One of the most delightful aspects of purchasing a new home is the fun of making that blank slate feel like your own personality and your family’s preferences. Not all families think or act the same way, and just as that is awesome, your individual ways of decorating are also awesome! It can be overwhelming to think about what aspects you might want to change, however. You’re not a professional decorator, but you want everything to work well together and show off your true selves! How can you make your new home (or old one) feel more like you !

Hang Up Art You Love

While formal, classical styles might be fine, you might not feel any personal attachment or enjoyment from them! Perhaps you like an eclectic style, or brighter colors than you’ve had previously. Maybe you like specific artists, or even characters from popular culture. Collect all of the pieces you have, whether family photos, small artworks, even interesting “odd” texture items which can be hung on a wall, and look at how to create gallery walls , which are endlessly adaptable and can include everything from your slightly sarcastic embroidery collection, to that cool matchbox car you found at the bottom of a box. Make your room show what you really love!

Use Your Favorite Colors

When it comes to both painting and adding new artworks in frames, considering favorite colors is key. If you have multiple rooms to coordinate, it’s a great idea to choose a full color palette , even if you are only painting a little at a time. This way, when finished, all of your rooms will smoothly flow one to another, rather than having a jarring transition from one space to another. Find colors which help you feel peaceful, but which also spark that part of your brain that feels happy.

Add Family Photos

Family photos don’t have to be formal, either! Look through different family photo trends, and you can see that modern trends are less of sitting in a studio in formal clothing, and far more playful. Families have photos done in watercolors, embroidery, and even photographs of only portions of each face to combine together into one mural. “Formal” photographs can be made fun , by allowing each family member to dress in their own favorite style. After all, you want your family to look like themselves, not some idealized humans you don’t even know!

Put Up Personal Decorations

While some types of signs (like Live-Laugh-Love) have gone out of style in the past few years, and vinyl has given way to chalkboards and now silk-screening, adding personal slogans to your home is always a fun way to personalize. Do you have a family slogan, or personal joke which delights you? Family name signs go with any design that you may create in your home. Don’t be afraid this means they need to be trite! Anything that can look like a letter can be turned into an alphabet to create words. When this is, for example, superhero figurines posed to look like letters, or Legos in letter form, your personality shines through.

Coordinating the Accents

Using accents on the wall, murals, or coordinating with furniture and artwork can help solidify that the colors you are using are intentional. If looking for a favorite palette , look towards photos which make you grin, whether outdoor photos or even Instagram food pictures! Pick and choose colors from that photo for your room, and it will go together!

Paint the Front Door

When trying to put your best foot forward, paint is almost always your best bet. There are so many colors to choose from, and it’s an inexpensive way to change any size space. Your front door is the first view that most will have of your home, so having a fun color on it can transform the front of your house. Whether you prefer a brilliant yellow, or a peaceful dove grey, there are options in current trends for all styles of homes, and all personalities. The best part is that if you paint the door and want to change later on, it’s a small commitment, and you can swap as often as you desire!

Display Your Collections

You don’t need to be a millionaire to have beautiful collections which you enjoy! Whether this means a collection of books, or of rocks and gemstones, what is valuable to you is worthy of display. Did you pick up some lovely leaves and press them in the pages of a book? Do you have a fondness for classical children’s toys? Maybe you have things which you’ve built or designed. Whatever your collections may be , offering them space can help you feel at home.  

Display a Memory

Individual memories are precious, whether that means a trip to Thailand, a car you fixed up in high school, or different keys you’ve had throughout your life. Gathering and collecting memories as a scrapbook has been used for generations . Bringing those ticket stubs, snapshots, dog tags, and other snippets of life into the open for viewing can give your guests a feeling of your overall life, and can bring the energy of your overall life into your room. Choose those things which bring your joy to remember, and every time you look up at the wall, or into a shadowbox, you will get a spark of that happy memory.

The beauty of creating a home in which your own personality is displayed is the courage to display your personality to the world. Being your own authentic self, and encouraging your family members to do the same, makes your home a safer, more peaceful location for everyone. It goes from a place where nobody is important in the “formal” rooms of the home, to a space where all are invited, and all spaces display the love and dedication which is inherent in family life. Beautiful colors, your collections and displays, all will be pointed towards the love you have for one another.

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