you go with the same color) – you will need to use a wall-wash – TSP or similar, to remove any oil or residue that will prevent the paint from adhering properly.
TSP substitute
Step 3: Choose Your Theme
You might opt to do this as a first step, but before you can take any action you will need to assess and clear out your space, so that’s why Step 1 and 2 are critical.
By choosing your theme, I mean start to put colors and styles together that make sense for your home.
A color board is a great way to get started – deciding upon color will give you a lot of direction for which pieces you will want to (or can) include.
Maybe you’ve been collecting Pinterest pins on beautiful styles you love and you already have a lot of what you want your room to look like defined.
If not, I recommend to start a vision board or Pinterest board, grabbing as many key features that you love as possible options.
This is your project, so you do you – if magazines are your thing – go to the Goodwill and pick up home décor magazines (they are cheap there – like .25 cents each) and clip out the various pages, furnishings, lights, etc. that you love and pin them up.
Step 4: Evaluate
Now is a great time to go through and decide what you might want to donate or sell.
Compare what you have to the vision board/collections you have put together. Hang on to any pieces that might be salvageable, but learn to let go of stuff that no longer serves any useful purpose and doesn’t complement your look.
Based on the theme you picked in Step 3, see if you can repurpose any accessories or furniture in your redesign.
Here’s your chance to get creative with the process and think about your existing furnishings in a new way. If feasible, try to upcycle instead of discarding and buying new.
If you need some inspiration, do what I always do – go to Pinterest (my home inside of home).
Now is a great time to think about any items you will be building or DIY-ing, even if you don’t have a starting place.
You don’t have to have all of the answers, but if you know your taste levels are super expensive and you are on a tight budget, you are going to want to figure out what you can buy on the cheap that will still look good or what might be do-able to make yourself.
In this step you will also want to measure everything – your walls, the windows, door, etc.
You will need measurements to do the next step: A Mock Layout.
Step 5: Mock Layout
Now that you have some ideas of how you want your home to look, you will want to customize your designs for the space you have to work with.
The technology involved in being able to simulate your designs in the space you have to work with has come a long way and is very advanced.
There are expensive design programs to do this, and cheap programs.
But, my favorite – are of course – free mock-up programs!
Read the full post to see which free Room Design mock-up program is right for you.
Unless you need a very sophisticated software or furnishings, you can probably get your basic layout concepts visualized with any of these free programs:
This will give you a generic concept you can work towards.
I have even done mockups in photoshop back in the day when these free programs weren’t available – and that works fine too.
Even a hand-drawn sketch can help in a pinch, it’s just to give you some rough visuals to set as a goal. You don’t have to be a professional artist to get tons of benefit from some visual aids.
Based on what you want your room to look like, using the pieces you already have or pieces you want – order the furniture and fixtures you need to complete your look.
If you are ordering furniture, this step is a good time to do that if it will take a bit to show up.
Step 6: Lay the Foundation
Your foundation is the walls and floor – so this should be the first thing you tackle.
It’s really hard to decorate around these 2 areas, so do them while you have all of the other items cleared out or pushed to the side.
If you are confused on what color you want – you are not alone.
I have another post on picking white paint – but if you’re going for another color the TL;DR version is – SWATCHES. Never EVER ever ever get paint without swatching the room first.
A consideration point in choosing paint is to match the fabric on the furniture you have or have ordered, so that you can ensure the paint works with that fabric. It’s much easier to change paint colors than to re-upholster couches, chairs, and headboards.
Floors should follow a similar process – buy one of the tile, hardwood or laminate or a sample of the rug – most of your more reputable companies will offer these. Home stores like Lowe’s have rug samples. Get something close if you can’t match it exactly.
Then paint / install or have it done for you.
Step 7: Install Fixtures
This is where your new room starts coming together.
There are some definite tricks for getting that “designer” feel with your fixtures – but this is just a step-by-step from a generic step standpoint – I can go into more detail on another post.
Your fixtures will include any attached lighting units, sinks and plumbing accessories, cabinets, curtain rods and anything else that is permanently “fixed” within the room (I love it when words mean what they say). All words should be that simple – I’m looking at you onomatopoeia.
Fixtures don’t include artwork or curtains – basically, if it can be moved or removed without tools, it’s not a fixture (home sellers – this typically means you leave your fixtures with the sale of the house.)
So, if you’re using a screwdriver to get it in or on, you are probably putting in a fixture.
Step 8: Furnish
If fixtures and the foundation were the dry cake, your furniture is the buttercream frosting to that cake.
Okay, that is a horrible analogy. Hopefully, your empty room doesn’t look in any way like cake and if furniture has anything white and sticky on it – it should be immediately returned or thoroughly cleaned.
By this step if you followed the other steps in this checklist, you should already have furniture ready to be moved in to this room.
So this is just placing them in the spots you have designated.
It may require a bit of tweaking and positioning to get them exactly where you feel they look right.
Step 9: Finishing Touches
By now your room should be looking pretty stinking cool – and you’re probably gloating about what a great job you did and might be considering a new career as a professional decorator.
At least, I HOPE that’s the case.
But, don’t forget those little accent pieces that can really enhance the look and feel of the room. These can be things like artwork, candles, even a stack of books can give a whole new vibe to a living space.
It doesn’t take much to give your room a “pop” of something special – and some people prefer to build an entire room around one focal piece.
But, if you don’t already have something in mind, plants are a great way to freshen up a space.
Interesting artwork – even just a self-printed design from Etsy can give your atmosphere that chic, magazine-worthy look.
Just Start – Somewhere
I know how daunting this whole thing can be. Even reading about it can cause a bit of anxiety.
But the important thing to remember is it won’t ever happen if you don’t start somewhere.
Take a weekend where you have a few extra hours and go through some of the initial steps of cleaning and decluttering. Play around with the design software listed in this post.
The smallest changes can sometimes have the biggest impact – but you have to be committed to try.
Don’t give up on momentum, if you have made it this far, you’re on your way to that new, modern, renovated room or whole house redo that will give you a newfound love of the home you’ve neglected for so long.
Find your inspiration and then have fun with it – until then, Happy Decorating!
