The Biggest Home Decorating Mistake I Learned as An Editor

I’ve been writing about interior design for 14 years, and in that time I’ve leaned all sorts of tips, tricks, and theories about decorating a house. But there’s one idea that I’ve heard that sticks with me whenever I move and start to decorate a house from scratch, or when I find myself obsessed with a new design trend and start wondering if I should try it in my own home. It’s an idea that’s fundamental to creating a space that feels harmonious and unified regardless of your personal decorating style, and an idea that, once you hear it, will inform every design decision you make.

The idea is this: Whatever you do, don’t ignore your home’s architecture.

The architecture of your home, whether its a midcentury ranch, or a center-hall colonial, or an antique cape or a 2000s spec build, will literally determine what feels right and what feels wrong in your home. Decorating your home without regard to the architecture is sort of like picking on an outfit without thinking about your body type. A dress that might look just OK on one person will wow on another, and vice versa.

This is something you might instinctively know if you’ve ever tried a new design trend in your home and found it falling flat. For example, if you loved the look of farmhouse decor in the 2010s, but something about it just felt off in your polished New England colonial. Or if you couldn’t make the Serena & Lily vibe feel right in a high-rise condo with contemporary kitchen appliances and polished concrete floors. Or maybe you love the modern cottage aesthetic that’s happening but you live in a 2010s build with gray flooring and black windows. It’s like sticking a square peg in a round hole: there is a disconnect between the two styles, and your brain can’t ignore that.

Nancy Meyers is the queen of creating a sense of place. You can see in her own home, above, her furnishings feel streamlined to match the more minimalist style of this room, but they still feel rustic, an homage to the warm stone tile and exposed beams in the room. Design by Mark D Sikes

I wrote an article for New England Home magazine a few years back, and spoke with designer Melinda Headrick of Chatham Interiors, about the blend of architecture and decor, and she put it this way:

“If [the style of the architecture and the style of the design] are blended well, it’s absolutely beautiful, and there’s a cohesive rhythm between the two. And whether you’re pulling in the driveway or sitting in a chair by the fireplace, you still have that beautiful, cohesive feeling all the way through. Home becomes a symphony.”

Image: Joon Loloi. The home above has traditional architecture, which you can see in the trim, millwork, and color of the flooring.. The style of the decor mixes in tradition, with the rugs, artwork, lighting, and color palette, but mixes in modern/contemporary elements with the side table, arm chairs, and clean-lines of the coffee table and sofa.

On the other hand, another designer I remember speaking to shared a story of a potential client on Cape Cod, who bought an early 1900s clapboard Saltbox home, but wanted to decorate the entire space in modern black and white with red accents. It’s easy to imagine the contrast, and the designer declined the project.

If you’re lucky, the style of your home and your preferred design style work well together. Usually, there’s something about a home that draws us to it, and often it’s aesthetic.But that’s not always the case.

So what do you do if you don’t love the bones of your home? And does that mean you can only decorate in the style of your home’s architecture?

Whether you love the style of your home or otherwise, the important thing is to incorporate it, not necessarily decorate your home top-to-bottom in that single style. (One-note homes are boring, anyway, and layered style is more timeless). As Melinda Headrick said in the quote above, the key goal it to have the architecture and the style of the design “blended well.” You don’t need to simply put aside your own style preferences and only honor the architecture of your house … but you also can’t ignore it completely.

Design: Pierce & Ward, Photo: Simon Upton for Architectural Digest. . In the midcentury home of actress Dakota Johnson, the bed, lighting and console table feel modernist, while the rug and cane armchair on the right bring in a bit of traditional style.

The designers I’ve spoken with on this subject over the years generally suggest something like ensuring at least 25-30% of your decor goes with the style of your home. I dug up another quote from my interview with Melinda Headrick that said, “You can throw down an antique rug in a room with very modern furniture and it’s explosive in the most beautiful way. Or there’s a way to bring midcentury modern in alongside an early American piece and a contemporary sofa with a track arm to give a traditional space a more modern feel.”

Some of the ways you can bring the style of your home into your decor include:

Sourcing antiques or vintage furniture from the era it was built
Choosing paint colors and/or finishes that speaks to the architectural vibe (i.e. white for more modern spaces, blues for coastal or traditional ones, unlacquered brass finishes in classic colonials, rustic woods in cabins or farmhouses).
Adding artwork, rugs, or lighting that speaks to the home’s architecture or era

If you’re worried about the visual blend of different styles, sticking to an intentional color palette will help ensure it all works together.

So there you have it. This is now one of the things I always go back to when I start to feel like I’m getting off track with my own decor — what makes sense for the house. Hopefully, it’ll help you, too!