Everyone experiences indecision at some point when it comes to home decor and interior design. With so many images, styles, and color ideas online, it’s easy to feel inspired but also overwhelmed and unsure where to start. Seeing many beautifully decorated spaces doesn’t always help, because you may like a lot of different looks at the same time. This is what being indecisive in home decor means—wanting everything to be perfect and cohesive, but not knowing which direction to choose. If you feel overwhelmed or don’t know where to begin, this home decor blog is here to guide you step by step through your decorating journey and help you create a home that is beautiful and feels right for you.
The Thing That Makes Home Decor Feel Overwhelming
If you had two empty rooms to decorate, what style would you choose, and which colors would you use? You would probably think of many things at once—too many styles, too many colors, and too many ideas. In the end, you may struggle to make a decision. This happens because of the blank canvas. A completely empty space can block creativity, not inspire it. When there are too many options and no limits at all, it becomes harder to focus. Without some restrictions or direction, creativity often feels overwhelming instead of exciting.
How to start to decorate your home ?
When it comes to decorating your home, don’t think about “what would be the prettiest, most ideal thing.” That kind of thinking gives you too much freedom and a blank canvas. Instead, start by setting your restrictions (limitations), then address your taste.
Restrictions Are the Key to Decorating an Empty Room
In an empty space, everything seems possible. With too many options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and that’s when indecision starts. A blank canvas can actually block creativity instead of helping it, because there is no direction.
The solution to this is restriction. Many people see limitations as a bad thing, but in interior design, they are not. The real problem is overthinking and never making a final decision. When you set limits, you start thinking about how to decorate your home within those boundaries. This helps you focus on what is right for you, reduces overwhelm, and allows creativity to flow while helping you make confident decisions.
Restrictions can be:
- Budget
- Spacing
- Room for a dog
- Must-have pieces
- Must-have home decor items
“Plan first, taste second” Emma Burns.
Example of decorating a room’s walls:
Imagine you want to cover all the walls in a room with wallpaper, but your restriction is your budget. Covering four walls can be expensive. Instead, you start thinking differently—what if you cover just one wall, or even the ceiling ?
Suddenly, the room feels unique and intentional. The rest of the space stays bright and airy, and it may look even better than a room with wallpaper on every wall.
This is why, in home decor, restrictions are your friend. Don’t let them discourage you—use them to create something special.
What is my home decor style ?
Understanding your taste helps guide you, so you can choose your home decor items within that style. Everyone may like different types of home decor styles, or may not even know which style they like.
The advice here is that when choosing themes and colors, it’s not helpful to try to name one single style for yourself—it doesn’t feel homey. Naming a style often means copying someone else, while your taste is personal. That’s why trying to fit into one labeled home decor style won’t really help you; it’s better to focus on what you truly like.
So the question here is: how to find my home decor style, one that is unique to me?
How to find my home decor style ?
A simple exercise, but it has a really powerful effect on how to find your home decor style, including themes, colors, and home decor items: a vision board.
Vision Board: Go to Pinterest or any other site you like to collect images. Start picking every single thing you like—every style, every theme—it doesn’t matter if it fits or if it’s realistic for your home. Just pick what you like. Search for as many styles as you want, and try using different keywords when searching to discover home decor styles beyond your usual thinking and imagination. Keep collecting every image, style, or theme you like, and create your vision board.
A home decor style vision board might look like this:
This is just an example so you can see how vision boards work. But when you create your own, try to include as many images as you can—every home decor theme or style you like.
What should I do next?
- Next, do a second pass through your board, and then another pass. Try to identify patterns—what home decor themes keep repeating on your board? And it doesn’t have to be a full style. You might notice that you like wood furniture, or that you love sparse, open spaces, etc.
- After that, do another pass through your board and eliminate things based on your restrictions, as we talked about earlier in the blog. Ask yourself: Would this work in my room? Would this style still look beautiful without windows?
Think about what really makes this style work ?
What is it that really excites you about this home decor style and fits within your restrictions ?
Solution to Frequently Changing Home Decor Preferences
If you know that your home decor preferences change quickly and you always want to try new things, it’s best to go neutral with your foundational pieces—like a neutral couch, white walls, or simple flooring. Neutral foundational pieces make it much easier to change home decor items or update your home decoration without completely redoing the room. In fact, some of the most beautiful homes are built on white walls and simple floors. From this neutral base, you can create a unique look using colors, accessories, and decor that reflect your current style.
How to choose home decor items
After creating your vision boards, you will probably start to understand which items and colors you are drawn to, and which home decor items you should choose. At this stage, finding your home furniture and home decor items becomes much easier, because you have already defined a style that is unique to you. However, when it comes to home decor, there are some must-have items you need to learn about in order to decorate your home correctly and confidently. Click here to read more about essential home decor items—go and see the must-have pieces, and try to find the relationship between the colors and styles you love and the must-have pieces for decorating your home.
Things to Avoid in Home Decor and Interior Design
Home design mistake
A common mistake in home decor is choosing styles, colors, or home decor items just because they match the room. While this may work technically, it’s not always helpful. If you want to live in a homey space—one that feels beautiful to you—you need to love where you live. Of course, you want your home to feel cohesive, but choosing only what matches can leave you feeling disconnected over time. The best choices come from balancing what works in the room with the things you truly love.
Commitment Issues When Decorating Your Home
When choosing a home decor style, home decor items, or thinking about interior design, many people worry about committing to something they have to love for a long time. You often hear things like, “I can’t commit to a wallpaper.” This feeling is normal and very common. No one keeps the same home decoration for more than 8 to 10 years—even people with a small budget. Our taste evolves, and home decor styles change over time. Everything about our preferences grows and shifts as we do.
Because of this, the idea that you must commit to one look forever is a mistake. When thinking about how to decorate your home, don’t feel pressure to choose something that has to last forever. Your home can change with you.
Avoid Themed Rooms
Avoiding a theme means avoiding a themed room. A theme usually means following one trend, and even using only one room decor style becomes a theme. This is not very helpful because it makes it harder to change home decor items or accessories over time, which is why it is important to mix styles and influences. Cohesive home decor is not about using the same style everywhere, but about balance—using the same colors, similar materials, and letting hard and soft materials complement each other. Everyone likes trendy things, but instead of decorating a whole room in one trendy style, try to choose a single home decor item or a pattern from that trend rather than the entire room. Knowing how to mix styles, home decor items, and trends you like is a good thing for you and for your home decor.