A more ME home

Last week I wrote a bit about how my wardrobe, since moving from east Austin to suburban Atlanta went from bright and colorful to more subdued and neutral. In a way, I felt that over the course of the last two years, my personality went from bright and colorful to more subdued, too. I felt that I lost some of my personal style and the joy of getting dressed. 

Looking around my home, I see the same thing: lots of black, white, grey, and brown with a sprinkle of gold. My Texas house, in contrast, boasted a cherry red entryway, a sunshine yellow living room, giant red sofas, and an electric teal kitchen. 

Things are different here:

My giant red sofas have been banished to the basement and the walls in my house are a very 2014 on trend palette of white, gray, and darker gray. I think homes and wardrobes have became more cozy and less colorful these last few years, and that's okay. I'm just trying to figure out how I can make my home feel more like me. 

I was getting ready to type that I feel like I've lost some of my personal style at home, but that's not really true at all. I've never felt like I've had a good grasp on what my personal style is when it comes to my living space. I literally don't have one picture or piece of art hanging up. I don't know what I like, and my lack of decor reflects that. 

I am pretty good at figuring out what I don't like (Shiplap. And most things on Fixer Upper. RIP, me, after the Chip and Joanna fans throttle me for this Gaines family blasphemy!), but I'm terrible at pinning down what I really like. I think I like funny taxidermy, but that's not really a design choice insomuch as it's my desire to one day become Gena Rowlands' character from Hope Floats. LIFE GOALS. 

One of my 2017 goals is to make my house feel more like a home. I have great furniture (I mean, have you seen my COCOCO Home chesterfield?) but I'm seriously stumped when it comes to furniture arrangement and art placement and "styling". I'm stumped at the step before that: what do I even buy? To help me in my endeavor, I got two design books in the mail today:

DOMINO: YOUR GUIDE TO A STYLISH HOME // I loved the first Domino book, and this book came up as an Amazon recommendation when I purchased The Curated Closet. And because I'm so susceptible to Amazon's power of suggestion, I 1-clicked that right into my mailbox. Two day Prime, baby!

LIVING WITH PATTERN // Then this sneaky book was an Amazon suggestion after I bought the above book. *sigh* Someone really should take away my online shopping privileges past 11 pm. I liked the cover a lot so I bought it. Hopefully I AM judging this book by its cover, because I think it's cover looks cool. 

I also own:

STYLED by Emily Henderson // I love her blog and her style, so I bought this book. I think it will come in handy when I get the big stuff taken care of. I really liked her ideas for coffee tables, book shelves, and mantles, but I'm just not there yet. I'm not even close. 

DOMINO: THE BOOK OF DECORATING // This made decor really accessible to me and I still refer to it when I am looking at ideas (that I, so far, have not acted upon).

DESIGN MOM // Okay, I don't actually own this one. I aspire to own it, though. I got it from the library and I loved it because it was so darn practical. It helped me to keep decor in perspective; this is a space where my family dwells versus a showcase or catalog. Plus I met Gabrielle at Alt Summit the year I spoke, and I adore her. I should probably buy it so I can refer back to it. 

In terms of decor blogs, I regularly read: 

EMILY HENDERSON // I love her use of color, her big, practical ideas, and how California cool her style is. 

and... 

that's it. That's the only decor blog I read.

As I dive into this new adventure, I'd love to hear your suggestions for decor resources. Good design books? Good blogs? Good online stores to peruse? Just someone first make a browser extension that will block shopping when my insomnia hits. Who knows what kind of book or weird thing may show up on my doorstep 48 hours later. 

Comment below or find me on Facebook to share your design tips. I'd love to hear them!