The first rule in decorating is that there are no rules, except one: your rooms should reflect your taste--not someone else's. In other words, decorate with things you love and that make you happy or your space will never feel truly your own.
I was married for about 15 years with two kids when I had my own major decorating epiphany: I no longer had to decorate as an adult ordinarily does. I could decorate my house as an artist would paint a canvas: for the love of color, texture, composition, and surprise. And so began the evolution of our home from predictable to outrageous, and, ultimately, to great funkiness.
Luckily for me, I had a willing coconspirator: my husband. It is actually safe to say, he likes decorating even more than I. I love hunting and gathering all the glamorous garbage, used items, antiques, flea market treasures, and unusual junk. He likes arranging the stuff I come home with. Therefore, our house is never static. I am always hunting for the unique and oddball, and he is always moving other items around to make room for the incoming, newly acquired stuff. Sometimes he even just moves things around for the fun of it, new items or not.
The room above is our dining room. You can see we like color and funky art work and old stuff. What is that thing in the middle of the table? We have no idea. It is something old and used but what it was used for we do not know. I just saw it, liked the sculptural qualities of it, and figured it would fit into the house somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be a table centerpiece. Here's another dining room view.
Now you know that we also love cookie jars, salt and pepper shakers, folk art, and putting twinkle lights on furniture all year long. Hint: there is decorating power in displaying collections. But more about that next time.
In the meantime? Want to decorate like an artist? That's easy: embrace color and fun and let yourself relax. And first and foremost, try to break rules at every turn.
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