Makely

Today, I’m excited to share a little thrift store upgrade with you. I am participating in Swap It Like Its Hot, a contest of sorts where bloggers send each other items that they found at the thrift store or flea market. The recipient has to transform the item into something for their home.

These sorts of swaps are always fun, but really nerve wracking for me. My style is different than most of the other bloggers participating, so I was really scared about what I would be getting in the mail! Luckily for me, Katrina from Chic Little House sent me an awesome thrift store score.

Truth be told, I really loved these horse head bookends as they were. One of the horses has a chipped ear and the monkey pod wood was a little scratched up. But, what fun would that have been if I just left them as is? No fun at all!

I decided that these would be great for Emma’s room, and I would put them on her dresser underneath the crazy carousel horse shelves. I wanted them to have a little more character, so glitter came to the rescue.

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As a self-taught professional decorator, my experience decorating the three homes I’ve owned is what attracted my first clients. They wanted my help with their space, but I think I got the better end of the deal.

By serving my clients I learned the number one thing it takes to decorate better for myself. It was glaringly obvious, but I didn’t see it for a long time.

When I designed spaces for clients, I couldn’t just give them a list of things to buy. I had to explain why. Why that sofa. Why those three vases. Why that rug with that coffee table. Why that color. Why that pattern.

I spent more time explaining my choices, than making them. Part of it was my natural desire to educate my clients to help them pull off the room. The other part was feeling I owed that to them. That if I couldn’t explain why I was recommending they buy something or make something, then I shouldn’t recommend it.

For every furniture of decor selection, I required myself to explain things like:

how it relates to everything else in the room
how it reinforces the use of a certain shape, pattern, or texture
how it fits into the story I want the room to tell

For example, in the office design below I recommended an accent table by the sofa. I could have recommended many different tables. So why did I choose the ceramic stool (#9)? Well, because the subtle theme in this office is aviation, because my client and her husband fly as a hobby. I chose this ceramic stool, because the angular shape reminded me of a folded paper airplane.

Explaining myself made me a better decorator for my clients, but even more powerfully it made me a better decorator for myself. It is how I stopped bringing home things I didn’t love or need, because I couldn’t explain why. It’s what stopped me from doing DIY projects, because I couldn’t explain why. It’s what made everything in my home more meaningful and every decorating decision easier.

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Easy Upstyled Glittered Horse Head Bookends #SwapItLikeItsHot

The Power of Why in Decorating