A year??? We've been working on our living room for two! It's been a slow process: finding the time, finding the right stuff, and finding the MONEY! We're in no rush, and enjoying the process.

that first paragraph sums me up in a nut shell, thank god i'm not alone.

thought it was just my ADHD :P

Funny choice of photos. As I recall, that shot is from a Hudson Valley home the owner renovated for rental, then was commissioned (by her new-found tenants) to speed decorate before their move-in. I'm definitely a fan of slow decorating, although I'm super impressed by people like Emily Henderson and the decorator of the Hudson Valley home pictured (whose name is escaping me) who can put together a house that looks artfully slow decorated in a matter of days.

We're at year 1.5 of a whole house remodel. Sometimes it feels like we've been here a lot longer and I am very frustrated at this point. Only 2 bedrooms are 90% done out of the whole house. We replaced all the flooring but many walls in the main living areas need plaster repair so cannot be painted.

So far we have not hired any contractors to work on things, and the quality of our diy work so far is very good, so at least we're not losing on quality. But that's the trade off - time. When you spend the $$ to hire a pro, that shit is done like last week. When you bumble around with diy after work like we do, everything takes forever. Couple that with my type A control freak-ness and it's...not going smoothly. I manage my stress by constantly imagining my vision for the finished I can't wait to decorate - even if it's slowly, I just want to get to that step!

Found the article, from Rue Feb '12. "Two weeks to fully furnished" Two weeks! I could never decorate that quickly without expecting serious buyer's remorse: http://www.ruemag.com/february-2012/

We bought a home that was in major need of renovation before we could even move it. It was a foreclosure that had been stripped of it's kitchen, and there was 30 year old wall to wall carpet every where. (not to mention the electrical and plumbing had been severely damaged) Now that the work is about done (fresh paint on all the walls, hardwood throughout and a new kitchen) I'm beginning to wonder how I'll decorate the new place. I already have a small bit of buyers remorse on a few items I bought to go into the house, so I think the slow and steady does it.

I'd think that the biggest concern with decorating a place really quickly is that it wouldn't feel like my home, but rather a display at the store of what was on trend at one very particular time.

I'm one of those that needs to love everything in my space, so I take my time. I started with a clean slate about 6 months ago (a small one bedroom apartment) and I'm only about half way done. If I had the money to buy whatever I wanted, I'm sure this process would go a bit faster. Finding something that works in the space, that you love, AND that you can afford is not an easy task!

Was this article posted before, or am I crazy?

Yes, a very similar one was a while back. I thought the same thing. =)

I am totally a slow decorator. I've been in my apartment almost a year and no room is finished yet. I meet the bare minimum to function (which is why I still have a Target bookcase holding my TV) but wait until I find the perfect fit. I know what's going in my home when I see it, but it sometimes takes a lot of looking!

I absolutely feel the need to organize my space. Whenever I travel, the first thing I do upon reaching my hotel and returning home is organize my packed items - clean clothes to their drawers, laundry to the hamper. Organization is one of my keys to a relaxed space.
But when it comes to decorating, a slow process is the way I go. My grandparents told my mother, who told me, "don't spend your money on frivolous items. Save your money and buy quality; quality over quantity. That way, it lasts a lifetime." My grandparents' bedroom furniture, after around 65+ years, is still awesome quality and I'm still trying to convince my Mom to let me take the pieces when I have my own place.

I am a patient decorator, but not a slow decorator. I have a cohesive idea about how I want my home to look like and the things I look for in decorating reflect that. I don't spend time thinking "well, maybe if I was going for this look..." no, I already know what my look is and I'm always prepared to work toward it.

I'm totally slow also ... I just pick stuff up as I find it and like it.

Hopefully your home doesn't need to be chaotic, even if it's not "finished". Corral your chaos somehow. You do need the basics at least to start - do you have some place to sit down at night and a table to put your dinner on? If yes, great. You can take your time finding the perfect rug, the perfect art, etc. You don't have to live with clutter and chaos, though. I think most people are "slow decorators" simply because they don't have the means to be otherwise. I'd love to have a set of matching dining chairs, but it's money I don't have to spend right now. Big purchases are made over time. Decorative items should also be things that really speak to you, and those you can only find over time I think.

I wish it was all decorated at once. I have things lined up that I want to buy, but I have to save up money to buy them. So it is a very slow process whether I like it or not.

I am horribly impatient. That said, I almost never encounter buyers' remorse. However, my problem lately is that I had decorated for one space and have since moved three times (about once a year). The living room looked great in the first three spaces, but not so much this one (although we love it here and plan to stay awhile). My budget and environmental ethics won't allow me to replace things, but my living room has very little natural light and so my global fair scheme seems brutally dark. I'd love to go Scandi white.

I'm almost at a year into my first condo, and it's not nearly done. We're finally at a place where we have a lot of the basic furnishings that we love, but there are a lot of empty walls, floors screaming for rugs, and so on. Money is the primary factor in forcing the 'slow-ness.' I often search out an idea, see things I love, then see the price tag, and then start again. Though when I remember how very little we had when we first moved in, we've come a long way. I'm hoping by the end of year 2, I will feel at ease in a mostly finished space.

I think there is a huge difference between "living with boxes and clutter" and a fully decorate space. I don't see why a house would be continual chaos just because you are not done decorating?
I am most certainly a slow decorator. We completely gutted and remodeled our house 2 years ago and have been back for 1 1/2 years and it is nowhere near finished - think lots of empty wall space. However - it only took us a week to unpack 90% of the boxes and maybe another month to tackle the rest. We moved through the "living with boxes and clutter" phase very quickly because I cannot stand clutter! We used our existing furniture at first, bought a few new pieces quickly and are now taking it slowly. It took us 9 months to find the perfect TV stand, a year to find a couch. But I find that I always make better decisions when I don't force it. That way the house comes together more organically.

Unfinished rooms stress me out but most of the time I have to go slow due to finances. I also find it harder to pull a room together when I do it a little at a time.

It took us 15 yrs to find the perfect replacement for our sofa. During yet another trip to Crate & Barrel we saw the Simone daybed & fell in love immediately. The two of us can lie on it at the same time, either head to toe (for reading), or side by side (for watching movies). When we have a sleepover guest, it converts to a twin-size bed by removing the bolsters. Worth every minute of the wait!

We bought our house in 2010. We only installed wooden blinds this past month. Every single piece of furniture and art is something we love and - cross our fingers - of which we won't tire. The list of things that we still have to do in the house is large, but when you surround yourself with people and things you love, it helps lessen the feelings of chaos in a house that is not fully decorated. I don't think this is something that takes two weeks...unless it's not authentic to you.

@macbride -- I agree. My home is not the way I'd like it to look. I need curtains in most rooms, slipcovers on two chairs, a different dining table. The kitchen, which is from the 1940s in a 1900s house) really needs a total gutting and re-doing.

But all that can't happen overnight. In fact, even if I could do it all overnight, I probably wouldn't, because I like to think decisions over.

Take what you have now. Arrange it in your rooms as best as possible. Keep it clean and tidy and calm. Keep a wish list. Someday it will come true.

I feel like my space evolves and it might be pulled together quickly but it gets edited and altered too often to ever call it finished.

The picture looks fabulous. May be you're experiencing some kind of slow living and that's wonderful, I think.

My husband and I moved from Chicago to Seattle two months ago, selling all of our furniture before the move (really, everything was either Craigslisted or from IKEA... no use saving any of it!) The only thing that we're still without is the couch, which should be delivered in the next couple weeks. I used to think that it was insane to live in a home that wasn't totally furnished, but we've been able to save a lot of money by finding things on Craigslist... and a lot of sanity by making sure that everything would fit in our small space!

I'm a slow decorator. I like to think about exactly what I need in regards to function, form, texture, scale, color and cleanability. Then I go looking for it and wait until I find exactly the right piece. If the piece I want is really expensive or rare to find, then I usually get a low cost placeholder on craigslist to use while I save up for the piece I want.

I've been both a slow decorator and a fast decorator depending on the circumstances. For my first apartment I was on a tight budget and had literally no furniture to start out with, so I needed all the essentials right away or I would have been sitting on boxes. Since my college days and 4 apartments later (I tend to nest in one space) I've definitely embraced the slow decorating pace.

One of my biggest hurdles to get over was learning that not everything had to be perfect right away. Buying everything at the same time really locks you stylistically into one point in your life. As we grow and mature, our spaces should reflect that as well.

I've been in my current apartment for almost 4 years now and it's still a work in progress; although, to everyone else it looks done. It took me 3 years to find nightstands for my bedroom that I loved that didn't cost $500 a piece, but I found my couch within 2 weeks of looking. Everything happens at it's own pace, and great design comes from letting the process lead.

I think the day that I can't find anything else I want to change or run out of projects is the day I start looking for a new place to live.

My house is an experimental lab for my furniture projects which means there are always unfinished things sitting around since I build until I run out of money and some projects are on hold until I can find the missing pieces that will give it the right look but that doesn't make feel less like home or unfinished. However when slow decorating take before and after pictures. You'll thank yourself for the evidence of progress made.

We have been in our house almost 28 years now, and only now is the end in sight. We have rehabbed every room of a 1914 farmhouse, and with wiring, plumbing, roofing, and almost every other kind of "ing", it has taken time. I don't know if it is "decorated", but it is filled with memories and wonderful pieces gathered over years. It takes time to know what you want and need, and then whether the house wants and/or needs it. I hate going into houses and seeing "hotel art" chosen because it goes with the color scheme. Even our bad art is OUR bad art, not someone else's choice.

These are wonderful comments. Thanx all!

I'm an extreme-slow decorator as well. In my 9th year here and none of the rooms are what I'd consider "complete." Not only do I doubt they'll ever be done, I'll probably die of boredom when they are.

My home turns into "mine" very quickly, but I'm not finished by any means. I've been in my current apartment for 4 months and I'm still searching for the perfect rugs for my living and dining areas and what I should hang on my bedroom walls. On the other hand, my son's room was finished within 2 weeks of moving in, as was the kitchen and the basic bones of the living area. It doesn't take me long to get comfortable and settled in a space, but I'll never be done tweaking and replacing and adjusting!

For the most part, I actually went very, very quickly - I think I did my whole house in about three months. That said, I had spent YEARS not only saving up cash for my down payment but ideas about colors I liked, the type of furnishings I found most attractive, interesting ways to use what I already had, etc. Then I wound up buying a house for significantly less than I'd budgeted for, which means I had the cash on hand to do it in a snap -- and I did!

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with my choices. I'd say my living room, bedroom, office and spare room are exactly what I would choose all over again, even after living two years in the space. I'd probably get a slightly smaller dining room table if I were doing it over, though I think that's an error I might have made no matter how long I took; without having a table in the space (and I didn't own one previously), I would never have realized just how the space would work. But every paint color is precisely what I wanted, the feel and flavor of the place is warm, livable and fun, and best of all, I think that if someone who knows me but hadn't seen my house were just shown a picture of the interior and asked to guess who lived there, they'd immediately know it was mine.

The one thing I waited a long time on was wall art. That is filling in more slowly, but I love it when the perfect thing finally shows up.

Slow.Slow.Slow. I took so long to design the living room, I was a laughing stock. But I found the perfect sofas, and they have worked in every apartment since.

Uh, 20 years to have every room good at the same time. And still looking for my perfect couch.

in my last apartment it took 3 years to decide on my drapes, then i moved the following year. as you can imagine, the windows are still bare

i meant to add, decorating is about evolution for me so there's really no such thing as done.

Alysha, since you truly do seem to be looking for ways to cope with the stress of slow decorating, I would love to give you a few tips that I have learned/come up with over the past year in my (first-ever) rental.
Needless to say, I fall under the forced-to-be-a-slow-decorator category.

1. Remember, you have control:
Not having the budget to furnish an entire house with Anthropologie in a weekend can make me feel helpless. After all, there's not much one can DO to acquire more money or a bigger salary. That said, remind yourself that you are ultimately taking your time by choice. If you wanted, if you REALLY wanted, you could hit up a few thrift stores and be done with all the necessities of a functioning household for no more than few hundred dollars. Yet you (and I) choose not to do this. Remind yourself that because homemaking is something you value, you are the one subjecting yourself to this tedious process, not the other way around.

2. Clean, a lot:
I have learned that envisioning future furniture in an empty corner is a far more peaceful experience than trying to envision it in a full-of-junk-because-I-don't-have-anything-nice-to-put-there corner. Whenever I am yearning for that next awesome Craigslist find, I try to do the dishes instead of dwell on it. Cleaning up the space helps remind me of what I do have going for me here and now.

3. NO ONE, NOT EVEN YOUR MOTHER, cares as much as you do:
People come into my home and remark, "you have such a beautiful space" and it's all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at them. I say, "thank you so very much; it's a work in progress." I only see what isn't done, rather than focusing on what is. Only I am hearing the "caching" of money spent in the past, present, and future. Only I am tearing my hair out over replacement couch legs and vintage radio consoles. To an outsider, the house looks at least pretty okay, or better.

4. Progress in other ways:
Often my boyfriend remarks that I'm stressing too much about furniture. I tell him, "Tyler, you KNOW this house is my masterpiece." Like any artist or musician, I love working towards a goal or a finished product. Knowing that the house will not be a finished product in any sense of the phrase for quite some time, I find smaller projects to complete in the meantime. Knitting a scarf is something I'm currently working on. Tasks like this let me exert homemaker energy without spending money I don't have.

Finally...
Increase your credit card limit:
Kidding.

All my best, Chelsea

I was a military brat so I lived in 8 different houses before I was 18. My parents definitely had a system when we moved into a new place and all boxes had to be gone within the first week (don't let them linger or they'll gain permanence). Once, we moved into a new townhouse two days before a friend of my parents - a priest from India - came to visit. That was probably the most hectic JUST FIND THE SHEETS AND TOWELS NOW unpack I ever experienced. My dad even managed to get pictures hung on the walls before the man (who was lovely and would have been happy with anything) arrived.

The key was flexibility. We knew however we arranged anything it was temporary so not to sweat any of it (though my dad still takes fits of rearranging all the furniture). My folks also have a large German wall unit that automatically made itself the focus of the living room and everything was then organized around what ever wall it fit on. They also had interesting art from all their travels - carved African figures, Middle Eastern rugs (one smelled funny and was called The Camel Piss Rug for years), Thai paintings, paintings of the Arizona desert, and sketches of German castles. I love my parents' house. Every little tchotchke is interesting. Now they've lived in one place for a decade and worked on the base level of their place (wall color, floors), but for years, the coolness of the stuff made up for the whiteness of the walls.

Yeah, a support group! I often wake up at 3am and start decorating while i'm half asleep...I go from room to room...it drives me crazy!

Patrick Stevens I totally agree!
Some things just fall right into place and others take ages to hunt down.
And it's never done, guests might think it is, but I am always aware of things that need tweaked and improved.

I don't think it's in my nature to have everything done at once. Besides the financial constraints, I definitely like to live in a space and get a better feel of it first. And indecision slows me down, too. I definitely have a fear of commitment, fear of getting sick of something. I have a wine-colored couch that I fell in love with immediately. I would visit it at the furniture store down the block from my apartment. But it still took me a good 6 months of contemplating "Can I live with a purple couch?" Fortunately I bit the bullet and still love it 5 years later.

Прекрасный вкус у хозяев!

It's the journey not the destination, in all things! People evolve, and our spaces do, too, to reflect that. The slow movement reminds us of this, and in a culture of instant gratification and fast info, travel, everything, it's a welcome reminder. Slow decorating has my vote :)

I was about to write what @Sarah H, but I believe it so strongly, I'll repeat it. did: It's about the journey, not the destination.

A bunch of years ago, it took me an entire year to find the perfect shower curtain. 'Nuff said.

I decorate like I garden--for me it is more process of making something my own and watching it grow and change as I grow and change. So while I am one of those people who cannot live in chaos and in my last move had the hour unpacked, all boxes out and all the art and such up in a week, the house, and the gardens, continue to change as we have lived here. Of course, being over 50, I have collected my "stuff" over many years and what I have is what I love.

I'm both a speed decorator AND a slow decorator.

My home is where I LIVE. I need for it to be an oasis right from the start. I am good at looking at a measured floor plan and getting the room I want in one try. It's never designer showroom, I can't even imagine buying a suite of furniture store items all at once! But I assemble what I need from what I have, scout for what I need to fill things our in the most affordable way, and buy new only when I kind of have to. I wait (slow decorate) mainly for upgrades. Like, right now, I want to move from a couple of sadly ruined mid century chairs to an upholstered love seat. The chairs are functioning OK, and finding a love seat that works with the other furniture and that I can afford may take some time. Eventually, though, it will happen...

When we built our house, I had every room "designed" from the floor plan before the studs were up. We bought a few pieces ahead of time and stored them, did a significant planned shop at IKEA right after moving in (mainly for shelving and desks, which we had delivered), and of course, used what we already had. As time goes on, I find new things (mainly thrift) to enhance or replace what's there, but within a month of moving in, and without excessive spending, we had pretty much what we do now, four years later. (It might have taken LESS than a month if my partner hadn't had emergency gall bladder surgery, meaning I had to hire help to haul boxes and assemble IKEA furnishings, since he wasn't allowed to strain himself!)

I'm not into worrying about "quality" from the standpoint of some AT readers. I don't like most antiques, and anything you get now that you want to last forever will turn into an antique somebody else will either love or hate. I don't want junk, but I won't be handing anything down to kids (don't have any), so to me, it just needs to be comfortable, functional, reasonably attractive, low maintenance and contribute to my chosen lifestyle. I don't need to wait for the perfect iteration of any given piece of furniture, not sure what "perfect" would be. I just need to be content with what I find.

My husband and I just bought our first house and don't have 1/4 of the furniture we need to fill it. EVERYTHING needs to be painted, new floors, the whole deal. What keeps me sane during this long project is having one room that is semi-finished, free of clutter, and if not nicely decorated, at least free from anything distracting or annoying. Every other room in the house has spots on the wall that need touched up, furniture that needs painted, bare walls, etc, but if I have one room (or wall even) that is "done," it gives me a place to rest my eyes and mind from the chaos, and it gives me confidence to continue with the other projects.

Where to start! I agree with a previous poster that living with boxes is very different (and much more stressful) than not having a space decorated to reflect one's personality. Any empty space can be calm by being clean even though every surface may be begging for life.
After 4 years of saving and penny pinching, we FINALLY renovated a small kitchen. We initially thought to do it ourselves but quickly realized the trade off of time versus cost and mental sanity. We also felt that having a kitchen we could cook in sooner would save us by not eating out. We were lucky to find a very affordable, competent, and trustworthy contractor but that in itself took years of asking around for references.
Waiting 4 years to remodel a deteriorating kitchen was truly a blessing in disguise because I was undoubtably sure about every design decision that I made. Although I labored over the plans and nitpicked every detail (which can be exhausting), I can say that it was fully worth it in the end.
The decorating process wasn't actually too painstaking after the reno because over the course of the 4 years, I had very slowly and deliberately collected items that I truly loved. My possessions been edited down several times and now only the items actually worthy to me have a permanent place.
Yes, I'm a slow, intentional, and deliberate decorator. I am prone to buyer's remorse so I have to be able to justify even small purchases and while I am incredibly inspired by designers who can create curated looks on the fly, I have to wonder how much functionality can truly be supported by their impeccable aesthetics.
Oh, I'm also a cheapo who values quality which I think requires patience, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make since it's a rare combination to fulfill.

There was a house tour a few months back and the guys had to buy and sell five different area rugs before they found the right one.
I used to think I could pull it all together at once and it would be ok. I've come to embarassingly realize those decorating attempts that I was proud of were amateurish. You have to live in a space a while to get it right. Unless...you're stripping it back to the bones and taking out all the period details. Then all you need to get is the measurements right. Those homes look new inside, but contemporary looks somewhat soulless, imho.

For me, design is always a process. Come to think of it, that is probably because my three boys were growing up and I never wanted to live in fear of someone spilling (or barfing) on some beloved piece of furniture. They are all out of high school now so let the decorating begin! I've made 2 large purchases this year and it seems that now that I'm in my 40s, I am able to invest in some forever furniture. But the decorating part, that remains a process as my tastes evolve.

i consider slow decorating a LUXURY! decorating has not been a great fun filled hobby for me (for most of my early adulthood, i considered it a waste of time), but as we moved from one space to another, i started to think about what I wanted to come home to and so began the hunt. time, money, and indecisiveness has made me slow to finish, but i can say that what i have found so far, makes me feel like so much more accomplished.

I'm a slow decorator. A little over a year into my current place I've generally reached a point of happiness with my current decor. But I had rubbermaid cartons as chairs and a coffee table for a month and various other embarrassing things. I'm a big believer in taking hand-me-downs or freebies until I find the perfect item. I'd rather have a coffee table that was free that I was meh about and be able to buy what I really want when I (finally) see it then pay for something I'm only 80% in love with.

That being said, if I need to I can speed decorate. My sister for a variety of sucky reasons ended up moving while still in the hospital after having a baby. She gave me free reign to do whatever and I had the entire place unpacked and decorated in a day and a half.

V-e-r-y s-l-o-w. I've been here 9 years & it's just now coming together. That said,no boxes, altho' some stuff was stored in the basment until I decided what to do with it/if I still wanted it.
Money has been a big issue--had very little when I moved in, & have had some health issues that kept my off work for several weeks at a stretch.
I made do with a freebie chair & futon for several years. Not pretty, but something for people to sit on. (Bit pathetic when your upgrades come from IKEA!)
It's really been within the last 2 years that money, interest, & evolving taste have come together to give me the home I want.

It's a relief to hear that I'm not alone in the delayed coming together of my home! I'm distracted by things like dislike for the current old carpet, inherited expensive not to taste window furnishings.... Etc etc. But it takes time to collect the perfect pieces, ESP if the sources are eBay, vinnies (good will for Aussies)... And best of all, the council clean ups! I just have to remember that the homes/room I love in mags have been sorted by professionals who can look from the outside in! I wonder if they get stuck doing their own places ....

Ok, when I hear about people taking years & years to decorate, I wonder about that - don't your tastes and styles evolve? That's not to say that you need to decorate quickly, but ideas do change. Life situations change.

I've have to be a slow decorator, like many others, due to finance. But now, after 10 years of living on my own in various apartments, I have an awesome collection of items gathered over time. Each piece makes me smile and reminds me of a different time in my life. My favourite items are hand me downs from relatives, and the items remind me of fun times as a kid spent at their homes. That's something you can't buy in a weekend at Freedom (Australia).

I've learnt perfection doesn't exist. I focus on completing one task at a time (prioritized based on either what annoys me the most, or what I happen to acquire). While I'm busy, I slowly gather the items I need, and do small prep jobs. Then when I have a free weekend, I get in and get the task done. And I make sure I clean up afterwards, so I can sit back and admire the job done. This weekend it was hanging the lounge room curtains - gorgeous hand me downs from my grandmother. Sunday night I was so happy seeing them hung in my space. The rest of the room isn't perfect, but I can sit back and admire the awesome stuff I have finished.

I also used Gumtree (Australia)/ Craigslist/ebay/IKEA to find temporary bookshelves, drawers, bedside tables, TV stand, filing cabinet etc to organise my space. Yes, they're not exactly what I want in the space, but they were super cheap, and keep my space free of boxes and junk piles so my home feels organised and comfortable. Now I can feel calm and relaxed while I slowly search/save up for the just-right items to replace them.

I've been living in this house for more than 5 years yet I still don't think my house is fully decorated or furnished. I have a cousin who just bought a house a few months ago. I visited her yesterday and her house was fully furnished...looked like she's been living there more than a decade.

im one of those slow decorators because of the following reasons 1)Money 2)Time 3)Endless possibilities. I must agree that being a slow decorator makes u unorganized and antsy at fixing your space, but it also has its good side like, you can really think well before making that design into reality. It gives you other options and allows you to research more on ideas and tips. So i guess its either you look at the bad side or good side of being a slow decorator ^_^

I wish I were a slow decorator - I'm very impatient and as a result have made expensive errors. Good thing that I can rationalize really well: one dining table used for 8 years even though I hated it after the first year divided by number of uses = I can donate it)!

I come to this site to help me slow down and to realize that it is a process. Thanks for the boost!

We have been working on our apt for 3 1/2 years