I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how common it really is. Your decorating plans are coming along, you are going in a direction you feel confident about, you already have a few things picked out and then suddenly, it hits. A decorator’s block. There’s something that’s just not working, an element you don’t know how to get around, perhaps you just can’t seem to find that certain thing you were looking for to suit the space just right. And so you stall. You turn it over in your mind but you can’t seem to figure it out. The project falters. Weeks go by. And finally, you realise long afterwards, that the room you had such high hopes for still isn’t finished and it’s months – maybe YEARS – later.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the nearly 6 years we’ve owned this house is that shit happens and things can sour quickly. Sometimes, even with the best laid plans, things, well, just don’t go to plan. I’ve been there plenty of times myself and this post is as much for me as it is for you. If you read my post on Wednesday, you’ll know that I stalled on getting our wardrobes replaced for years because I couldn’t decide what it was that I wanted and I just went around in circles. YEARS. I know, I know. It’s crazy.
But there are a few things you can do to break yourself free from a decorating rut, to tackle those obstacles and to get that room finished.
Change something
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve swapped furniture around just to see if something worked in a different way. I’ll shop my house, move a chair into a different space, swap around accessories, move pictures. When we keep seeing the same space in the same way over and over, it just leads to brain fatigue and when you move things around, something may just click. It doesn’t mean you will necessarily find a new layout (although of course you might) but just the act of a new perspective may be enough to get things moving in your brain. When I tried a larger print over our bedside tables for a styling post, I suddenly realised the scale of the artwork I’d had there before was actually wrong. This lead me to finding some larger artwork which really breathed new life into the space.
Take a timed break
I know I can get obsessive about certain things. If I need something for a room, I will pour over loads of online stores looking for something to fit just right. But after a while, I stop seeing what it is I need, I get distracted, I see things I may have jumped on to start with but suddenly I’m doubting myself and wondering if it really is so great after all. Yes, you can over think things at times and I find that can lead to some serious indecision. Take a break from it but time it. Leaving a problem for a few days (promising yourself you won’t obsess over it in the meantime!) and make an appointment with yourself to tackle it the following week. I recommend an appointment because you also don’t want to ignore the problem, hoping it will go away! Perspectives change, stock on websites change, you may end up coming across something on Pinterest or on another blog or on Twitter in the meantime that you hadn’t originally considered. If you can go on holiday or take a mini vacation? Even better. I find I’m most inspired when I stop obsessing and just let the ideas and creativity come to me.
Seek out advice from a trusted friend
I can’t tell you how many times I have called on my blogger friends to help me make a decision on something. If you have a trusted friend or relative with great taste that you love, there’s absolutely no harm in bouncing some ideas off them and it can be a fun exercise to get a fresh pair of eyes on a problem space. I was fretting over the fabric for my chairs in the diningΒ room and when I called on KirstinΒ to see what she thought, her suggestion of the Jamil Natural fabric was insanely perfect and I had no idea why I’d not thought of it before. Fresh eyes from someone you trust can be a total lifeline.
Call in an expert
And finally, if you realise you’ve bitten off more than you can chew or if you really feel completely stuck where you don’t even know how to approach a space, then don’t feel bad about calling in the experts. Not everyone has an ‘interior design’ eye and not every project is doable for every level of skill. There are times when saving a few extra pennies to hand a project over to someone who works with these things day in and day out can relieve you of the pressure to do it all yourself. When we talked about getting the tiles done at the front of the house, we knew it would be well beyond our skill level and I’m so happy we had the experts come in to do it for us. There’s a good chance we’ll also hire in a fitter for our new worktops too. Know when to let go and let the experts take over!
So those are just a few ways that I get out of a decorating rut if I feel like I’m a bit stuck! Do you ever find yourself a bit stuck when decorating? What do you do? I’d love to hear your suggestions too!
This is such a helpful post! I love the idea of putting off thinking about something but making a firm appointment to do something about it at a later date…I am so bad at burying my head in the sand and putting off thinking about things that scare me, sometimes indefinitely, and all the while it is there, underneath, giving me bad dreams and contributing to my anxiety. I am going to start doing this in life generally as well as decorating! So thanks!
I also laughed when I got to the section about asking friends’ advice and saw a pic of Meisha! I know my cats don’t care for interior decor beyond what they can get their claws into and how snuggly it is to sleep on! I was relieved it was because you were talking about the fabric in the pic, and not taking design advice from a cat! :D :D :D (If you were though, I would start listening to mine maybe!) x
So pleased you found it helpful! Ya know, Meisha probably does offer all sorts of interior advice – she never stops ‘talking’ so I wouldn’t doubt it! Shame I can’t understand what she’s on about ;) Haha! xx
Kimberly, you’re such a breath of fresh air! So refreshing to see your blogs, pics of your mistakes and ‘not-done-yet’ bits instead of the usual ‘Wow! If only I had enough time/money/work-life balance etc etc’ stuff I usually see! My own particular bug-bear at the moment is our hallway – painted white in a hurry 9 yrs ago as a short-term fix & never moved on from there, no stair carpet for 8 months now, massively stuck in a rut! When people visit I open the door a chink as I’m so embarrassed about it! Trying hard now to get it finished though, we’ve even got to the masking-off stage ready to paint – wahay!!!
Aww thank you for such a lovely comment Lisa! And trust me, our hallway is horrible and I’m embarrassed about mine too – it’s just way down on the priority list at the moment ;) Good luck with sorting yours out!! xxx
Very well spoken Kimberly. Have a GREAT weekend!
Aww thank you Lory! Hope you’re having a fab week :) xxx
I think that somtimes its a toss up on how you buy things or on what ideas you use to decorate.You can take your time really look at everything, go through your budget, decide what you are going to buy then talk yourself out of it, because just maybe its not quite what you are looking for. So then before you realise it, your a couple of years down the line. Or you buy something that slaps you around the face, beacuse you fell in love with it (even though now you have no idea what direction you are going in) sometimes thats easier, because it maybe helps you go in a direction you hadn’t thought of, and it can give you different ideas that you hadn’t even considered. OR as in my case one of the things i do is look through a very talented ladies blog, look what shes up to, or go through the archives and gain ideas that why, which Keith dreads, lol. So a big thanks Kimberly you have helped me more than once to get out of a decorating rut. Having said that im still struggling to find a kitchen splash back ???. Xxx
Aww love this comment and agree that we all find inspiration and get stuck in all sorts of different ways! And I have to laugh – Poor Keith must hate me, bless him ;) Good luck with the splashback – no idea why choosing tiles is SO HARD but yes, I feel your pain!! xx
Awesome tips! Shopping my house and moving things around is my favorite thing to do.
Me too!! Love shopping my house – it immediately makes things feel so different! xxx
Great tips! In my home, things are developing very organically. There are no mood boards or plans, just as and when I get around to doing something, I try to do it. That does mean, of course, that sometimes things get left for a while and I lose my mojo. Shopping the home and moving things around is a great way to figure out what to do next. Or faffing, as my husband calls it. He doesn’t get it :-/
That is SO funny because Wayne calls it ‘faffing’ too ;) Definitely doesn’t get it but it really gets my brain fired up when I do it ;) xxx
Shop your house! Love it! So few people recognise the benefit of doing this ?? All too often we have beautiful things that are just in the wrong places! Great post ?