When you live in an apartment complex or a house within a residential community, chances are, your home looks a lot like the others around it.
This cookie-cutter style makes it easy to put together a lot of buildings without too much extra work. Designers created the plans and the county has approved the permits. And people have liked the outcome so much that they’ve moved in.
Copying someone else’s style is so common that Pinterest is a go-to for millions of DIYers. But what if you want to create something unique?
You might have to live in a copycat exterior, but your interior can be completely yours.
Just follow these tips to find and design your style.
Get to Know Your Tastes
If you had an entire home design budget with the freedom to decorate any way you wanted, do you know where you’d start?
Some people would enter a warehouse, like IKEA, and beeline straight to their preferred decor area. Others would be completely overwhelmed, with no idea where to begin looking.
Not Sure Where to Start? Try a Style Quiz!
Maybe you didn’t go to school to be an interior decorator. That’s perfectly fine! You can still rock the style of your dreams — once you know what it is.
Luckily, there are dozens of professional “style quizzes” to point you in the right direction, like:
- Havenly’s Interior Design Style Quiz
- HGTV’s Find Your Style Quiz
- Decorist’s What’s Your Decorating Style Quiz
- Modsy’s What’s Your Home Style Quiz
Each quiz prompts you to answer a series of questions about your personal tastes. After you’ve answered them, it’ll match you with a designer or decor style that best suits your responses.
If the answer seems way off target, try a different quiz. Keep going until the results show you examples of decor that make you say, “YES!”
Let Your Budget Guide Your Shopping
You’ve most likely heard the phrase, “Champagne taste on a beer budget” before. It describes people who have expensive taste without the income to support it.
If that sounds like you, it’s not necessary to lower your standards. You just have to learn how to budget, save, and buy on sale.
Tips for Budget Shopping
Do you have a decorative item or furniture piece that you absolutely have to have?
Wait!
Don’t put it on your credit card.
Save up the money with these budgeting tips:
- Meal plan and grocery shop with coupons and discount apps
- Thrift shop for your clothes, books, and other home goods
- Just say no to impulse buys
- Plan “staycations” until you’ve saved up enough for your dream item
It can be hard to wait when you know exactly what you want. But you know what they say. The best things come to those who (budget and) wait.
Budgeting to save for your new item will make you appreciate it even more!
Rearrange Your Furniture
Look around your home. Is all your furniture right where it’s “supposed to be?”
Most of us use our ingrained idea that furniture should be up against the wall. However, you can put your stuff anywhere you want it!
Creatively Place Your Furniture
For the most part, we spend more time planning the decor of each room, shoving furniture in basic arrangements. A couch against the wall and a dresser opposite the bed seems to be how it goes.
It’s all impeccable and tidy. But is it creative? Is it you?
Every room is full of dozens of possibilities to make it uniquely yours. For example:
- If you love the feel of the sun beaming down on you, put your seats or bed in front of the window.
- Place a sectional or a bookcase down the middle of a large room to separate it into two smaller spaces.
- Living room with a view? Put your kitchen table in front of the window so you can enjoy the scenery while you dine.
In other words, just because that’s the way the traditional homes look does not mean it’s how you have to use it. It’s yours. Make it the home you want it to be.
Pop Some Color on the Walls
Neutral shades in the home are standard for the resale value. People prefer renting or buying a home that has white or beige walls.
Once you’re in your new place, those walls are a blank canvas for your personalized taste.
You can cover these open expanses even if you rent. Some leases prohibit nails, but you still have options.
Removable wallpaper has long replaced paint and permanent paper. Find an adhesive covering with a wall-to-wall mural design you love or a bold pattern or color.
Hanging lightweight items without nails is possible, too. Look for heavy-duty wall-mount removable adhesives.
When you pull any removable covering off, you’ll need to clean up the residue they leave behind. Otherwise, they’re the perfect way to personalize your home without making permanent changes.
Accessorize With Your Touches
Going down the home decor aisle at your department store gives you lots of premade options to choose from. Everyone else gets to buy and decorate with those same exact accessories, though.
Instead of spending money on copycat items, decorate your home with your things.
Do you have some old-school memorabilia you’ve been collecting? Maybe some vinyl, framed pictures, or a variety of knickknacks you’re proud of?
Don’t let them sit around collecting dust. Put some shelves on the wall (bookshelves if you can’t hang anything) and show off your goodies! They make you happy, they’re original to you, and they’re free.
Conclusion
The cookie-cutter life is fine for some people, but you want your home to stand out and be uniquely yours. And why shouldn’t you?
It’s okay to have an exterior that matches the neighborhood. When you use these tips, you will custom-design the inside of your house to be all yours.
Author bio:
Caitlin Sinclair is the Business Manager at Riata Apartments. With over 5 years of property management experience, she begins and ends each day loving what she does. She finds joy in helping current and future residents and makes Riata a place everyone loves to call home.
