Decorating Confessions & House Rules with Myquillyn Smith Episode 316

Decorating Confessions & House Rules

Hello! Today, we are with my friend, Myquillyn Smith, also known as the Nester, and this is such a fun one. We are talking about our homes. This isn’t something I usually talk about because I’m not into decorating—it’s not my thing—but Myquillyn makes it fun! And she’s always teaching me something new. 

Myquillyn Smith is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Welcome Home and Cozy Minimalist Home. For the past 15 years, she has been encouraging women to embrace their space–imperfections and all–and make it their own. 

In her new book, House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget, she shares a gorgeous collection of one hundred memorable, universal decorating truths that apply to every house, style, and budget.

Let’s get started. 

Universal Decorating Rules 

Myquillyn shares that there is a universal decorating rule that apply no matter what your style is, if you have a big budget or a small budget, or if you rent or own. The truths apply in the same way, and you can always learn from them. She explains that it’s not like some people are born with a decorating gene and some aren’t – you can learn these universal decorating rules. This is why she wrote her book, which is a decorating textbook. 

Low-budget Decorating Ideas 

Myquillyn reminds us that decorating is just as much about what we remove from a room as what we add. We don’t need to add expensive things; it’s about adding the right things. She says that in the Facebook market, you can find amazing-looking dining room tables for $100, and you can probably sell your current furniture for more than what you would buy if you feel like you need something different. 

Sometimes, it’s not that we have the wrong sofa; it’s that we need the confidence to make small changes that can actually make a huge impact. For example, you can buy a sofa cover or sell your current sofa and buy a secondhand sofa. 

Using a We Did It List

Speaking of making small changes, I shared with Myquillyn that every month, I go through my house and ask what I want to change. Whether it’s getting new curtains one month, fixing the laundry another, or organizing a closet that I haven’t seen the bottom of in fifteen years. So, recently, I installed an extension arm in my laundry room, and it legitimately makes me happy when I go into my laundry room now. 

Myquillyn says she goes by a We Did It List. When she doesn’t believe that small changes make a big difference, she will go around her house and look at something she did in the past and how it made her feel. Or you can write down what you’ve done in the past and let that be motivation or inspiration to take another step forward in the future and make other changes. 

The Trinity of Rugs, Drapes, and Lighting 

This came about because Myquillyn would look around her house and think something didn’t look right or that she didn’t have any ideas of what to do. So, she would look at inspirational photos on Pinterest and count the items in the pictures and the items in her house. 

She realized that they had fewer things, but the three main things the pictures would have that made the rooms look amazing were rugs, drapes, and lamps. Those rooms looked cozy, and they didn’t need a lot of stuff. She realized that’s the homey Trinity, rugs, drapes, and lighting! 

Now, let’s do some coaching. 

Keep It Simple and Take Action 

This is a simple rule of success to live by! No, seriously, just like the rule of thumb that small changes lead to big results, it’s important to keep in mind that the way to get anything done is to keep it simple and take action. The recipe for failure is to make something very complex and think about it over and over again, and never actually do anything. Sometimes, when we are trying to make progress, we want to make it complex because we confuse complexity with accuracy. 

This is something that, in the last five years, I’ve finally learned to overcome. I’m speaking from experience here and from the experience of women I’ve coached to get them through this pitfall that keeps them from being as successful as they could be. So when you want to do something, get healthy, start a business, start a nonprofit, write a book, launch a Bible study, whatever it is that you want to do. There will be a tendency to research it forever, to get overwhelmed, to feel imposter syndrome and say, oh, I will deal with that later, and nothing ever happens.

But here’s the truth. You can steer a ship, but you need to get that ship out of the harbor first. You can’t steer that ship in the dock. I want you to get out of the harbor, start taking some action, and keep it simple. Once you get going, then you can make adjustments. Then you can figure out all the details, but it’s not gonna happen if you’re still in the dock. 

Let’s Take Action

Where we go wrong is we wait to figure out the perfect plan and the exact strategy to start making any moves and to take action. That guarantees that nothing is ever going to happen. The best case scenario you have is to get some expert advice, a mentor or a coach, or someone with experience who’s there to guide you. But even if you don’t have that, you can figure out an easy first step to take. So, your action step this week, whatever it is you want to do, keep it simple and take action. Remember, you can figure anything out.

Listen or Watch now:

iTunes.

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YouTube.

Favorite Quotes: 

“Decorating is just as much about what we remove from a room than what we add. It isn’t about adding expensive things. It is about adding the right things.”

(9:48 Audio)

“We underestimate the fact that small changes can make a huge impact.”

(10:30 Audio)

“When you get the right seating surfaces and storage in your room, which most of us already have, but when we add that homey trinity for most of us our rooms magically feel 80-90% done.” 

(20:00 Audio)

“Find a way to not hate the biggest piece in your room and it will change the way you feel about the room.”

(26:19)

Links to Great Things We Discussed:

• Myquillyn Smith Website
• Myquillyn Smith Instagram
• House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget
• Irish Pub Spotify Playlist
• Survivor
• Amazing Race
• Silo
• Masters of the Air
• Westmore Beauty 60-Seconds Eye Effects
• Cooper Straws
• Zillow
• Zillow Gone Wild
• Jergens Natural Glow Instant Sun Sunless Tanning Mousse
• Ruggable Strawberry Thief Indigo Rug
• Apply for Alli’s Free Coaching
• Create a Course
• Alli on YouTube
• Remaining You While Raising Them

Order your copy of Remaining You While Raising Them here.

Hope you loved this episode!  Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and slap some stars on a review! 🙂

xo,

Alli