If you’re like most who read this blog you have an avid (or at least abiding) interest in interior design. You care how your house looks. You are willing to tackle projects yourself and have an ever-widening radius for porch pick-up of Marketplace treasures… and you probably have an ordinary, builder-grade home.
Most of the time your choices feel right, they feel good. But sometimes you wonder… does this look good, or are folks just being nice? I get that! It can be intimidating to plunge into a project especially if it’s something you’ve never done before, or it will be expensive to fix if it goes awry.
I absolutely love designing my own home, I care about how it looks and more importantly how it functions. Even if we had the money to hire a designer I doubt I would. There is something about the challenge. There is something about the satisfaction of learning (and intentionally breaking) interior design rules. The entire design process behind creating a room fascinates me. Anyone can learn to decorate/design their own home. It is simply a learned skill that improves with practice. Matt & I call this house our “practice” house. Most likely this is not our last home so I feel the freedom to try out different design ideas. That being said, if you are in your “forever” house don’t hesitate to try things! It’s just paint. It’s just a nail hole. It’s just a cushion. It’s not life-threatening if it doesn’t turn out like you imagined!
We took a hard look at our living/dining/kitchen in the fall of 2022 and decided we were ready to tackle all three spaces. I admit, as I stood in the dining room and realized all three rooms had to be harmoniously designed it was overwhelming! I thought “I can’t do this” and walked away. But the ideas began to simmer and the excitement built. What was there to lose? Sure, we might make a mistake, but probably not something irreversible. So I took the plunge. This was how our dining room looked pre-remodel.
Not trying would’ve been a greater loss.
Here is my simple process for applying interior design:
- Teach yourself: Dig. Pore over sources: Pinterest, Instagram, blogs, books, podcasts, courses, and in-person home tours.
- Practice: Play with your home. Define your style and your style season.
- Choose colors: Define your color palette.
This is after. Lighter and brighter with an English garden feeling was what I was going for. We added Laura Ashley wallpaper and painted the wainscoting, chair rail, and door in Universal Khaki. The cane blinds at the window add interesting texture and the warmth of wood tones. It’s still astounding the difference paint and wallpaper make! We also sold the table and chairs for $250, brought in a table Matt inherited and I found the antique chairs in Marketplace for $100. I’m glad we stepped outside our comfort zone and redid this room! If you’re interested in reading about the entire dining room remodel process click here.
Since then, I’ve swapped out the art for a mirror, thrifted this large blue chinoiserie lamp, and have plans to make a pleated lampshade. If making a custom lampshade interests you, check out my no-sew pleated lampshade tutorial.
You: the self-taught designer.
This is such a wonderful age to learn design! Never before has such a quantity of fabulous images been at our fingertips. One can follow the work of a favorite designer online via Instagram, Pinterest, or blogs. You can also purchase an interior designer’s published books, and learn from them via courses or podcasts. Other in-person sources to study design include home tours. Tours are great for historical reference and for getting a correct idea of scale and proportion.
When studying photographs take in the room as a whole and in its parts. I find that design books are a never-ending source of inspiration. Each time I peruse a design book I am considering a different part of a room. One time I may be studying flooring and the next time art placement. Don’t get overwhelmed, file great ideas for later. An idea I’ve filed away for later is adding reclaimed beams to our living room. I love how the aged, hand-hewn wood adds such authentic cottage character to a space, but this project doesn’t fit with where we are in life right now, or where our budget is. Take from the ideas of others, but don’t compare where they are/what they can do with where you are and what you can do.
You: the happy “risk-taker”
Most design decisions are probably not as risky as you think they are. Most of your decisions are reversible. In our kitchen, we decided to paint the cabinets. After what seemed like the colossal decision of what colors to go with we jumped in and cleaned, sanded, cleaned again, primed, and painted the cabinets ourselves. This was a lot of work, but the monetary investment was low since there was no labor cost.
For me, adding color was the most intimidating part. When the green paint went on and was still wet it was a scary lizard green and I was dismayed. But… I held my nerve and waited to pass judgment until the paint was dry and it was daylight. The sage tones on the paint came through and mellowed the green to the perfect shade. This was in the fall of 2022 so we’ve lived with the new color scheme for about two and a half years ~ and I adore it! I love this shade of green so much that it has appeared in our pantry makeover and patio makeover.
You: the color/pattern enthusiast.
I love lots of patterns, but I don’t love crazy… One common element in the English country house is the mixing and matching of patterns. There is something so homey, relaxed, and personal about this play of color and pattern, which I wanted to work into our kitchen design. To keep the patterns calm and balanced I stuck to a tight, simple color palette of ivory, taupe, green, and blue.
Now that we had the wallpaper going on in the dining room and the two-toned color scheme in the kitchen I felt that I needed to bring the two rooms together with a bridge pattern. This was accomplished through the Zellige tile backsplash behind the stove and kitchen sink area. The wallpaper is the feature pattern which meant the tile pattern needed to be a support pattern and not too loud. The small inset diamonds are a soft blue pick up the touches of blue in the wallpaper, and the blue kitchen decor accents.
We couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out! Sure, there were moments when we (mostly I) held our breath, but it was worth the “risk” to try something we’d never done before!
To recap: People aren’t born interior designers ~ they become interior designers. It can be learned and you can teach yourself!
- You: the self-taught designer. Teach yourself: Dig. Pore over sources: Pinterest, Instagram, blogs, books, courses, podcasts, and in-person home tours.
- You: the happy “risk-taker.” Practice: Play with your home. Define your style and your style season.
- You: the color/pattern enthusiast. Define your color palette.
Friend, if I can do this, so can you. Once you try it, you’ll never look back ~ it is loads of fun!
Warmly,
Rachel
