7 Useful Home Decorating Tips + Mistakes

In this post, I share 7 decorating tips + mistakes I’ve made over the years.

Being someone who is passionate about home decorating I’ve learned some valuable lessons that I want to share with you.

These 7 decorating tips + mistakes have helped me to create the home I love.

And I hope they help you, too.

Decorating is a process.

There are layers to getting to that final cozy home that adds to your everyday life.

That is a goal. To have a cozy home.

And I hope these 7 decorating tips + mistakes will help you get to your goal.

Tip No. 1 – Decorate your home with only the things you love.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as part of my 7 decorating tips + mistakes is to only use the decor pieces I love.

When at the store, I may be inspired by some faux flowers, for example, then bring them home and realize it just isn’t working with the overall look I’m going for in my home.

That can be so disappointing!

Especially when that means returning it.

That’s why this tip is so important.

When gathering pieces for your home, it needs to spark joy.

It should make your heart sing!

At least, that is how my heart reacts to beautiful things when I see them.

If I am over the moon about something, then that is a clue it is the right piece for my home.

But if I bring it home, I’ve concluded that if I don’t like how it looks, it’s ok to return it.

Not something I often do but it keeps my home looking like I want it when I give myself permission to bag an idea and go with another one.

I hope this gives you permission, too, that it’s ok to not keep something you don’t love.

It happens.

Tip No. 2 – Stick with a color scheme.

I have mentioned this in another post, here.

But it’s worth repeating again because I have to remind myself every time I veer from the colors of my home.

Being a home decorator I find myself loving so many things.

I can be inspired by photos on Pinterest, or when I go into a store like Pottery Barn, I can see the beautiful displays and think, wow, that would be beautiful in my home.

There are times I have brought something home.

With all of my effort, I try to incorporate it, but something feels off.

Every time it’s usually the color.

It stabs me in the heart! Because I wanted so much for it to work but it just is not the right color.

Here is an example.

I made this beautiful gallery wall.

It was Spring. I wanted some beautiful roses on my wall. And so I gathered some prints and began my project.

Now, the art was spot on. I loved it! But it just felt off!

In the photo below, see how different it looks when I put the right colored prints in the frames.

Once I put it up, it all clicked.

The colors were right, and all was at peace again.

So, if something feels off in your home, it just may be the color.

Tip No. 3 – Organize your seasonal decorations.

Because I love to decorate, you can imagine how much I have to store for each season.

It’s a lot!

My husband has been my cheerleader.

He knows how much I love to decorate and how economical it is to save my favorite decor pieces for each season.

It has been his mission to help me gather all of my home decorations and get them organized.

He created a system for me so that when each season comes each year I can easily pull down my totes.

The photo above are the yellow and black totes that we store inside our new storage shed.

These are just a few of them. I know, I have a lot of home decor stuff!

The chrome shelves we put them on will hold up to 1350 lbs with wheels.

For my Christmas ornaments, I use these red cubed boxes.

Link to the red ornament box in the photo above, here.

When storing my decor I take it another step.

As I put things in the bins, I am seriously looking at each piece and asking myself, will I use it again?

Not do I love it, or does it spark joy?

Cause so many things can do that.

But instead, I ask myself, will this be something I will use next year in my decorating?

And if I have grown tired of it, or it wasn’t something I liked that year, I will put it in a box to send to Goodwill.

So, the labeled totes now have my favorite things in them, and each year when I open them up, it is all the things I love, and I am so excited to start decorating with them.

Just for fun, I’m sharing the video where I share a quick tour of my new shed where we store my decor totes.

Tip No. 4 – Get inspiration from other home designers.

I have some favorite people I love to follow because their home design is similar to mine.

Like Sarah from She Holds Dearly. Or Andrea from Pine and Prospect Home.

Plus so many more.

Each year, I love to watch their YouTube channels or reading their blog posts that have amazing ideas for home decorating.

The above photo is from YouTube sharing Pine and Prospect Home with Andrea.

Sometimes I pick up on a theme that is trending for that season.

One year, there was a trend for decorating with white.

That sparked some ideas, and I still love decorating my home with white.

On Instagram, I am inspired by Liz Marie from Liz Marie Blog.

She is such a simple home decorator, and it has helped me so much to keep it simple.

To not overthink it but to focus on the amazing pieces and let them be the focal point.

Another blogger and YouTuber that has inspired me so much is Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone.

She is an entrepreneur.

The things she has done to bring Victorian Farmhouse decor into her home plus homesteading has been a lot of work.

It has inspired me, and I love following along on her journey to creating a family home out of an old Victorian house and making life experiences for her children living on a farm.

It’s been fun to watch.

So, my tip is to find your own peeps.

Find home designers that have similar tastes as you do.

Follow them and it is amazing what kind of inspirations will come up and help you find your own decorating style.

That leads to the next tip.

Tip No. 5 – Find your style and stick with it.

My style has morphed over the years.

I started out loving the Farmhouse style.

You may remember Joanna and Chip Gaines from Fixer Upper.

I went through that period recreating the look from her weekly TV shows.

I think the whole design industry at most stores was swept up by the demand for farmhouse design from that series.

And still, to this day, farmhouse decor is still #1.

You can go to Amazon, Target, Walmart, or any store really, and find farmhouse decor.

And it is still a huge part of my home decorating.

But there has been a love for the ornate, elegant, and breathtaking beauty of the Victorian era that sparks so much joy!

It has been in my heart from the beginning.

I didn’t know it was there until I gave in to it.

As I started putting pieces in my home that were Victorian-inspired, it then began to dawn on me, this is my true decor style.

Now, I didn’t abandon the farmhouse style at all.

This is how the Victorian Farmhouse style emerged.

I embraced my true love for the Victorian while still incorporating the more cozy, chippy decor pieces of the Farmhouse style that I still love.

That is the danger for me as a home decorator.

I am smitten by so many home decorating styles.

It’s easy to get swept up into loving many different vintage home styles that I can forget what is truly in my heart.

And that’s why this tip is so important.

It has kept me from making decorating mistakes over the years.

Picking a decor style will keep your home looking beautifully put together.

And, as I have learned from the many mistakes I’ve made, sticking with a style gives my home a cohesive look.

Tip No. 6 – Don’t overdo home decorating.

I love antiquing, thrifting, and finding things on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and OfferUp.

But this can lead to overdoing it and making my home eventually cluttered.

This part can make my husband feel overwhelmed.

Sometimes he doesn’t even know why.

But after I go through my decor in a room and simplify it, it makes him feel calm.

And I love doing that!

Tip No. 7 – Include your family when home decorating.

This is the last of the 7 decorating tips + mistakes I’ve made over the years.

My family knows how much I love creating a cozy home and appreciate what I do.

But sometimes, they have preferences that I didn’t consider.

So, I have found it important to include my family in making decisions about how things should be set up, etc.

Furniture placement and where necessities like kitchen appliances need to go must be well thought out so the whole family can enjoy it.

My husband could care less what home style I have as long as he knows where the remote for the TV is or if the bedroom is functional for resting.

Like a chair in the corner for reading or putting his socks on in the mornings.

So, when arranging furniture or organizing your decor, they need to be thoughtfully placed for it to feel inviting and homey for your family each day.

These 7 decorating tips + mistakes are hopefully useful to you.

I would love to hear your thoughts below.

For more tips here is a video sharing 4 tips to create the home of your dreams for cheap.

Here is a link to more decorating tips, here.

Thank you for coming by Victorian Lane Farms.