It is safe to say we have learned SO much during the home decorating process. We have had complete fails and (a few) wins along the way. For the past eight months, I’ve compiled a list of lessons to share with you to save you from the pain and exhaustion, if possible. I hope these tips are helpful as you begin to decorate your home!

1. Pick an aesthetic, a vibe, a theme.
   • It is super important to know which theme you want to achieve before buying any pieces. You want a cohesive masterpiece. You want everything to flow together. Don’t know how to begin? Go to the store for inspiration. Check out what colors are in, fall in love with pieces, let your creativity wander. If you don’t want to stroll through the stores, go to Pinterest, Google, Instagram, or check out your favorite retailers’ website. Heck, go old school with it, and clip photos from magazines and pin them to a real board. If you follow along on Instagram, you saw I printed photos from the internet and laid out the pieces to see how everything would look. Be creative; there are no limits. There is no right or wrong way to go about this.
2. Begin with big furniture pieces first.
   • Picture a food pyramid – it is wide at the base and narrow at the top. Think of the home as the base. The next level up represents the big furniture pieces in each room. For example, the couch/sofa for the living room, the dining table for the dining room, the bed for the bedroom, etc., etc. The next level up would be the accessories such as: floor lamps, cushions, vases, etc., etc. This analogy is to help you think of the big picture first and the rest will fall into place. You’ll see. This approach also helped me feel less overwhelmed.
3. Consider window treatments as soon as possible.
   • Depending on where you live, this could be one of those things you want to do as soon as possible. First of all, a window treatment could mean shades, draperies, etc. We live in Houston, and closed around summertime, so we were anxious about getting shades as soon as we closed.
4. Measure your spaces beforehand.
   • This was pretty obvious to us, but hey, I figured this tip could still be helpful in bringing up. Sometimes we would fall in love with a piece but would later realize it was too big or small.
5. Pick a store that sells individual pieces.
   • Let me explain – if you are thinking about buying a new set of dinnerware, glassware, etc., pick these items from a store that also has the option of purchasing items individually. It was important for us to do this because we didn’t want to be forced to buy an entire new set just to replace a cup or two. We’ve already had a few incidents where a replacement was needed.
6. Verify return policies.
   • This may seem pretty obvious, right?!? But let’s say you are purchasing at retailers you’ve never shopped at before…it’s nice to know you are shopping from stores with lenient return policies.
7. Decorate, observe, and wait.
   • One of my favorite things to do is buy a piece I think will work out, observe it for a while to ensure it makes sense and looks pretty, and wait a few days to see if I change my mind. You’ll be surprised how often you think something looks good only to later decide you’ve changed your mind. This has happened to me several times. If I change my mind, guess what?!? I return it 🙂 Oh, and of course, don’t go crazy removing the price tags right away. Make sure to decorate, observe, and wait. 😉
8. Love it? Buy it.
   • IF you are POSITIVE about a particular item, buy it. Don’t wait too long (especially if you KNOW it’s a good price) because things DO sell out and are NOT restocked. For example, our ivory dining chairs are now sold out everywhere. You will not be able to find them in ivory but you’ll find them in other pretty colors. When I first shared them with those who were interested, they were still available for such a good price. (These exact chairs were $600 each at High Fashion but we bought them for $200 each at Macy’s.)
9. Google item descriptions to find the best price(s).
   • You’ll be surprised how often you can find designer pieces at lower prices. We googled descriptions for a lot of the big stuff to ensure we were not overpaying for the exact item sold at Macy’s or All Modern.
10. Brighten up spaces by considering statement pieces.
    • Adding statement pieces such as a large piece of artwork, a lighting fixture, or even fresh flowers, are a few ways to easily brighten up a room. It’s doing more with less. If you want a few examples of how we accomplished this, check out this or this blog post.

By the way, I now have a real understanding why people choose to hire interior designers. It’s A LOT of work. It’s honestly a full-time job. As time consuming as the process is, it is also that much more rewarding. I am not complaining about the hours put in to the home. We love our home. The following is going to be super cheesy (but what else is new?!? LOL) – this entire process has brought Jose and I closer together too. We’ve learned to respect each other’s opinions even more and we truly work as a team. I love him so much for it (even though he drives me CRAZY sometimes. It’s wild.)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and found these tips to be valuable. If you have ANY questions, you already know, reach out through Instagram or email me at mrsprofresh@gmail.com. Thank YOU so much for tuning in!