One Decorating Mistake You Must Avoid

Many of the students who join me in my step-by-step decorating course, Style Your Way Home, join me because they’re struggling to decorate their home in a way that feels like them and are often making one big decorating mistake.

I’ve got a feeling you might be making this decorating mistake too, so I need to share this common home design mistake with you…

…in hopes that it might help you get unstuck and moving forward with your decorating and not make you feel like you’ve painted yourself into a corner.

…in hopes that this idea might free you up when it comes to how you think about your decor and give you the freedom to express yourself more freely.

The idea is this…

You should never think of your decor as a “theme.”

That’s right - a home decor style IS NOT a theme.

Themes are for birthday parties, nurseries, and kid’s rooms. Your home however should have a style that is unique to you. And that style should actually include a few different styles mixed together to get that unique to you (and your family) look.

But you should never think of your decor in terms of a theme. Why you ask?

Because themes are boring. They don’t leave any room for different parts of your personality to show through. They’re way too narrow minded.

Not to mention themed decor doesn’t leave any room for your style to evolve over time.

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Picture this.

You love the beach so you decorate your home with a coastal theme. I mean you really go to town. You’ve got seashells galore, rope accents, sailboats, fish, blue, green, tan, jars filled with sand. Heck, you even have some net accents thrown in there.

Then one day you realize that the coastal decor aisle of HomeGoods actually has less coastal decor than your living room and it looks like you are hosting a luau party, not getting ready to watch the game with some friends on a Sunday afternoon.

That and you are liking the gold trend, but fear that it won’t fit in with the shells and nets so nicely. Adding a gold accessory will stick out like a sore thumb so you are stuck.

Adding in even one “off theme” accessory will throw the whole thing off balance and you’ve literally painted yourself into a decorating corner all because you thought of your home decor as a theme.

Decor should never be thought of as a theme just like you wouldn’t think of an outfit like a costume.

Not everything has to match, it just has to go.

Your decor should have a main character, and supporting characters to play off of it. This allows you to showcase different parts of your personality as well as allow you to like different styles as long as they are put together in an intentional way.

Even styles that seem completely opposite can actually compliment each other really well.

Think modern-rustic, industrial-modern, or even country-chic. All opposites. All create really interesting spaces that tell more than one story about a single person.

The key of course is to keep in mind the 80/20 rule, have each item have a buddy, and place the various styles, tones, and textures evenly throughout the space like we talked about in detail in this post: How To Mix Decor Styles With Confidence: 4 Easy Tips.

I believe that home is the most important place on earth and it should feel great and grow with you. I love making our home our favorite place to be and I love teaching you how to do the same.

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P.S. What if I told you there's a whole new (and way easier) way to decorate your home—without the overwhelm, indecision, or endless Pinterest scrolling.