Interior design can be a tricky thing to get right if you’re constantly trying to keep up with trends and do what everyone else is doing. If that’s how you’re going about things, you’ll find it’s much harder to make decisions because you’re not really feeling the love for what you’re doing – in other words, if you don’t really feel passionate about some or other aspects of interior design, how are you going to know it’s the right choice for you? 

In reality, if your home is going to look great, you’ll need to come up with interior design ideas that actually speak to you, and that you at least like, if not absolutely love. That means you need to try to make a room more personal, in whatever way that works for you, rather than try to make a room fit a specific theme or trend. When you start to look at your new decor from that point of view, it all becomes not only easier, but more enjoyable as well. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to make a room more personal so you can get the home of your dreams and really feel comfortable there. Read on to find out more. 

How It Works 

Before we begin with any specifics about what you should or could be doing to make a room – and by that we mean pretty much any room in your home – more personal, it’s wise to consider how you would choose your interior design otherwise. In that way, you can see the difference and understand more about what you’re doing and what you should be looking out for. 

In most cases, if you want to redecorate a room, you’ll look through interior design websites and magazines, you’ll watch interior design TV shows, and you might even speak to an interior designer to get some ideas or have them come up with a design on your behalf. There’s nothing wrong with any of this, and it can be a fantastic way to get started, but if you want to make a room more personal, you’ll need to go a step further – you’ll need to take those ideas you’ve got and find ways to personalize them so your home reflects your specific personality and no one else’s. That’s the part where a lot of people fall down, and they end up with homes that look great, but are quite soulless. To prevent that from happening, the following tips should help. 

Your Furniture 

Furniture is the first thing to think about when you’re redecorating a room, even if you might think it’s the walls and the floor first. The truth is that if you pick the right furniture – furniture that appeals and that suits your needs and personality – you can then build the rest of the room’s look around it. If you start the other way around, you’ll then need to search for furniture that matches the overall decor you’ve chosen, and that’s a much harder job, especially if you want to actually like what you choose. 

There are two things to think about when you’re buying furniture for a room; you need to love it, and it needs to cater to your lifestyle. So take some time to think about your daily routines, your hobbies, and any other activities that have to take place on or around the furniture you choose, and that, as well as the fact that you must simply love what you’re buying, should help to steer you in the right direction. 

If you’re not sure what we mean, here’s a useful example to think about. Let’s assume you love to read – you’ll need to find a chair that’s comfortable enough to sit in for hours at a time, but that chair also has to be in a style and design you like, so there are two things to watch out for. Or perhaps you like to entertain and throw small parties – then you’ll need a great dining table so everyone can sit around it and eat, talk, play games, and so on; but it has to look amazing as well as be the right size and level of comfort. Once you understand the two sides of what you’re looking for, it should all become easier. 

One-Off Things

If you want a space to be more personal, that essentially means it needs to be different compared to everyone else’s living room, bedroom, study, dining room, and so on. If that’s truly what you want, the only true way to do it is to have unique, one-off items in your home. In that way, you can be sure you’re never going to come across the same design anywhere else, and you’ll know your home really does reflect your specific personality. 

The first thing that can help here is to display the precious things you’ve collected over the years. They could be photos, souvenirs from trips, artwork you’ve created, gifts you’ve been given, and so on. These things and the way you display them will be yours and yours alone, as it’s highly unlikely anyone else will have them and use them in their decor in the same way you do. 

Next, you can consider the rest of your possessions. You can’t necessarily make everything yourself (although if you can, and you’ve got the time, why not?), but you can make a conscious decision to buy only handmade items, such as furniture and artwork, meaning that it’s going to be unique and special, and ensure your interior design has a decidedly personal touch to it. Of course, doing this can be an expensive route to go down, so if your budget is more limited, you might need to only pick a few items to be handmade, but even if that’s the case, that should be enough. 

Have A Statement Wall

When it comes to actually decorating your rooms, many experts suggest that you should keep things neutral so that if and when the time comes to sell the house, it’s easier to do so and you’ll find buyers more quickly. That does make sense, but remember you have to live in the house until then, and whether you’re planning to sell or not, living in a house that doesn’t match your tastes isn’t much fun. 

One way to compromise is to ensure the rooms are fairly neutral but then have a statement or feature wall in there as well. In that way, you’ll have the best of both worlds, and you can make sure your rooms still feel personal and comfortable for you. The best way to really make a statement wall that stands out is to install wallpaper in a fun or bright pattern, for example. Choose something that really stands out, and the feature wall will be exactly that; a feature (and it will make a statement at the same time). Take a look at what you can buy from WallpaperBoulevard.com and you’ll quickly get a good idea of the options open to you – you’re sure to find something that will make your room feel like home. 

Personalize With Scent 

Something that might not spring to mind right away when it comes to interior design, mainly because you’ll probably think of things in a visual way, is scent. Scent has a truly powerful impact on how a space feels, and it can bring out plenty of memories and emotions, so if you want something to be more personal, making a room smell good is a great idea. 

You can use scented candles, essential oil diffusers, or room sprays, for example, and you’ll end up with a room that smells gorgeous and feels personal and comfortable, which is the best outcome of all.