DO
- Display collections. Better yet, collect things you can USE. Collecting thimbles from all 50 states might be fun, but consider collections that you can actually put in service. Lamps, dishes, tablecloths, dishtowels are all easy and cheap things to collect.
- Hang up your kid's art work. Go beyond the fridge, where things get ruined and stained. Put their work up on closet doors, in your office area, in their bedrooms.
- Frame photos of family and friends and put them all over. Avoid the wall of fame along the hallway or stairs if possible - the light isn't usually good there anyway. Mix it up - people get photo fatigue no matter how cute your kids are.
- Scissor out art prints from books you like and frame them. So you can't afford the print - so what? We can't all run with the Sotheby's crowd, but you should still enjoy the art work you like to see.
- Decorate with your books. Put them out on shelves and lace the shelves with tchotkes from travel and life. This encourages literacy and promotes conversation. Separate the books you've read from those you haven't read; this helps give you an idea of your own literacy.
- Hide the trashcan under the sink. Nobody wants to see that stinky, stained thing.
- Accept the gift of clutter. If we all get real about the fact that life makes things untidy, perhaps we'll relieve some of the societal pressure to keep things spotless, which is a holy waste of time and effort, anyway.
- Rethink your need for window treatments. We all want privacy, but consider if anyone really can see you. Consider using frosted spray paint in your bathroom instead of dealing with measuring and hanging curtains. Window treatments date your house rilly rilly fast - why not spend your time doing something else besides updating dumb home decor?
- Pursue decorating that makes you feel good and supports your own living habits. Keep books by the rooms you like to read in, store shoes where you like to slip them on and off, put the tv in the kitchen if you like to watch it while cooking.
- Paint! Got an ugly end table? Spray paint it! If you don't like it, you've not lost much time or money. Paint kitchen shelves, make polka dots on the walls in children's rooms, paint one wall a different color from its opposite. Before you bother to spend any money on decor or furniture, ask yourself "Would a little color change how I feel about this room?"
- Embrace color. Only dentists office decorate in beige. Each room should have a palette of at least 3 colors bouncing off each other. Then take one color and bounce it down to the next room, with 2 different colors. This creates a pleasing harmony throughout your home.
DON'T
- Buy into pre-packaged "themes" like lighthouses or Hawaiian Tiki bar. Unless you happen to be a harbor master or living in the South Pacific, nobody's house is a lighthouse or a tiki bar. Accept the fact of where you live and honor each room for its purpose. If you don't like the room's purpose, well, you are the owner of the house...
- Use anything for a curtain that isn't actually a curtain (with one exception: you may use dishtowels for cafe curtains ala Martha Stewart)
- Let the cords from TVs and stereos show. Find a way to cover them with furniture or secure them along the baseboards with a staple gun.
- Be stuffy. Insisting on having rooms that you won't use very often, like dining rooms or look-but-don't-touch sitting parlors, is a waste of space. This ain't the 18th century. Go here for more ideas how to use space.
- Buy overstuffed furniture. Overstuffed furniture does not want to be sat on. It just wants to sit there, getting larger and larger until you worry it might rise up and eat your entire family.
- Act like a phony baloney. Buying "repro" art prints at Target or Ikea that suggest your home is a French bistro or a jazz club is ridiculous. Unless you live with the Marsallis brothers or the corpse of Jean-Paul Sartre, your home is neither.
- Try to do it all at once. Think of your home as an evolving art project, with each room changing and adapting along with your life. As you accumulate experiences, travel treasures, books, art, and wisdom, let your home reflect these changes.
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