5 REASONS YOU THINK YOU CAN’T DECORATE
I can’t tell you how many times that I have heard someone say, “I can’t decorate”. Guess what? You actually can! There are many roadblocks you may come up against, but I am here today to help you overcome them and start creating a home that you love! So let’s look at the most common reasons you might think you can’t decorate and how to break free of these obstacles!
So you think you can’t decorate? I’ll show you that you can!!!!
Decorating is like getting in shape. It takes time and practice and you have to work at it learning new things about decorating. We have to flex our decorating muscle to create a beautiful home.
Here are five reasons that you might think you can’t decorate…
FEELING BAD
Sometimes people think they can’t decorate because they don’t feel particularly great about themselves. Feeling bad can bleed into so many areas of our lives and home and is certainly one reason we think we can’t decorate.
When we are feeling overwhelmed with life and not feeling the best about ourselves it is hard to create beauty around us.
This is the time to take any energy you have and turn it loose onto messes in your home! Try de-cluttering! Any room… and mess! You’ll feel a little stress lifted off your shoulders. Decluttering can be therapeutic!
Did you know I declutter my home in 15 minutes a day, almost every day? See How To Declutter Your Home in 15-Minutes A Day and get my declutter worksheet.
Another mood lifter is to bring home a bouquet of flowers for your kitchen table or for a glass right beside your bed. You’ll instantly feel uplifted. And by the way… you totally deserve the flowers! And if you can’t get real flowers investing faux flowers. They work their magic on how we feel too!
See How To Make Faux Flowers Look More Realistic and How To Care For Cut Flowers So They Look Nice Longer.
Not many of you may know that a few years ago I went through the roughest time in my life. I had eleven surgeries over a four-month period, had had a pic line and iv antibiotics for 8 weeks, and had been in a wheelchair for over 18 months.
I’ve been in and out of the hospital and in and out again. Each time I worked from my hospital bed.
I had been in a very serious battle to save my left foot and my life. I’m finally coming out the other end of this rough time. It’s taken a few years. During these times decorating was really hard but in the end, made me feel better and gave me a creative outlet!
I KNOW how it feels to not feel good and at times not feel good about oneself.
But listen… be good to yourself if you are not at your best. Give yourself grace and give extra grace to all those around you! Everyone is going through something. Remember that! Pray for others and yourself!
And if you are like me and love your home don’t get discouraged. Carve out little areas to beautify! Create little sanctuaries!
COMPARISON
So many of us suffer from the negative effects of comparing ourselves to others. Have you ever visited someone’s home and just loved what they have done and feel like you would never be able to do that? You are not alone, friends.
Instead of seeing your friend’s homes as something you’ll never have, take what you love about the home and let it inspire you for changes you’d like to see made in your own home. You could even take it a step further and ask your friend for help. They would love it and you would have something to do together.
We can find comparisons on line and in magazines. These images of beautiful homes are there to inspire you and to help give you ideas.
Comparison is the death of creativity and inspiration. So when you feel those bad defeated feeling of comparison sneaking up on you call it what it is, a lie, and move forward. Don’t get stuck in the comparison rut!
TOO BUSY TO DECORATE
Is your time limited? Every season of life is different, and we often find ourselves with no free time to spruce up our home.
I totally understand! But here’s what I keep in mind during those busy times. Decorating is NOT remodeling. Decorating can be something little!
Decorating can be as simple as a new kitchen towel, a pretty pillow for the sofa or even rearranging the books on a bookshelf to make it more pleasing to the eye.
Even the smallest touches can bring great joy to a room.
I’m a big believer that less is best when creating a beautiful home! Please read LESS IS BEST DECORATING if your time is limited or budget is small!
TOO LITTLE SPACE
When you live in a small space, you may feel too cramped to make any decorating changes. Small space decorating is actually one of my favorite things to do! Do a quick clean up of your small space and then surround yourself with the things you love.
Sometimes even really large pieces make a smaller space feel so impactful. The key to small space decorating is “less is more” and keep it tidy.
You might like to see How To Make A Small Room Live Large.
5. TINY BUDGET
Forgive me if I sound like a broken record from some past posts, but decorating does not have to be expensive. Shop your home for things to use in another way. You won’t believe how fresh a room can look until you try moving a piece of furniture from one room to another. Magic!
Add a coat of spray paint to something to create an entirely new aesthetic. You can even shop thrift stores and yard sales for inexpensive items that will bring great changes to a room.
It’s all about being creative! Pinterest is full of decorating ideas on a budget!
You might lie to read How To Decorate Your Home Inexpensively for lots of budget friendly ideas.
I’m sure there are other reasons you may have for not being able to decorate but I bet most of them can be debunked! Just get started! Once you dig in and start to enjoy the process of decorating in your home you will see how easy and enjoyable it can be.
Thanks for the uplifting message. Your home is lovely and I truly enjoy all of your posts. Glad to know that you are feeling better.
Good morning Yvonne, Hope you had a lovely Mothers Day weekend.
I have found that the easiest way to make my room look great is to change my rug. With all the beautiful yet inexpensive rugs online I can totally change the mood of a room and get a new look each season. Then by shopping my home for accessories that pick up the colors of my new rug and adding a bouquet of fresh flowers I am done. Decorating our homes should be fun not a chore.
Your first section on feeling bad really hit home. Sometimes we go through such a bad patch. I feel that God has forsaken me. Yet I have to laugh not only because I have the same bedspread and shams, but the very same cat too. She thinks I bought that for her!
I just changed out the art in my bedroom, switching with the guest room. It was such a simple move but my bedroom feels refreshed. My winter duvet, shams & throw pillows (clashing colors) will have to be changed come fall but I need a change in any case.
I find it so easy to pick up and put things in their place throughout the day so clutter never builds up and one last look around before bed has me waking up every morning to a clean, tidy house.
Always great advice, Yvonne.
Such good advice!
I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day. I have been following your blog for awhile now and love the way you decorate! My home was decorated in the Tuscan decor since we built our home in 2005 and I loved it. Since Covid hit and staying home a lot it has become too busy and outdated! We will be hiring painters to paint our very expansive family room/kitchen combo. We have 22 ft vaulted ceilings and the room faces north with one wall full of windows and French doors. I know you painted your Tanglewood home simply white and I love that color. Do you get a gray cast on your north facing rooms? I really don’t like gray at all.
White is both a beautiful and complicated color. It changes and is so lovely different times of day and in different light. Any paint does that. Try paint on your walls to see how they react with the light. It’s individual to each room and home.
I saw LED sconce candles in a picture but cannot find again.
Pease share where you purchased.
I’ve looked for pre lit tapers for a long time.
Thank you
Barb
Not all battery operated candles are the same. I love Luminara candles. See mine here:https://rstyle.me/+OxiGMk2Ku4mgeLcppoAnhw
Yvonne, I have another reason I can’t decorate, it’s called retirement. For 38 years I have decorated and re decorated and my husband wouldn’t notice sometimes for a month or more. Now that he is retired he seems to notice everything!!! He also has opinions about everything as well, making it difficult to decorate without making compromises, we recently purchased a recliner for him, I thought we would never agree, finally found one at Ethan Allen, that we could agree on. I really like your round table choice that you recently posted in a previous blog. Thank you for your blog and I’m glad you are doing better, I have followed your blog for several years and never knew you were having such difficult times. I have been on a medical journey for the last 16 months and even the smallest changes can lift the spirit.
Thank you for this post! I have been frozen from making any decisions on redeocrating my home for fear of making a mistake. The longer I’ve been indecisive, the worse I have felt about myself. Your post of 5 reasons we think we can’t decorate was a God send. Thank you. I’m going to let go of the fear and make my house a home.
Oh, Pat! I know that fear! So many women are afraid to make a mistake. I have tons of posts about how to decorate. You should really look StoneGable over. Many of my readers say these posts have really helped them.
As far as cost and small space, which can be related to each other, I am a devoted lifelong fan of thrift store shopping. I have found non knickknacky items that have been wonderful in this small forever house. I have found Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, West Elm, Restoration Hardware, and other expensive stores’ items in thrift stores. I found my Pottery Barn 4 seat wood dining table there, among many other great furniture items, too. I think when I declutter, it looks better in here without even buying anything, for a small house. I focused on buying a few statement items rather than small knicknacks. I think it actually comes out a similar cost to buy one statement item that might be bigger or nicer quality versus all the tiny knicknacks it can be easy to buy just where you collect little placeholder knicknacks when you really want in your heart the big pretty thing! I wanted a big Pottery Barn vase. I skipped the little knicknacks and bought what I truly wanted. And sometimes you can find the treasures in the thrift store! I also like mimicking the more expensive look. A small house can be so pretty and not having much money does not have to mean an absence of cute!
Thank you so much for sharing. This really helped me! I’ve been feeling bad mentally and decorating and making my space beautiful is important to me. I’ve been struggling to get things “right.” I’m close but can’t get things to look the way I want. Ive overspent and now my budget is blown and things still aren’t how I want. In tears, I googled “why can’t I decorate” and your kind words and great advice came up. Thank you again!
Awww, Christan! Don’t cry.Even experienced decorators have trouble getting it right. Spend some time looking through blogs, Pinterest, magazines and books to help you! I hope you feel better! Hugs!
This is great. I see so many interiors of houses advertised for sale and most people don’t have a clue how to decorate! You see wrong placement of furniture, wrong size, old fashioned, worn, mismatching, clutter! It comes naturally to me and I find it perplexing so many people stumble on this.