Let’s Talk Personal Style In Decorating

When I first started blogging, I had a series of posts called, She’s Got Style. I no longer have the series on my blog, but I was reminded of it when I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a reader who wrote after reading my post about giving a unique name to your decorating style.

She loved the idea, but stated that she can’t seem to define what she likes to even come up with a style and then a name for it.

She asked if I could offer any tips that would help her do this – to be able to find the confidence to decorate in her own unique way and then be able to claim it and name it as a style all her own.

Further down in the post, I am showcasing 6 home decorating bloggers that I think have a style all their own. You know personal style when you see it and want it for yourself. Keep reading to get on the right path to finding and naming your unique to you decorating style.

Decorating Inspiration vs Imitation

Before we delve more into the topic of decorating with personal style, I want to clarify the difference between “inspiration” and “imitation” when it comes to finding decorating ideas for your home.

When Instagram and Pinterest came on the home decorating scene, “inspiration” slowly changed the idea of what it means to actually be inspired. Instead what has happened is the way homes are decorated have been becoming more and more identical.

We have fallen into a “group think” mentality – which is the need one feels to fit in, that they have to do the same as everyone else.

When it comes to developing your personal style in decor or anything you do in life, do the opposite of “group think” and look within, authenticity is key!

It may seem easier to just copy to achieve a look, but in the end the rooms you decorate will most likely lack depth and personality and you could end up not even feeling at home in your own home.

Finding Inspiration in Decorating Photos or Rooms

Here are a few ways that can help you figure out what you like when it comes to decorating your home.

When browsing through a decorating book, magazine, social media feed, are out shopping for furnishings or in someone’s home, ask yourself:

What do you see that catches your eye? – When you look at the furnishings, decorative items, colors and moods you like, gather them in one place so you can see them as a whole. Write down the words you would use to describe each item or take photos of each with your phone.

Include the colors, textures, feeling, age, condition, patterns, materials, and any other information about the items or the gathered items as a whole that comes to mind.

It can be anything – the sheen of the hardware on a cabinet to the soft way fabric is draped over a curtain rod. Take note of the details that make your brain light up.

Is there a common thread to these items? Is it the color or color palette you like? For instance, items that are white, have aged metallic parts, or have texture. List the details of these items. Maybe it’s nothing specific, but more of the feeling of the items, room or decor evokes in you – make note of all these feelings.

Is everything new, old, or a mix? Does it have a strong or soft color palette. Is it neutral, eclectic, rustic, traditional, modern or a complete mish-mash of all of the noted styles of decorating? 

It is fine if the items and colors you gravitate towards don’t fit into any one decorating style category or another. When you remove popular decorating style labels from your mind, some of the pressure to fit into one goes with it.

After finding items, colors and furnishings you like, it is now just as important to remove the things in a room that don’t fit into your list of words or simply you really don’t love. These can interfere with “your look” you are trying to create.

Whatever the items, colors and feelings you lean toward, know that they are your style! Go with them and continue to build upon it.

Once you find the confidence to decorate in a way that feels right for you, even if it is not “hip”, “trending”, or what some self-proclaimed decorating authority considers “in”, your style will begin to emerge.

She’s Got Style

Every home blogger decorates their home in beautiful ways, but not all of them do it with as much aplomb as the bloggers I am featuring in this post. They have personal style in spades. Each decorates in a style that is quite different from one another, which in my mind, is what personal style is truly about.

By just glancing at photos of their homes in a feed, you immediately know whose home it is because of the way it is decorated and styled. When I see personal style like this, I say to myself, “She’s Got Style” and I want to know more about them.

None of the bloggers I am featuring are famous, have a show on HGTV, written a best selling decorating book or have unlimited funds to decorate. But what they do have are homes that are all beautifully decorated, inviting, interesting and best of all – stylishly unique to them.

These women can go to a flea market or HomeGoods and see something and grab it, knowing it is perfect for them. They have no need to ask a friend, “What do you think of this?” As long as they like it, it doesn’t matter if anyone else gets it.

They have developed confidence in adding their own stamp on everything they do in such a way that it all seamlessly goes together in their homes perfectly.

When they do buy furnishings from designer catalogs, they don’t put together the decor in a room so it is replicated floor to ceiling to resemble a photo in a catalog. Instead, they pick one or a few items and put their style stamp on it one way or another.

Along with their personal style, they also have learned how to use the elements of design so everything they bring into their home is used or placed in ways that doesn’t neglect the design elements.

These elements are balance, symmetry, proportion, texture, contrast, emphasis, repetition, rhythm, pattern, white space, variety, and unity.

Don’t Do This

When browsing blogs, magazines and social media feeds, don’t overlook a blogger’s style or an image if you know that you don’t like that style, the colors or whatever.

Instead, even though the overall style may not be for you, look closely at the details and how they use color, pattern and style items together. Think about how you can arrange, group and style what you own in similar ways.

Take your time to browse around the posts on the blogs I have featured (links to each are under the photos) and I am sure you will agree with me that each has a unique take on how to decorate a room. Nothing cookie cutter, no imitation – just authentic personal decorating style shining through.

Emily A. Clark – Style: Colonial Glam

Emily’s style leans toward classic traditional, but with a little modern glam and a rainbow of colors and myriad patterns mixed in.

Emily’s Decorating Style Tips

I’m a bargain hunter, pattern lover and habitual re-arranger. I love taking the big decorating ideas I see online and in magazines and breaking down the details so that they are less intimidating and more doable.

Yvonne at StoneGable – Style: Redefined Country

Yvonne at StoneGable calls her style, Redefined Country. No one else I know does elegant, but casual beige and white rooms like she does. Even though her home interiors are mostly done in a neutral beige color palette – it is never boring!

She mixes shades of beiges and whites in a masterful way. Her secret to her success at putting the beiges together is the study of contrasts between the lights and the darker accents in the room as well as a mix of textures and a pop of color with seasonal greens or florals.

Yvonne’s Decorating Style Tips

Moving from a big farmhouse to a downsized home on a golf course (still in the same area) was a huge shift in my style. Our home did not work with the farmhouse style I was used to and loved.

It has taken me almost four years to find and embrace my new style. However, as I have become more comfortable with my new transitional style in the Tanglewood House, I feel my style is ‘Redefined Country’!

Our home still pays homage to the beautiful bucolic area we live in, but works for our more contemporary open-concept home. Sometimes, you have to redefine your style and make it all your own! We are never really done decorating!

Now It’s Your Turn

As you can see, each of the bloggers I shared in this post decorate their home in their uniquely individual style that sets them apart. Like me, they are passionate about decorating in their own style and wouldn’t even think about doing it in any other way.

If you are struggling to find your personal decorating style, following the bloggers tips will get you closer to pinpointing what you like and in turn will give you the freedom to style the items you love in new ways while appreciating them in a whole new way.

Working through finding what works for you may take time. You may not even see your style evolving yourself, but others will and they may even come up with a name for you. So keep at it.