The Gift of Making a Mistake

Hi Friend!

Recently I was chatting with a friend about her home, and she was sharing with me how she had all sorts of ideas on things she wanted to do in her new home, but that she was afraid of making the wrong choice. Sound familiar? I think we all experience decorating paralysis at one time or another. In some areas we can be so sure of our design choices, but in other areas we can get so stuck second guessing ourselves that we feel paralyzed to the point where we can’t even make a decision out of fear we will make the wrong one. Have you been there? I know I have, even with our new house. But I’ve also learned the gift of making a mistake when it comes to decorating my home, so today I’m sharing about making mistakes with our home decor, and the gift that comes from taking chances.

Let’s Dive in Together ~

I shared this story in my book, The Gift of Home, about how we needed a new area rug for our living room in our previous home. It was in my early days of blogging, so if you’ve been here since then you might remember this story. I was desperate to jump in on some of the latest design trends, and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to showcase a new look for our living room. I scrimped and saved to purchase this rug. It was the first “large” purchase I made for our home that didn’t involve furniture. The day the rug arrived, I could hardly wait to roll it out in our living room. I had been imagining for weeks how amazing this new rug would look in our room. It was going to be perfect. This rug was going to be the missing piece that would make our living room complete.

If you remember reading about this story, then you already know the immediate disappointment I felt the moment I began to roll out this new rug in our living room. Instantly I thought “OH NO”, “How could I have made such a huge mistake”! Up until that point, I had always felt pretty confident in what I liked, and how I could envision a room fully decorated. Being able to figure out just what the space would need to make the vision come to life. After getting the new rug in place I felt stupid. Silly for feeling like I made such a big mistake.

It wasn’t that there was something wrong with the rug. Nope, the rug was just fine. It looked in person the same way it did online. It even looked the same way I had seen it look in other bloggers homes who I admired that had the same rug. The problem wasn’t with the rug. The problem was how it looked in our home, and how it made our living room feel.

Back then I was too afraid to admit defeat. Embarrassed that I had spent over $300 on this rug, I lived with it for over a year trying to make it work. But no matter what I did, the rug just seemed to swallow our living room hole. Knowing what I know now, not only about my style, but feeling more confident with my decorating, I would have rolled that rug right back up the day it arrived and returned it. But I learned something through my experience with that rug.

The gift of making a mistake.

You see if I had never had that experience, of buying that rug, I would have never learned that there is a gift when we think we made a mistake. It’s not that we made a mistake in picking out the wrong thing, or hanging something up in the wrong spot. It helps us figure out what we truly love, and ultimately what we do want for our home. If I hadn’t of taken a chance on that rug, I would have never found out how much I didn’t love it for our home, even though I saw it in a dozen or more homes online.

Knowing that it wasn’t the right choice for me, gave me the confidence to make choices in the right direction.

I’ve shared before here on the blog about the time I thought throw pillows were silly. And how I embraced our previous home – awkward spaces and all (read HERE). I’m sure we all have areas in our home we wish we could change, do something different with. But the key I want to emphasize here is to try!

Try something different, something new. Take a risk. We can stay stuck in decision paralysis for a long time, overthinking our decisions. It’s not until we try something out will we truly find out if that is the right fit, or the right choice for our homes.

Recently I tried something in our current home that I had been wanting to since before we moved in. You all know how much I love white walls. Something I’ve been seeing lately in other homes that I love is white walls with a beige or light gray trim. The subtle contrast is unexpected, but oh-so-pretty. While it could appear to be a current trend, it is also something that you would see in historic homes. So since we live in a historic colonial, I thought this was a no brainer. Every time I saw this done in other homes I admire on the internet I loved it, so I finally gave it a try. And you know what – I didn’t love it!

It always amazes me how much we can like a certain style or look in someone else’s home we see, but how sometimes it is just not the right fit for our own. You see, if I had never tried it, I would always be wondering “what if”, and now I know. I know it can be scary to finally pull the trigger and try something, but just think you will be one step closer to creating a home that you love once you do.

Here are some Tips to help you Stop Debating + Start Decorating :

• Buy from stores that allow you to do free returns. This way if you bring an item home and don’t love it in your space, you can return it at no cost.
• Start with something small. You don’t have to start with a $300 rug like I did. Start with smaller accessories – like throw pillows or framed artwork. Paint a small portion of a wall before committing to a brand new color in your space to see how you like it first.
• Shop your home. Sometimes when I’m trying to decide on new artwork to fill a blank wall, I try a similar sized frame I already have and hold up on the blank wall I’m trying to fill to see if it’s the right size before purchasing something new for that space.

For more great Decorating Tips & Ideas Check out my latest book :