Today’s episode is a planning-adjacent topic! I open with a bit about my own decorating and organizing challenges and then interview author Myquillyn Smith, an expert on decorating and creating functional spaces within the home.
We chat about many planning-related aspects of big home projects, including how to get started when it all seems daunting, tools for tracking home projects, and an incredibly useful framework for order of operations. Myquillyn prizes functional decorating and creating a home that truly works for then ways you use it.
Her beautiful new book, House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget can be found wherever books are sold.
Find Myquillyn at thenester.com and @thenester on IG.
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3 Comments
Funny you said you probably shouldn’t start with picking the pillows, I follow a decorator who suggested doing just that, start with picking three pillows that you like and choose your colour scheme and style based on that.
I agree with Myquillyn that you should live in the house and see what bothers you and what are you missing and tackle that.
maybe instead of setting general big goals like getting the house organised and styled pick a few little specific things that bother you most and handle those.
I moved six months ago and I’m still missing some items, but I found out that I can handle only one purchase at a time, because of decision fatigue.
And a home is never done because things change, things break or we might want to renovate one day…
[…] Best Laid Plans – Episode 196: Decor, Cozy Minimalism, and Creating a Functional Home with Myquillyn Smith […]
I loved this episode and her “steps” to decorate a room. It was a timely episode as we just bought a camper that I am starting to renovate and I plan to follow her steps!! I really needed some guidance in where to start – I’m just “ok” at decor like it takes me a lot of effort until I like the outcome so I’m hoping her process will make this easier for me. I bought her book too because I felt I really connected with her and like her functional/light & easy concepts.
Something I have found that is working in regards to organization/decluttering:
1. Dana K White’s All Day Declutters 3-4 times a year. These have truly changed the amount of clutter in our house- drawers cabinets outdoor store it all looks/feels amazing because of that 5-8hrs worth of effort 4 times a year!!! I do not get caught up in their Live feed on those days, I just listen to the first 30 min and follow Dana’s method and get to it. I just use her 1-page method printable and stick to it. Home changing!!
2. An action bin in which anything that has an action goes into (processed w/ my husband on Sat)
3. A reference bin aka a time will tell bin – meaning not sure if I’ll ever use this or not or read this or not but here’s a home for it