How to Decorate Like A Pro

Many people are intimidated by the mere thought of decorating a room in their home.  Fear of choosing the wrong color, buying the wrong furniture, or not knowing how to get the look you see in a magazine, are just some of the reasons you may hesitate to decorate your home. 

In this guide, I’ll show you how to decorate like a pro by walking you through the same basic process designers use to create a room that feels pulled together and works for the way you actually live.

You’ll learn how to identify your decorating style, choose an inspiration piece, coordinate patterns and colors, add texture, select furniture, plan for function, style accessories, and bring all of your ideas together with a mood board before you make your final decorating decisions.

In this post, you will learn how to …

1. Find your decorating style
2. Coordinate patterns
3. Choose paint colors
4. Add texture
5. Select furniture
6. Determine the function of the room
7. Style accessories
8. Pull everything together with a mood board

1. How to Find Your Decorating Style

Everyone has a decorating style, even if you can’t name it yet.

You may not know whether your style is modern farmhouse, traditional, coastal, boho, or something completely different—and honestly, you don’t need to know the label to get started.

The easiest way to figure out what you like is to pay attention to the rooms and details you’re naturally drawn to.

Use Inspiration Photos to Find Your Decorating Style

This method is by far the easiest way to determine what your design style is. And nope, you do not have to know the difference between traditional and contemporary, or industrial and mid-century. You don’t have to know anything except what looks or feels good to you.

Start by browsing places where you enjoy looking at home decor ideas, such as Pinterest, magazines, Instagram, decorating websites, or even your favorite home shows.

Don’t overthink it. If you see a room you love, save it.

At this stage, you don’t even have to know why you like it. You’re simply building a collection of images that catch your attention.

My personal favorite is Pinterest. If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest then I highly suggest you go and check it out. Pinterest is a website where you can search for literally anything visual and create “boards” (little virtual bulletin boards), where you “pin” (or save) the information to refer back to later. It is a very visually based search console with beautiful images and is perfect for finding your design style. Check it out! http://www.pinterest.com

Save anything that appeals to you, including:

• Entire rooms you love
• Furniture styles
• Rugs, curtains, pillows, or other textiles
• Paint colors
• Wood tones and finishes
• Artwork and accessories
• Architectural details
• Colors you’re drawn to in clothing or nature

Also pay attention to how a room makes you feel. Does it feel cozy, calm, bright, welcoming, relaxed, dramatic, or colorful?

Those feelings can tell you just as much about your decorating style as the furniture itself.

Look for Patterns in Your Inspiration Photos

Once you’ve collected a good number of images, look through them together and see what repeats.

Maybe you keep saving rooms with:

• Warm neutral walls
• Natural wood
• Blue accents
• Simple furniture
• Vintage pieces
• Lots of texture
• Light and airy spaces
• Dark, cozy colors
• Very few accessories
• Layered, collected decor

Try grouping similar images together and make a few notes about what you like in each group.

You might write things like:

• “I love these colors.”
• “I like the simple furniture.”
• “I keep choosing natural wood.”
• “I’m drawn to white walls.”
• “I like the mix of old and new pieces.”

Before long, you’ll start seeing the same elements show up again and again.

That is your decorating style beginning to reveal itself.

You don’t have to give it a name. What matters is knowing what you consistently love so you can use those choices to guide the rest of your room.

2. How to Mix and Match Patterns in a Room

Mixing patterns can feel intimidating, especially when you see a room where several different fabrics somehow work beautifully together.

The good news is that there are a few simple ways to make pattern mixing much easier.

Start With an Inspiration Piece

Whenever I design a room, I like to start with one inspiration piece.

This could be an area rug, a piece of artwork, a throw pillow, fabric, or even something meaningful that you already own.

Ideally, choose something that includes several colors or an interesting pattern, because it gives you a built-in palette to work from.

Most importantly, make sure it’s something you really love. This piece will help guide many of the other choices in the room..

Mix Patterns Using Different Scales

One of the easiest ways to mix patterns successfully is to vary the scale.

Scale simply means the size of the pattern.

For example, you might combine:

• One large-scale pattern
• One medium-scale pattern
• One smaller, simpler pattern

Using different scales keeps the patterns from competing with one another and gives the room more visual balance.

Use the Rule of Three When Mixing Patterns

A group of three is often an easy place to start when mixing patterns because it gives you variety without making the room feel too busy.

You don’t have to use exactly three patterns in every room, but if you’re new to pattern mixing, it’s a helpful guideline.

Start with your inspiration piece, then choose one or two additional patterns in different scales.

Keep Your Colors in the Same Color Family

Your patterns don’t need to match exactly, but they should share some common colors.

Pull two or three colors from your inspiration piece and repeat those colors in your other fabrics, rugs, pillows, or accessories.

That repetition is what helps different patterns feel connected.

Choose One Pattern to Be the Star

Not every pattern should compete for attention.

Choose one pattern to be the main feature, then let the others play a supporting role.

Your dominant pattern might be an area rug, curtains, upholstery, wallpaper, or artwork. The remaining patterns can show up in smaller doses through pillows, throws, or accessories.

Balance Patterns With Solids and Neutrals

Once you’ve added a few patterns, give the eye somewhere to rest.

Solid colors, simple textures, and quieter neutrals help balance the busier elements in the room.

This is especially helpful on larger furniture pieces because a solid sofa or chair gives you more flexibility to change pillows, throws, and accessories later without replacing the expensive pieces.

3. How to Choose Paint Colors for Your Room

Choosing a paint color is a lot easier when you already have something in the room to guide you.

That’s why I usually recommend choosing your inspiration piece, fabrics, rug, or other major elements first. It’s much easier to find a paint color that coordinates with those pieces than it is to shop for a rug, pillow, or fabric that perfectly matches a paint color you already chose.

Start by looking at the colors that are already showing up in your room or in the inspiration photos you saved.

Ask yourself:

• Are there fixed finishes, such as flooring, countertops, tile, or cabinetry, that the paint needs to work with?
• Are you drawn to light, airy rooms or darker, cozier spaces?
• Do you keep saving rooms with warm walls, cool walls, or white walls?
• Is there a color from your rug, artwork, fabric, or furniture that you’d like to repeat on the walls?

Once you have a general direction, narrow it down to a few paint colors and test them in the actual room.

Paint can look very different depending on the time of day, the direction your windows face, your lighting, and the other colors in the space, so don’t rely on the tiny paint chip alone.

Look at your samples in the morning, afternoon, and evening before making your final choice.

4. How to Add Texture to a Room

Texture is what keeps a room from feeling flat or one-dimensional.

Even if you’re using a simple color palette, mixing different textures can make the room feel warmer, more interesting, and more finished.

Texture can come from almost anything in the room, including:

• Woven baskets
• Wood
• Linen or cotton
• Velvet
• Leather
• Metal
• Glass
• Stone
• Knit throws
• Nubby or patterned rugs
• Plants and natural materials

The key is to combine a few different finishes rather than using the same type of surface everywhere.

For example, if your room has a lot of smooth surfaces like painted furniture, glass, and metal, try adding something softer or more natural, like a woven basket, a chunky throw, a textured pillow, or a wood accent.

If the room already has a lot of soft fabrics, adding a bit of metal, glass, or wood can create contrast.

You don’t need to add texture everywhere. Just look for places where the room feels a little too smooth, plain, or predictable and add one or two contrasting materials.

A good rule of thumb is to think about soft + hard, smooth + rough, shiny + matte.

That contrast is what gives a room depth and makes it feel more layered.

5. How to Choose the Right Furniture for Your Space

Furniture is usually one of the biggest investments in a room, so this is a good place to slow down and plan before you buy.

Start by thinking about how the room needs to function.

Do you need seating for a large family? Extra storage? A place to work? Room for pets or kids to move around? Your furniture should support the way you actually use the space, not just look good in a photo.

Next, pay attention to scale.

A beautiful sofa can still feel wrong if it’s too large for the room, and small furniture can make a large room feel awkward and under-furnished.

Before buying anything, measure the space carefully and compare those measurements to the furniture dimensions.

You’ll also want to think about:

• How much walking space you need around each piece
• Whether doors, drawers, and cabinets can open freely
• How the furniture relates to windows, doorways, and traffic paths
• Whether the pieces feel balanced in size with one another
• How much visual weight each piece adds to the room

It can also help to mark the furniture dimensions on the floor with painter’s tape so you can get a better sense of how much space each piece will take up.

And if you’re replacing several pieces, don’t feel like everything has to come from the same furniture set.

Mixing pieces with different finishes, shapes, or styles often makes a room feel more collected and interesting—as long as they still relate to one another through color, scale, or overall style.

The biggest goal is to choose furniture that fits your room, your needs, and your lifestyle.

6. How to Plan a Room TO Function PROPERLY

A beautiful room still has to work for real life.

Before you decide where furniture should go or what accessories you want to add, think about how the room is actually used day to day.

Ask yourself:

• Who uses this room most often?
• What activities happen here?
• Do you need storage?
• Do you need space for pets, kids, hobbies, or work?
• Are there any problem areas that make the room frustrating to use?
• Do you need better lighting, more seating, or easier traffic flow?

Once you know what the room needs to do, it becomes much easier to make decorating decisions that support those needs.

For example, a living room that’s mainly used for TV watching may need a very different furniture arrangement than one used mostly for conversation and entertaining.

A dining room that also doubles as a workspace may need storage that hides papers and supplies when the workday is over.

And in a small room, one piece of furniture may need to do more than one job.

The goal is to make the room work well before you worry about making it look finished.

That usually leads to better decisions about furniture placement, storage, lighting, and even what accessories you actually need.

7. How to Decorate With Accessories

Accessories are what give a room personality and make it feel finished.

They’re also one of the easiest parts of a room to change, which makes them a great place to experiment with color, texture, and seasonal updates.

Before you start adding things, take a look at what the room already has. If there’s a lot going on visually, you may need fewer accessories than you think.

When choosing what to add, think about a mix of:

• Artwork
• Lamps
• Pillows and throws
• Books
• Plants
• Trays
• Candles
• Baskets
• Decorative objects
• Meaningful or collected pieces

Try to vary the height, shape, and texture of the items you use so everything doesn’t feel too uniform.

Grouping a few items together often looks more intentional than spreading small objects all over the room.

And don’t feel like every surface needs to be filled.

Leaving some empty space helps the pieces you do use stand out and keeps the room from feeling cluttered.

A good rule is to step back after you’re done and ask yourself:

Does this add something to the room, or is it just filling space?

The best accessories should either be useful, meaningful, beautiful, or ideally some combination of the three. And, accessories are usually the easiest place to bring in trends because they’re simpler and less expensive to change later than major furniture or finishes.

8. How to Create a Mood Board for Your Room

So far, we’ve talked about finding your design style, coordinating patterns, choosing paint colors, adding texture, selecting furniture, determining how your room needs to function, and choosing accessories.

Now it’s time to pull all of those ideas together.

A mood board is simply a visual way to see how all of your decorating choices will work together before you start buying things or making permanent changes.

It gives you a chance to experiment with colors, furniture, rugs, fabrics, window treatments, and accessories until the room starts to feel cohesive.

And honestly, this is one of my favorite parts of the decorating process because you get to play around with your ideas without making an expensive mistake.

You can include:

• Inspiration photos
• Furniture
• Rugs
• Paint colors
• Window treatments
• Fabrics
• Artwork
• Lighting
• Accessories

Seeing everything together makes it much easier to spot colors or styles that don’t quite work, and it can also help you see what the room is missing.

Want an easier way to create your own mood board?

I created a Design Board Template that gives you dedicated pages for your room inspiration, furniture, rugs, window treatments, paint colors, and accessories. Just print the pages you need, add your ideas, and use them to see how everything works together before you commit to a purchase.

👉 Get the Design Board Template here

Gather Supplies for Your Mood Board

You can create a mood board digitally, or make a physical one using poster board, foam board, or cardboard.

Gather paint chips, fabric samples, product photos, magazine clippings, or printed images of anything you’re considering for the room.

Arrange Your Mood Board Until It Feels Right

Start arranging your pieces together and pay attention to how the colors, finishes, patterns, and styles relate to one another.

Move things around, remove anything that feels out of place, and try different combinations.

This is the perfect time to experiment because nothing is permanent yet.

If something doesn’t work on the board, it’s much easier to change it now than after you’ve already bought it.

You can also include a floor plan of your room so you can think about furniture placement and decorating choices at the same time.

SUMMARY

Decorating like a pro isn’t about following a bunch of complicated rules or buying expensive furniture. It’s really about making thoughtful decisions one step at a time and making sure everything in the room works together.

Start with what you love, use those choices to guide your colors, patterns, furniture, and accessories, and always consider how you actually need the room to function.

Then pull everything together on a mood board before you commit. Seeing all of your ideas in one place makes it much easier to spot what works, what doesn’t, and what may be missing.

And remember — your home doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. The goal is to create a space that feels like you and works for the way you live.

If you have any questions about designing a room leave them in the comments below. And if you make your own design board I’d love to see it!

More Tips for Decorating Your Home…