The Best Decorating Advice & Tips to Your Authentic Style

Ladies,

I love decorating advice so much that I enjoy decorating podcasts, blogs, home & garden books and magazines, and how about a good old cruise on Pinterest? But you know what I also love? I love just decorating with what I like. And guess what, I would even call the decorating advice that I go against helpful decorating advice. Why? Because different perspectives help us see something differently and different perspectives help us to analyze why we do or do not ultimately like something.

What do you actually like?

I want to encourage you to decorate in spite of the trends and current decorating advice but also in light of it. How can it be both? It is both because when you understand the reason behind the advice, you can then decide whether you genuinely like what they dislike or if this is a good warning against something.

Decorate in spite of decorating advice

The goal is to not let the advice steer you like their ship. To discover what you actually like you need to have a sense of freedom to “sail in the direction of your dreams”.

Decorate in light of decorating advice

However, everyone needs to sail taking safety precautions. I think that’s a good analogy of why we need design perspective but once we consider it, we can determine if we just like our “outdated” matching bed set for instance. Which, I do. And to make it even more shocking, I bought it at Walmart.

Have you trained your artistic eye?

When you can identify what is nice looking by exposing yourself to high end, vintage, and quality products, you don’t need anyone telling you that something looks good, especially an expensive store based on them carrying it and the high price tag denoting its worth. With enough training of your artistic eye by being around quality items and comparing the difference between cheap looking things and quality looking things, you can walk into most affordable stores and pick out the best-looking items there or frankly, the ones that could be sold at higher end stores.

When what’s “outdated” is a favorite for you

Not only has matching bed sets been declared out, but damask print has been declared out. My matching bed set is a damask print making this a double outdated faux pas! But damask is never out in my world. Damask is a timeless print for what I am inherently drawn to and as a fabric aficionado, I declare that this advice has no place in my decor. You see, I think much of what is “in style” is downright unattractive. We all have our decor opinions. Decorating takes knowing your own opinions and staking your flag on your own “damask prints”.

But wait, there’s more to my decorating “crimes”

I agree with this decorating advice that a couple of my favorite bloggers have declared: “Scrolly metal is out”. So why did I buy these scrolling metal lamps? Because I liked them. They happened to be the perfect height, a matching pair, with the perfect tan linen drum shade (this color shade diffuses the light into a beautiful soft pinkish coral color), and gorgeous gold bow finials on top.

They looked European chic to me. The rustic rough metal in an elegant shape just looked nice. I did not buy scrolly metal wall art a la 2007 like these decorators warn against. But I admit, I still think some of those look pretty. I agree however, the era of scrolly metal everything is better reigned in.

Unless you find a beautiful scrolly metal table

One night I had the funniest epiphany that not only were my bedroom lamps scrolly metal (against decorator’s advice) but so was my sitting area table across from the bed! I never equated “scrolly metal” to being “scrolly metal” as a base on a table until the decorator on my podcast specifically mentioned getting rid of her “scrolly metal coffee table” because the base was this design!

I love my little coffee sitting area and will not be getting rid of this gem of a table. I specifically love the scrolly metal legs. This is one of those pieces I would think was beautiful no matter what was declared about it.

I even go against my own best decorating advice

“Never buy chippy painted furniture” is a mantra that I adhere to because I am naturally drawn to things that are not dingey. I love some natural age on unpainted furniture, that’s different. The whole point of paint to me is that you can cover up defects, not use it to create them. I like painted furniture that is painted nicely and fully. Natural aging to unpainted wood furniture, even textiles, can be beautiful to me, but not painted items.

But then I saw a refurbished matching pair of nightstands in a light pastel grey/blue, a natural wood stained top, with lovely gold hardware that shows through a chippy look. Yet when I saw them, I instantly loved these! So I went with it. I threw out my mantra because they had a beautiful shape and looked pretty and princessy. Plain and simple I liked them. A hard bias can be the enemy of something you just simply like.

The bottom has a scallop which lifts the piece up off the floor a bit, keeping these nightstands from looking so blocky and heavy. This is a feature that I really appreciate about French pieces of furniture. I like legs on furniture because it keeps things from looking too heavy, especially next to a bed with a skirt that is one giant block to the floor.

I love the two roomy drawers for my accoutrements, and I loved how the bottom drawer has rounded sides giving this piece a bit of feminine elegance instead of all straight lines. The corners were adorned with floral wood embellishments and the upper trim beneath the wood top had a carved border. The top was exquisitely stained in a neutral toned not too gray, not too warm finish that complimented the delicate wood veining nicely.

I’m a ruffled bed skirt girl even though this is far from being “in”

Even though this item is not necessarily a hard “outdated” look, sometimes the things we like are not necessarily “in” either. I think everyone has a “ruffled bed skirt” kind of preference item. One that is just beautiful to them. It might not be what designers are telling you to do but it’s also not being bashed. There is a lot of personal preference in decor to lean into even if suddenly it is the hot item or everyone decides it’s hideous. Certain long-term preferences that you never tire of regardless of trends makes your decor your decor.

Symptoms of “viral decorating”

It is so easy to want to do something “right” that we only decorate by what’s current, or, “viral”. When women can look around one day and decide to sell everything and start over with a completely different look, chances are you caught a decorating bug and were never quite in tune with your authentic style. While we all change our minds and pivot here and there, and that’s half the fun of design, I wouldn’t say it’s ever as drastic as my entire style changing from say, shabby chic to modern. When people go from one extreme to another, chances are they are decorating based on other people’s style and not on their own.

Hopefully this gets you on the right track thinking through what you personally like and decorating with your authentic style.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Romans 12:2

Happy decorating!