Jenny from Little Green Notebook recently had a great post about her thought process for decorating a space. She gives a lot of helpful tips and some great insight to the way you should think about your space as you're designing it.

She talks about working in layers and gradually developing a look for a room that feels like it came together organically to become a space that you love to look at — and more importanly, love to live in.

Here are some of her points that stood out to me:

• Identify the primary function for the space. And be honest with yourself! It's okay if you mostly watch tv in your living room. It's easy to convince yourself that a pair of lovely little antique chairs would be perfect for your space because they are so amazing to look at. But if the chairs are uncomfortable - no one will ever sit there. Waste of space. Waste of money. Function comes first.

• Be a ruthless editor. Do you love it? Do you use it? Does it work well with what you DO love and use? If not, can it go elsewhere? Or can you sell it and then maybe buy something better for the room? Try to only keep things that have both form and function perfectly suited to your space and to your budget.

• Pick one serious statement item for each space. A piece of furniture, a fabric pattern or a colorful work of art. This is key: Don't get caught up in matching everything in the room to that inspiration piece. Just use it as the first piece of the puzzle and build from there.
  

Check out Little Green Notebook | Layering Floral Pillows for all of her helpful advice. I know I have a tendency to try to design a room all in an afternoon and I think her tips will help inspire me to create spaces that feel like they came together naturally instead of looking like an IKEA showroom.

Image: Little Green Notebook