Michaels - Simple Decorating

MAKE YOUR HOME A SANCTUARYNOT A SHOWPLACE

Welcome to The Inspired Room . Forget about the rules and discover inspired ways to personalize your spaces and express your style with texture, color, and your favorite treasures. Room by room, youll shape a home that is inspired by the people, beauty, and life you love.

Step inside Melissas home as she shares lessons learned, inspiring photos, and encouraging insights to help you embrace your authentic style.

CREATE THE HOME OF YOUR DREAMS RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE

You can love your home again. Join Melissa as she helps you look past the tiny flaws, everyday messes, and the mix of hand-me-down furniture and focus on what truly mattershow your home shapes your life, relationships, and dreams.

Dare to see your surroundings with new eyes that just might inspire a change of heart. And get ready to Love the Home You Have .

CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER AND MAKE ROOM FOR WHAT MATTERS

If all the stuff you have is starting to take over your home and life, let Melissa offer insightful ideas for altering your habits while efficiently decluttering and organizing you home so you can really enjoy living there.

With a little encouragement and practical advice, you will be inspired to create a place for the things you love and breathing room to pursue your dreams and engage in life with the people who matter most.

Make style and decor choices that support the life you have and the one you want. If you have pets or small children, you might pay more attention to the durability of fabrics. If you cant spend much time keeping up your home, make decor choices that are simpler and more forgiving so you can spend less time cleaning. If you hope to travel more, go for low-maintenance options. Your home is for you and your family, so always consider how your home can accommodate what you enjoy. A comfortable place to watch movies? Space to cook a delicious meal? An organized craft closet to inspire your hobbies?

Consider the unique personality and needs of you and your family. Do you need an escape, a retreat from busy or stressful days at work? Do you want your home to be a place for community with an open door and gathering spaces for neighbors and friends? Make choices that will shape your home into a place where you get to be yourself.

Think about future goals and needs. In light of where youre headed, is your home a short-term or life-long dwelling? If you will move again in the near future, keep affordability, mobility, and flexibility in mind as you select furniture and styles, while still creating a place you feel comfortable in for the time being. If you are settling in for the long term, what choices might grow with you and your familys needs? What areas of improvement might you invest in more fully?

What do you love? What says home when you walk into a room? Discover your style by noticing what tones, colors, shapes, and arrangements you would like your home to model in its own wayin your own way. Descriptive words and inspirational images will help lead the way!

Brainstorm inspiration words. Create a short list of words to express the look you want. Think about who you are, what you like, and how others might describe you. Consider the style of your homes architecture, the surrounding landscape, your favorite books, hobbies, style of clothing, etc. If you dont live alone, list words that describe your family, your spouse. A few of my inspiration words are:

nature, clean

airy, light

happy, sophisticated

approachable, relaxed

collected, refreshing

sea, getaway

Browse images. Consider it an investment and not an indulgence to look at magazines and favorite online sources for photos of rooms you connect with. If you see a style you love, study it and dream up your version of it. The most helpful examples will have at least one aspect in common with your space: room size or layout, style of windows, architectural details, etc. This might spark more ideas for your inspiration word list.

Keep your style in mind and in view with an inspiration board for your home or for each room! You can make a virtual one, but consider creating at least one physical board as an exercise in bringing your style to life.

1. Choose a bulletin board. Or find a blank space on a wall you can take over for a season.

2. Gather some inspiration elements. Search your home, magazines, online sources, and even the outdoors for photos or objects that represent what makes your heart sing. Include mementos, scrapbook paper, fabric and paint swatches, fonts, photos, leaves or flowers, and your doodles of lamps, patterns, or furniture arrangements.

3. Arrange and pin the pieces. The pleasure of grouping, overlapping, and rearranging the colors, photos, textures, and ideas becomes a vacation from your usual routine. It can be addicting!

4. Hang the board where it will motivate you. But dont stop there. Continue brainstorming throughout the week. Pull elements down that you grow tired of and put new ones up as you feel inspired. See what works, what clashes, what feeds your vision!

5. Take a photo. This visual reference will keep you focused on your style goals when you are out looking for particular pieces.

If you have a specific style you like, its helpful to discover which elements will inspire your own look. Lets say you want a farmhouse-style home. Do some research of designers online or in books to find others who have a similar aesthetic. Dissect their rooms and make a list of elements used in their designs that you could incorporate into your own. Dont be intimidated by price tags or designer brands. Look closely at your favorite designers rooms, and youll likely find you can get a similar look for less. Keep your style wish list on hand for when you shop! Your list will help you to have specific pursuits at retail outlets, estate sales, or thrift stores and confirm what you need to weed out.