I can remember from as young as 10-year-old constantly dreaming up a way to redesign the room I was sitting in. Taking in the furniture layout and decor and dreaming up ways to switch it up. From there it moved to DIYing my bedroom desk (mod podge that sheet music on!), hot gluing flowers onto anything, and picking out paint colors for the bedroom.
After marrying young, we moved into a small farmhouse that was lovingly nicknamed “The Rainbow House”. Every small room in that house was 100% different. Bold red and gold here, aqua blue and white there. I enjoyed the process of planning each room, adding finishing touches, and moving furniture. The options for decorating a space were endless and I wanted to try them all.
Looking back I can see why it didn’t take me long to grow tired of the house and feel the itch to repaint or rearrange. All of the different styles, color palettes and furniture in my home didn’t flow together. Was it a farmhouse? Or a contemporary New York loft? I couldn’t seem to figure it out and felt confused and overwhelmed. It was obvious I needed to change things, but was lost on where to start, or why the current attempts at decorating weren’t working out.
The secrets to a well-styled home seemed to be locked away somewhere. I would dig through design magazines and books. Making notes, tearing out my favorites, deciding which room would get the next makeover. And when Pinterest showed up I would pin away my favorite homes, with total disregard to what is or is not realistic for my space. I was collecting tiny scraps of information, but what do I do with all of it?
“The best paint color for every home is here!”
“You’ll want this amazing kitchen!”
“These are the best tile patterns for your home!”
I saved all of the ideas.
After years of digging around, I suddenly realized that I was missing the biggest piece of the home design puzzle. I wasn’t starting with a plan and then a solid foundation. I would find something that caught my eye, and decide to put it in my own home. With no regard to the style or colors of my home. It was time to stop thinking about styling the walls and start at the beginning.
So I came up with a plan: learn about different design styles for the home, pick what works best for my house and then start at the beginning with the foundation in my own home.
But I was stuck. How do I find all of this information?
After trying to piece together some parts here and there I decided to take an online course and study the basics of home design and styles. Then I moved on to training as a True Color Expert. Once I had a more solid grasp of the foundation of design I was ready to tackle working on my own home.
I started with one room in my house: the laundry room. It would fit within my newfounded design style, and I would focus on building a solid foundation for the room. The result is perfect. It meets all of my needs, and the design completely aligns with the style we are focusing on in our home.
Now there is a process in place for designing a room that aligns with my style and meets all of our needs. And the same process has been used to help others design a space that they love. There is value in creating a home with beauty and function.