The #1 Most Repeated Piece of Advice From Our House Tours

published May 17, 2015

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Time and time again we hear our House Tour subjects tell us the same piece of “best advice” when they fill out our style survey. So what do these decor savvy folks do that they think you should do, too? We might as well let them tell you.

As Brook Baker Eide concicely puts it:

Don’t try to do it all at once! It takes time to make a home come together and you should never rush it!

Even when you’ve got the shiny keys to a brand new apartment and you’re raring to go paint every wall and decorate every corner and get every little thing into place, don’t. The best thing you can do to make a new home into a long-lasting and happy home — if you ask the dwellers from some of our most seriously stylish house tours — is to slow down a bit.

Anne-Claire: Live in the place for a few months, or even a whole year, before making major changes. When we bought the house, we were planning to open the kitchen more and to add a garage, but after awhile we realized that we like the layout as it is, and that having a garage wouldn’t change our life as much as the hassle of building one.

(Image credit: Nancy Mitchell)

Judy and Don: Take your time with furnishings and finishing your home. By taking our time, we’ve been able to find things that are unique or sentimental. I love that I have a story for many of the things in our home, and if I don’t it’s because it’s completely practical and functional. We still have many bare walls and empty spaces because we want to love what we fill and not just like it.

Lisa Price: Slowly pick up pieces to build a collection you really love instead of buying trendy pieces or items for instant satisfaction. It’ll be worth the wait and better reflect your own style.

Felicity & Paul: Get to know your home and understand the relationship between spaces before committing to any major changes. Preferably try to experience all four seasons so you can truly understand how the spaces respond and relate to the natural environment.

(Image credit: Cathy Pyle)

Kathy & Matt: Take your time when decorating. It’s not a race. Rooms that evolve over time look much more authentic and personal.

Christina & Paolo: What I call “slow decorating”, in other words, take your time when putting your interior together. Don’t buy things all at once in a set — buy only things you love, live with them for a while, and then choose something else that will go with them. And a second piece of advice can help with spatial planning: use masking tape to mark out the outline of potential furniture purchases on the floors, to help you visualize the space.

(Image credit: Marie-Lyne Quirion)

Beth-Anne and Arron: Take your time to build a home you love bit by bit, day by day.

Paula and Paul: Build and layer as you go – I think you can always tell if someone has furnished a room in one go in one shopping spree. Live in it and get to know it first – work out areas you use and areas you don’t, also how the light moves throughout the day. I like to think of interior design as curating – buying and adopting things you love and cherish.

Agree? Tell us about how you slow down with your decor.

Re-edited from a post originally published 5.17.2015 – TW