Courtney Warren is a Texas-based interior designer whose work has been featured in Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Apartment Therapy, and Today.com. She is a frequent consultant on Fox 4 TV’s Good Day program in Dallas, was ranked in the top 3 percent of interior designers in the US by Houzz.com, and starred in the Dallas episode of TLC’sFour Houses. She delights in helping overwhelmed clients create beautiful spaces—and will never turn down a warm chocolate chip cookie or Diet Dr Pepper.
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Download this and refer to it when you don’t love your home.
These are tips that help me love my home more! Whenever I feel tired or beaten down by the clutter, mess or unfinished parts of my house, I apply these tips!
1. Purge clutter once a season
We all have too much stuff. Get rid of old clothes, toys, dishes, electronics, CORDS– anything you haven’t used in the last year. Say goodbye. You won’t miss it.
2. If you don’t love it, don’t use it to decorate.
I have to address this frequently with my design clients. So often, people feel an obligation to something for sentimental value, but it is not making their life better or more beautiful. It is perfectly fine to keep a few things that are sentimental, but you do not have to keep ugly items just because you love who they came from. That is not a blessing to you or the person who gave it to you. Honor your relationship with them by loving them or their memory, not by gathering guilt and dust on something you do not even like.
3. Go ALL OUT decorating for at least one holiday.
Create memories for your kids or grandkids and make the holidays magical with decor. If its not your cup of tea, I also offer holiday decorating! And I go all out.
4. Conduct a room review for how to maximize a room
I love to visit homes and redecorate rooms using what homeowners already have. It might consist of moving furniture, repurposing decor, or changing what has always been. Sometimes it takes having someone look at a space with new ideas and the whole space comes together! Want to schedule a room review? Email me!
5. When it comes to your home, do what you love. Outsource what you don’t.
It is totally okay if you do not love every single thing that comes with owning and maintaining a home. Do the parts you love! There is someone else that can do the parts you don’t love and save you stress, money, and time! Make use of people’s gifting and enjoy what you were made to do.
6. If you walk into another room, take something with you and put it away.
This tip is so easy and so practical. We all have piles of things that need to be put away. (What? I am not the only one, right?). When you go into another room, just take one of the those items. At the end of the day, the piles will be smaller and you can stop cleaning and go watch Netflix.
7. Maximize your space by choosing the right paint color.
The wrong color can make a beautiful room harsh and unnatural. Choose beautiful colors to surround yourself with in your home. It starts with paint! Need help? Schedule a paint consult.
8. Look at your home like an old friend if going to visit. Make changes!
I employ this trick to help myself see things with new eyes. We see our homes every day, so our eyes skip past the peeling paint or torn curtain. When I pretend I am having a friend visit, I have to see things like they are walking into my home for the first time. It helps me see the items that I have begun to overlook. And if I really need help….
9. Better yet, host a party next month.
Are you having troubling getting motivated to finish your home projects? Is there a room that needs a new coat of paint, or flowerbeds that are full of crusty, dying flowers? Plan a party. Bible study, wedding shower, bunko, neighborhood potluck, or Bachelorette watching party. Whatever the occasion, the minute I know people are coming over, I have a sudden fire underneath me to get stuff done!!
10. Finally, do not compare yourself to strangers on the internet.
There is always someone that has something nicer, newer or better. Do not compare your worst to the best they show online. If we do, we always come up short. Remember there are angles and filters and behind the screen is real life, and that is where life is lived and what matters. If you are feeling down about you have, think about what you do have- God and family and love and food and flip flops and health, and how so many do not even have that. Combat comparison with thankfulness!