A friend was recently telling me about her experience touring model homes. She told me about this one home that felt instantly warm and welcoming. She said it was inspiring, but had her questioning her own home.
She wanted to know what made that home feel so wonderful and inviting….and how could she create that in her own home.
I told her that for one thing, she probably identified with the decorating style in that home. There’s a reason it felt warm and welcoming to her, when other equally well decorated homes on the tour did not.
Secondly, I told her it’s the way the home was decorated—not the style, but how the decorating was planned.
Model homes aren’t decorated piece by piece over many years. They go from empty house to completely decorated top to bottom in a matter of weeks.
This is not to say you should rush decorating, but rather to recognize the designer in this case planned the home all at once—not room by room.
The good news, I told my friend, is she can do something similar for her home. Even if she can’t implement the entire design all at once, she can plan for it.
I call it whole home planning. It’s looking at your home as a whole and creating a cohesive decorating plan.
You can start whole home planning—the key to creating a cohesive, warm, and welcoming home of your own—by focusing on these four areas:
- Color – Think strategically about how you use wall colors and decorating accent colors to connect your rooms and create visual flow throughout your home.
- Layout – Be intentional about how you use your home to support your lifestyle—not an aspirational lifestyle, but the one you actually live out every day.
- Styling – Use your home decor to strategically tell your story, personalizing your home and giving it character.
- Personality – Give your home a unique identity that reflects you and keeps your decorating consistent and cohesive.
Right now I’m drinking Throat Coat tea to prepare my vocal chords because I’m teaching two live online workshops this week, where I’ll be sharing my favorite strategies for creating a cohesive home. The first one is this afternoon. I’d love for you to join me. Just click the day/time below that works best for you.
Choose the time that works best for you:
Tuesday, October 18th at 2 PM Eastern
Thursday, October 20th at 11 AM Eastern
A recording of the class will be made available for a limited time after the live class, but only for those that register for the class now.
