by Eve Tierney

Created on: February 17, 2010

If you've flipped through magazines featuring professionally designed rooms, you may have felt envy, awe, inspiration, or an eerie sense that good taste is somewhat...formulaic.  Rooms that photograph well aren't always easy to live in. Luckily for you, if you do your own interior designing, you can make sure your home is tailored to your needs, taste, and make sure it is completely livable!

Your home is a personal place where your tastes and preferences are on display. This space should be pleasing to your senses, reflecting your passions, values, hobbies, favorite colors-the sky is the limit!  Doing it yourself ensures your home reflects you, and a truly personalized home is a pleasure for guests to visit-and for you to come home to.

A great way to start is by creating a collection of color swatches, photographs, fabrics, knickknacks-anything that really speaks to you on a decorating level.  You would normally start this way if you hired a decorator, and it is a great place to start when doing it yourself.   Look for a common theme in decorated rooms you love.  For instance, you might notice your picture collection has a common theme of minimalism, or perhaps most of your pictures have a lot of busy patterns in harmonious colors. You do not have to repeat the photograph as it is shown, you can translate the overall style and tone in your own way.

One thing professionally designed rooms have in common is great use of color.  Pay attention to the color schemes you respond best to, and when in doubt, keep your most powerful colors in small, unexpected bursts around the room.  Some people can have an entire room painted red, whereas a few vases of red flowers and red leather bound books are enough for other people.  Your room doesn't have to err on the side of austere neutrality-unless you want it to-you can use paintings, rugs, curtains, an accent wall, candles, and lamps to add unexpected excitement and interest to a room.  Allow your most prized items to be a focal point, and build around them! 

Doing it yourself will also enable you to flex your creative muscles and will give you a sense of total ownership of your style and home.  You can shop anywhere you want, from antique shops, to thrift stores, to the most creative and wonderful design centers around town. You can mix and match high and low end, new with old-anything you want.   Once your new items are in your home, tinker with their placement until you're satisfied.  Sometimes a simple coat of paint or a rearrangement are all a room (or piece of furniture) needs to feel new again.  It's often all a matter of arranging items to make a house a home!

Decorating your own space ensures a style stamp throughout the house and will ensure your home is comfortable and personal.  It will also evolve with your style as the years go by, because it will start out 'you' from the beginning!

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