How To Start Decorating A House & A Pep Talk For When You Feel Overwhelmed

Struggling with how to start decorating a house? It’s easy to feel intimidated and overwhelmed when you’re staring at a huge, empty house. Here are my simple tips for decorating when you’re feeling stuck and don’t know where to begin.

As someone who identifies herself as a home decor blogger, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve barely decorated a thing since moving into this house five months ago. I managed to put up some Christmas decor but have felt completely overwhelmed at the thought of doing any “permanent” decorating.

Are you struggling to start decorating your house, too? If you don’t know where to begin and the thought of making decor decisions leaves you feeling paralyzed, you’re not alone! I’m sharing some simple steps for how to start decorating a house today.

I hope that you’ll feel inspired and confident enough to start decorating your home after reading today’s post, but I’ll be honest – I’m writing this for me, too! Sometimes it takes giving someone else advice for you to realize you needed to hear it yourself, right?

When we were house hunting last summer, I could hardly contain my excitement. I would soon have a new space to decorate and the possibilities were endless!

We bought a builder-grade home in the suburbs and while I wasn’t thrilled about its lack of originality, I knew it had good bones and it was a blank slate that we could personalize and customize. I could rely wait to put our own stamp on this house!

Since we moved when I was nine months pregnant, I prepared myself for the fact that it might be a while before I had the time and energy to really tackle any decorating projects. I spent a lot of time gathering inspiration and planning projects during my maternity leave, but that’s as far as I got.

Now Chloe is four months old and I still haven’t hung a single thing on the walls! Since we’re mostly unpacked and settled into our new normal, I am anxious to decorate this place. But I feel stuck, overwhelmed, paralyzed, uninspired. I haven’t felt like decorating or been able to finalize any plans.

The Reasons Why

After feeling frustrated by my lack of decorating motivation for a while now, I’ve realized that I am struggling because I’m intimidated and overwhelmed. Here are some of the underlying factors why:

Reason #1:

Where do I even start when there are so many rooms with boring beige walls? I originally loved the idea of this house being a blank slate. Nothing required immediate attention, there are no huge eyesores and most of it is painted neutral. But staring at a blank slate is daunting!

Reason #2:

I’ve become fixated on coming up with the “perfect” design style for this house. Our last house was our first foray as homeowners and I was honestly just excited to be able to paint the walls, pound nails in the wall and experiment with decorating. This house feels a lot different. It feels more permanent, a place where I imagine living for a long time.

Reason #3:

I’m determined to find a happy balance between my decorating vision and David’s preferences. He more or less lets me decorate as I please, but he does have strong likes and dislikes in certain areas. I never completely figured out how to incorporate his style into our last house, but I want to crack the code this time around.

Do you and your spouse struggle with creating a shared decor vision? I’m thinking that may deserve it’s own post soon because I’ve been giving it a lot of thought lately!

Reason #4:

There’s also the added pressure that comes with being a home decor blogger. I hope my house is beautiful and inspiring to my readers. I hope people will pin beautiful photos of it on Pinterest. I blog about decorating, so I can’t mess up my own house!

As I hit publish on this post, I’m committing to you and to myself that I’m going to just start. I’m going to step away from Pinterest and begin working on projects little by little. Because a real home isn’t decorated in a day, it’s created over time and it’s never truly “finished”. This house will always be a work in progress.

Reminders For When You Feel Stuck With Decorating

If you’re feeling stuck when it comes to decorating your home, here are a few things to keep in mind. Consider this your pep talk!

Decorating is an ongoing process – A home isn’t created in a day

You don’t have to have it all planned out before you begin

Nothing you do is permanent – rooms can be repainted and furniture can be rearranged

It doesn’t have to be Pinterest-perfect

Resist the urge to “finish” your house right away – It’s okay for it to be “in progress”

How To Start Decorating A House

Now here is my advice on how to start decorating a house when you’ve just moved in and don’t have a clue where to start.

1 | Start Small

You cannot simultaneously decorate every room in your house. Not only would that be time-consuming but also super overwhelming!

Choose one room to start with. Beginning with a smaller room like a laundry or entry is a good way to gain some decorating momentum without the overwhelm of decorating a larger space.

I should note that I do believe you don’t need to “finish” one room at a time. It’s often better to let a room evolve gradually than to try to makeover a room in a set time frame. But if you need the push to start decorating a house, limiting your focus to one room is a helpful way to begin!

2 | Brainstorm Functions & Identify Problem Areas

Make a list of all of the problem areas in the room. What is driving you crazy? What isn’t working as well as it could?

Also, list all of the functions you want the room to serve. What will your family use it for? What kind of storage do you need?

3 | Decide On A Feeling

How do you want this space to feel? Take a couple minutes to brainstorm a list of words to describe the space. Consider how you want it to feel to you as well as guests.

Do you want it to be inviting, bright, inspiring and organized? Or are you hoping to achieve a room that feels cozy, playful and relaxing? Use this list as a guide while making decor decisions for the space.

4 | Collect Inspiration & Ideas

Now that you know how you want the room to feel and what functions it needs to fulfill, it’s time to gather ideas! This is when I turn to Pinterest. Create a new board for the room and start pinning.

Stay focused on your lists – too much inspiration can be distracting! Search for color scheme ideas, furniture you love and DIY projects you can incorporate.

Further Reading: How To Plan A Room Makeover Using Pinterest

5 | Find An Inspiration Piece

I often overlook this step, but it’s always so helpful! Before you start painting and working on projects, find something that can serve as the inspiration piece for the entire room. This might be a rug, a throw pillow or a piece of art.

Finding that one thing that fits your vision will help everything else fall into place. Use it as a guide for choosing paint colors, furnishings and decor.

The inspiration piece in our last kitchen was the cheery fabric I made into curtains:

And the shower curtain was the inspiration piece in our last bathroom:

6 | Make A Plan

I have a tendency to over-plan things which tends to hold me back from actually beginning projects But having at least a loose plan in place is a good thing! Create a list of DIY projects, a shopping list and a budget.

The Home Project Planner is helpful for this step! Download it for free here:

Download this FREE Home Project Planner Ready to conquer all those home projects swirling around in your head? Download this free printable planner to track project checklists, budgets, paint colors, and more. Hooray! Your printable project planner is on its way to your inbox. Happy planning!

7 | Just Begin!

It’s so easy to get stuck in the planning phase, but the real secret is to just begin! You don’t have to have it all figured out. Even one small project is progress!

And you’ll probably discover that the more projects you tackle, the more momentum you’ll have and confidence you’ll gain.

I hope these tips are helpful if you’re wondering how to start decorating a house. Remember that decorating is a process so enjoy the journey!

I’m going to follow my own advice and start some new decorating projects of my own! I’ll be sure to share my progress in future blog posts!

Happy decorating,