Recently, a friend asked whether I decorated my home the way I wanted, as I mostly used my mom’s belongings after she moved to a smaller place. Would I choose to decorate my house like this?
No, my personal style is different from my mom’s. This conversation convinced me to redecorate and make my home my own for the first time. Here’s how.
1. Start With You
As the saying goes, it starts with you. I began to look at everything I had stuffed my home with. Very little of it reflected me, so it was time to let go. I asked three questions about each item in my space:
- Did I like it?
- Did it serve a function or remind me of something I cherished?
- Did it make me happy to look at it?
If not, I gave it away or disposed of it.
I also embraced the idea of doing it on a shoestring-no-spend budget. I wanted to achieve a comfortable home without bankrupting myself, and while TikTok trends do not drive me, I liked the idea of having an emergency fund or saving money instead of splurging on pretty things.
2. Decide on Your Aesthetic
Once the clutter was gone, I could discover my taste. It took some time to decide what I liked and what I loved. Fortunately, my friend and I are passionate about the same things, which helped me sound out ideas.
I love nature, and decorating with natural items is cost-effective. Using leaves, branches and logs, I followed the cottage-core decor trend, focusing on cosiness. I threw out some dated side tables and replaced them with cut logs topped with glass.
3. Choose Your Color Scheme
Natural shades are my favourite, and I decided to do away with the stark white walls and glow up the space with a coat of paint in spicy cinnamon shades and metallic trimmings. Instead of spending on bulk paint, I played around with a few textures using some left-over craft paint. I revived the walls with a few tasteful dabbed techniques that didn’t take much paint and created a soft linen effect.
I love art, so my creative strategy guided my decision-making toward a nature-based palette. Adding bright red accents and dark chocolate tones with gold trimmings to the rooms emphasized the colour scheme. I also applied a few affordable nature-themed decals on the walls, which is an ideal temporary solution if you rent.
If you’re looking for a wallpaper reflecting this personality, consider Love vs Design’s peel-and-stick ceiling wallpaper with a herringbone pattern. This can add depth to your space while sticking to a polished vibe. Plus, the peel-and-stick collections offer renter-friendly options for anyone.
4. Fix the Ugly Wall
We all have one — an ugly wall. It’s a bare space that’s difficult to dress up, won’t stay hidden and frustrates you. I chose to get rid of my ugly wall by making a gallery out of it.
I had kept some childhood memories in odd, mismatched frames with kitsch objects I collected over the years — like the 20-something hanging hearts — and various other things. My BFF and I painted all the mismatched frames in gold and then added various dried seeds sprayed with deep copper.
Suddenly, the odd memories fit together in a new feature that turned the ugly wall into something pretty — all for the cost of two cans of spray paint. I added the hearts — sprayed in gold — as spacers between the gallery of frames.
5. Add Something Green
I always wanted a living wall to satisfy my biophilia, and the south-facing wall in the living room is ideal for natural light. Saving my budget, I made a planted wall with used crating pallets from the local hardware store, which I got for free since a few had broken slats.
With a bit of paint, motivational phrases and thick garbage bags to line the planting pockets, I had a wall with plenty of greenery. I love herbs because they’re easy to grow and replace seasonally. Long, trailing herbs like creeping rosemary and oregano are ideal choices. These plants look after me as much as I do them. They are excellent at reducing dust and improving indoor humidity levels — plus, I can cook with them.
My Home, My Rules
If you’re tired of your home’s look, it may be time to ask yourself whether you like your decorations, if they serve a purpose and if you’d do it differently if your home had a do-over. It’s your home, and — even with a tight budget — it’s your rules.
