I am mildly obsessed with home styling. The way I see it, decorating is choosing and positioning your big items in a fresh space - where is your couch going to go, what dresser goes best with your bed, what piece to put in your entryway. It's the blueprint for styling. What goes on and with everything, that is my love. There is something meditative about it.

We live in a rented California 1950's ranch style home and since we cannot remodel and make the bones exactly what we want, I focus on the look and feel. From years of playing around, here are some essential (homegrown, wannabe stylist) starter tips I've come up with.

Don't name your aesthetic. I have flipped through many a home decor book or magazine reading up on various styles and trying to mimic it at home. I realized mine is none of them, or better put, a frenetic mix of all of them. Inside my mind my home is off the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog or Pinterest, but somehow it's come out like patterns mixed with color mixed with texture. So, find inspiration  in books, magazines, social media, HGTV, but let your style become what it is organically. 

Style your room by how it makes you feel. I need a room to feel a certain way when I walk in and use that as my temperature gauge. Is the room supposed to elicit relaxation and peace (does that even exist in a home with kids?) or does it need vibrant colors to inspire creativity, like cooking in the kitchen or working on home projects or does it need to feel super functional so that everyone knows that you dump your shoes, coats and bags in this spot. Start with how you want to feel in the space and build out from there. 

Use the edit button. Whether you love white on white on white or color and pattern or vintage everything, you have to know when and how to edit. Too much of a good thing on any side of the spectrum can be too much. I like to start with a lot of what ever it is I am working with (pillows, sheets, plants, books) and then parse down from there. 

Style and then sit. I have learned to style a room and then sit with it for a few days to see if what I've done settles in nicely or feels off every time I walk by. I can get obsessive over the smallest of details and need to walk away and look at it with fresh eyes.

Paint will change your life. Painting is not one of my strengths, nor my husband's. That's ok, we are good at other things. But for a long time I was paint adverse because I never wanted to do it. Turns out you can pay someone to come in and magically take care of it for you. For me, it's money well spent. One of the ways we have updated many of the rooms in our house is with fresh and updated paint. It's amazing how much it can transform a room and set the tone for styling. Sometimes it allows for very minimal styling. 

Pay high and low wisely. My rule of thumb is to invest in the big pieces like your bed frame and mattress, area rugs, dining table, lighting or whatever else you think you will have longer term and then style the house with more affordable things like pillows, picture frames, planters, candles and, as my husband refers to them, "trinkets". That way when you are ready to change things up you can donate or store what you already have and justify a little shopping spree at Target, HomeGoods (aka my happy place) or IKEA.

Lastly, don't stress. I know that not everyone shares my love for all things home. If you don't, grab a friend or family member who does and ask them to help (I'm dying for someone to tap me on the shoulder!) or if you have some cash to invest, check out one of the online styling companies like Havenly or Homepolish.  Focus on how you want to feel in the space, take it room by room and have fun.