Home Decor Advice You Didn’t Know You Needed

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of articles about home decor, and what’s “in” and what’s “out”. First of all, I want to know, who are these people who think they can tell us what decor we should and shouldn’t have in our homes? How are they the experts? I firmly believe we should decorate our living spaces the way we want to, and not be influenced by, well, influencers. Unless they’re me. It’s fine to be influenced by me. But to be on the safe side, I recommend you read “Would-Be Influencer” before making your final decision.

One of the main things I keep seeing is how the “accent wall” is “out”. I have accent walls all over my house. What the “anti-accent wall” articles are saying is that you should paint the entire room and not just one wall.

I can do two accent walls, but I don’t think I want a whole room in an “accent” color. Then I would have to think of another color to put on at least one wall, resulting in an accent room with an accent wall. And then I’d have to paint the whole room that color, which would start a vicious cycle that I don’t think I can afford the paint for.

I personally like all my accent walls.

My front living room has two walls this color, which I think is plenty. It’s my “vintage-themed” room, and I like it a lot. I’ve also read that themed rooms are “out”, because they can look too “staged”. But what do people do when they want to sell a house? They “stage” it.

You can also create an accent design, only using part of a wall. I vote for doing this in the sewing room. Use a small section of wall, so it’s easy to paint over should you not like it after all. To see how I did this, you can go back and read “Dream Big!”

The internet is full of suggestions on how to decorate your bathroom with plants. First off, how many of us have a bathroom like this to begin with? That being said, I, too, am a fan of plants in the bathroom.

My “pre-sea animals” bathroom with a failed attempt at growing plants there. See “Alas, Poor Charlie!” for more on this. (Caution: not for the faint of heart!)

That’s a Mid-Century Modern carafe, which I think my parents may have received as a wedding present in 1954, in my guest bathroom. But wait – I just read that Mid-Century Modern is “out” again. Also, I “get” that the mosaic tissue box had to be moved over a little bit to fit the plant in, but that’s temporary. At least until I can figure something else out. Which might mean it’s permanent. Notice the towel is a little frayed on the edges. That’s what I call “Mid-Century Shabby,” not to be confused with “Shabby Chic,” a style I have never been particularly fond of. I have two “Shabby Chic” items in my house, and you can read about them here.

What never to put on your kitchen island? “Just remember to disinfect the surface before putting food there” is all you need to know about this one.

At the risk of being “a little odd”, if you want to decorate with initials, go right ahead.

“MADK” stands for “Mark Andrew” and “Debra Kay”. We chose this for the beginning of our email address years ago. I find it comforting to have our initials as part of my decor, reminding the world that although it’s been almost 9 years since he passed away, his memory is still going strong.

I recently “de-cluttered” my coffee area and found a spot for my new blue and white “MADK” letters. In my second post as a would-be influencer, “Life Hacks By Debra Kay”, I showed pictures of how it was before.

It’s a relief to know that mismatched tiles and mosaics are “in”.

If my “sea animals” bathroom doesn’t have an “eclectic and eccentric feel”, nothing does! For more info on how this came together, see “Sea Animals, Done!”

Another “in” decor suggestion is the careful placement of monochromatic throw pillows. I think we’ve got that one covered!

Large statement piece for the bathroom counter? Enough said.

It turns out there is quite a bit to be said about “layering” your decor and decorating your mantel. I have two fireplaces, and the one I decorated is in the front living room. So I guess that counts as the “formal” living room.

Pretty good layering, if you ask me.

One of the key concepts of layering is to put decorative items on top of or in front of others. If you have a cat, this will be much easier to accomplish.

But bear in mind that it’s possible to get a little too layered, so be careful with that one.

Also, it’s just possible that if you have two fireplaces and a cat, you may only be able to decorate one of them.

That’s probably going to be because your cat wanted to help (un)decorate when he was a baby. What can I say? As Panda asked in “Happy Cattiversary”, “Is this why we can’t have nice things on the mantel?”

There are so many home decor “dos and don’ts” online that it would be impossible to cover them all in one post. Below are some screenshots to give you an idea of what we’ll be discussing in future posts.

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