How you feel in your home is so important. A lot of the time, when people talk about interior house design it can be easy to make it sound frivolous or negligible. The truth is, there’s nothing unimportant about the environment that you’re in on a day to day basis. These are 5 simple design tips for home to help you bring joy to your everyday.
Cultivating an environment that makes you feel good and helps you create rituals and moments within your life that improve the everyday is so special.
And the process of designing your home can be really enjoyable too, if you embrace it and make it your own. Let’s get into these 5 simple design tips for home that will make you fall in love with your space.
1. Embrace all of the senses
Interior design often focuses on the visual elements of home, but there is so much more to our human experience than that. And let’s embrace it, because it can make life so much better! Think of all of the senses when you are designing your space. How do you want to experience your space? Think about what you want to see, smell, feel, hear, and taste.
It may feel silly to think about this all at first, but trust the process! And have fun with it. It’s supposed to help you understand what you value in your home space so that you can bring that into your everyday. The sensory experience that you create will define home for you and your family.
Scents are so important to me, and of course it’s amazing when there are scents like fresh baked cookies coming from your kitchen, but there is even more to it than that. Carrying scent into spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms is also really special in defining what home means to you. Using materials that naturally have a scent to them can help with this. Candles and diffusers also go a long way!
Don’t forget about all of the different materials out there that have a certain smell to them. This is one of the more subtle ways to bring smell into your space. For example, I have a wooden charcuterie board that I love to use, and it has this very rich pine smell. I always notice it when I take it out to use! Fresh flowers is always a nice touch as well. I love mixing up what flowers I buy and enjoying them seasonally.
One of the best aspects of considering different scents that you want in your home is that you can play with the seasonality of different scents. And you don’t have to stick to the same one! Experimenting here to see what you like most is key.
Touch is another sense that is so fundamental to making your home your own. Having soft textiles and embracing how tactile we are as humans takes your home to the next level. I love using rugs, blankets, pillows, and even materials like leather and wood to incorporate touch into the home experience. Having a variety of textures and materials is so fun to look at and feel.
2. Take your time
Often when it comes to designing your space, it may feel like you’re in a rush to do things all at once. But slow down and take your time as much as you can. Rushing the process often results in making decisions and spending money in a way that you don’t really like.
Taking your time to find pieces that you love is so worth it. The best part of the whole process is when you find pieces you love that fit together and make them even better. My favorite way to find inspiration for decor that fits together in a way that feels unique is by looking at vignettes. I even have a board on Pinterest dedicated to this!
My Vignettes Pinterest board is my go-to place to figure out what styling I can replicate in my own home. It helps me take things one step at a time, because these little vignettes focus on one small corner or area.
I know “take your time” can sometimes be the most annoying advice ever. But taking the pressure off can help you make long term decisions that you will really enjoy. I know it’s hard! I can be so impatient, so I’m right there with you.
3. Collect things that you love
There’s nothing better than a space that has a collected feel โ as if it has been curated beautifully over time. And bonus points if that’s actually the case! This one of my most tried and true design tips for home.
One of my favorite ways to give your home a collected, eclectic feel is with gallery walls! This dreamy staircase is such a gorgeous example of mixing and matching different frames and art to create a gallery wall.
Once again, I am here for you with a Pinterest board for more inspiration. My Gallery Walls Pinterest board is full of ideas โ from where to put gallery walls and different ways to make them reflect your own personal style.
And um, hello? Garland Collections! My entire business centers around the idea that curated collections make life so much better. It gives your home unique character and reflects who you are. Experimenting here is so crucial, because that is the beauty of collections โ you can swap things in and out as your own style evolves.
4. Cultivate contrast
Contrast is a cornerstone of well designed spaces. I watched an episode of the show Abstract on Netflix the other day that was all about Ilse Crawford, and I drew so much inspiration from it. She described how she brought white onyx into a space, which has a cool and luxurious feel. In order to cultivate contrast, she said that she searched for its exact opposite, and found a soft velvet to pair it with. I love this example, because it helps you start thinking about contrast with materials.
You will often hear designers talk about mixing masculine and feminine styles, and usually when they say this it is code for contrast! This list of home styling tips would not be complete without touching on this.
This pin of a beautiful bathroom is a great example of mixing masculine and feminine styles. The dark color on the walls with the white and brass exposed sink and flowers draws you in immediately because of how different they are from one another, but how well they bring out the beauty in each other.
Think of opposites when you’re thinking about how to add contrast to your space. What is a light color and dark color combination that you love? Are there two opposing materials like marble and jute that you are drawn to? There are so many different ways to bring contrast into your space, and it’s really important because it is what you will notice first.
As humans, we are wired to notice contrast. So playing into that is really helpful for your design, especially if you can use a combination that feels uniquely yours.
5. Don’t forget your walls
Home design often starts with a big focus on function, and this is totally fair. You need places to sleep, eat, sit, work, and relax. But you also need things that you can look at, admire, and use to express your own personal style. Art is the perfect way to do that in your home. Hanging up framed art and photos will completely transform how you feel in your home.
I wrote a blog post all about framing your art and photos that you can click here to read. It will help walk you through the process of getting art framed, which can be super frustrating if you aren’t sure how to go about it.
As you can see, in this photo I was hanging up a canvas without a frame. This can work really well! Art does not always need a frame. Especially paintings on canvas that wrap around the edge like this one does. If the edge is not painted, I usually prefer to put it in a frame.
So, are you convinced yet? There’s nothing unimportant about the design of your home. It matters, and how it makes you feel matters most. The interior spaces we live in are so integral in our lives. We spend so much time inside and at home. Spending a little bit of extra time on making your home beautiful and reflect who you are will make you feel so good in your space. It’s always worth it.
I hope that these home styling tips helped you understand how to design your home in a way that you love.
This post was all about design tips for home. Thanks for reading! See you back here on Thursday for the next blog post.
If you’re in need of more inspiration, be sure to follow @garlandcollections on Pinterest and Instagram. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this page to join the Garland Collections email list!
