Why Personal Style is Important in Decorating Your Home

Have you ever considered how decorating and interior design are not just about how a room or a home looks, but really, about how you feel in it and how it works for your lifestyle?

In fact how you choose to decorate your home is more about how it makes you feel when you walk in the door. Whether you want to feel excited, relaxed, calm, happy and safe – or perhaps all of these things, all at the same time.

Interior design is very personal and really needs to work for the people who live in the space. I remember as a young girl and teen I was always rearranging my bedroom. Always shifting furniture around, changing the look to achieve a sense of balance and a certain feeling in the room. I really wanted a whole house to play with! I feel the balance in a room – whether the furniture is in the place it needs to be, a rug is placed just where it needs to live, and crooked rugs drive me nuts, just ask my boys! I feel whether the colours are working together, which may mean they are clashing but in the overall scheme, they fit, they work. A bit like my hubby and I who are very different but similar, and we fit, all at the same time.
Colour, light, texture and shapes are all very important in design and that is probably why many of us take time to consider aspects of our homes such as windows, doors, fabric and lamps. These things both bring in and change the light in a room and create a sense of colour, warmth and comfort.

There is really no one way to give a room or a home the tick of approval. It is very personal. Some people find clutter unbearable and say that having a cluttered living space equates to a cluttered life and a cluttered mind. Many people find clearing out their house to create space, a cathartic process for them psychologically. Other people however love the feeling of having lots of clutter. They find comfort in the things that surround them and remind them of the journey.

The thing that is important is how you feel about it, not whether it is suffocating to someone else. If you feel overwhelmed in your own home, then the clutter probably needs to go! If however your home feels cold, empty and not comforting, then there is something missing.

Trends in design are interesting. They often reflect the way our community is travelling – the economic climate, whether there are wars, disasters, times of boom. They reflect how we are evolving as a society. They also fit with trends in other areas, fashion for example. But how can we all like the same things? Imagine an event where 25 women turn up in the same outfit! Tragedy! So why would we all buy the same items to furnish and decorate our homes? Why would we all want the same colours, textures and fittings? Finding one off, locally designed and handmade pieces, making things yourself, or buying second hand pieces, means that you choose the item because it speaks to you. Something about it says yes, this is for me. And that is the best way to design your home and your life, from the heart and all about you.
Do you have a particular style or way of decorating your home that says “YOU”?
Helen
xx