How To Decorate Any Room From Start To Finish In 10 Easy Steps

Want to know the steps to decorate a room from start to finish? Great, let me fill you in. I’ll share with you step by step the order you should use to decorate any room. I discovered this foolproof plan a little while ago. When I wanted to improve the look of my home but I didn’t really know where to start. Obviously, browsing around Target and looking for cute accessories was not the best way to spend my time or money. And I knew having a plan is the best place to start when it comes to decorating. So, I decided the best thing to do was to come up with a plan so I could avoid as many design mistakes as possible. Speaking of first things, go ahead and join my FREE Decorating Made Easy Challenge. You’ll learn the tricks to easily decorate your home, even if you don’t have an eye for design. Okay, now let’s get started.

How To Decorate Any Room From Start To Finish In 10 Easy

Decide on the room and its purpose – if you’re wondering where to start decorating a room, it’s right here. Yep, the first step in decorating a room is to decide on the room that you want to start with! Sounds obvious, I know. But one of the big parts of choosing the room is deciding on its purpose. Sure, a family room will be where you spend time entertaining family and friends, but what else will you use the room for? Watching TV, maybe? Playing board games? This is where you can consider the feel you’d like to have in the room.
Consider your current lifestyle needs – think about your unique circumstances like who will use the space. Does this need to be a family-friendly space for young kids, pets or an adult’s only room? Your current lifestyle will also determine how much money you have available to decorate and how much time you’re willing to spend. This needs to work for you, so don’t try to copy the IG pictures if they don’t match your lifestyle.
Discover your personal decorating style – not knowing your style can lead you down the path to “wrong”. When you can put a name to your style, it’s easier to stay within it. Knowing and understanding the design elements that make up your preferred decorating style will give you greater confidence when selecting furniture and accessories to fill your space. Then you can take it a step further and begin mixing styles together. Can farmhouse go with glam? What if I’m a minimalist? I mean, there’s an art to mixing styles together, but it sure does help when you actually know what those styles are.
Get inspired – yes, this is where Pinterest shines! You can find inspirational pins for the best lighting fixtures, furniture and accessories for each of the top décor trends. So, if you haven’t already, jump on the bandwagon and use this visual search engine to find pins and pictures of things that catch your eye. You can start to compile a list of what you like by saving pins to your own Pinterest boards. And look to see if you notice any trends in color, shape and texture. These three will help tie a space together and make your home look more cohesive.
Look at your starting point – you’ve chosen the room, you understand its purpose, and how you plan to use it. Now, look at what you actually have to work with. What’s your starting point? Yep, it’s time to take stock of what you have, including the focal point of the room and any other limitations. Are you looking at a blank canvas? And where do you want to go? Are you starting from scratch with a complete overhaul or do you just need a simple refresh?
- Measure room and furniture – once you have the room measurements, you can use the graph paper that’s part of the Turn Your House Into A Home Worksheet so you can visually see the size of space you have to work with
- Mark permanent features – now, mark all the permanent feature on your floorplan. Things like windows, doors, closets and built-ins will all impact (and sometimes limit) how and where you can decorate
- Choose a focal point or statement piece – this is what everything else will center upon. Your focal point or statement piece may not be permanent but can include items like your largest piece of furniture that you don’t plan on moving. The focal point will be the main item that draws your eye into the room and commands your attention.
Decide on a color scheme – let’s go back to what inspired you. Remember I told you to pay attention to any trends? Things like color, fabrics, texture and shape can be used to bring balance to a space. If you use them correctly, they can make everything flow together. Creating a nice cohesive look for your room and your entire home. Choose a color scheme that works for you and an accent color that matches. You’ll use these to help pick paint colors for your walls, add artwork and choose accessories.
Create an inspiration board – this is also known as a mood board. To me, this is the next best thing to doing the actual shopping and decorating! Creating your design board is your chance to put all your ideas in one place. This is your chance to see if what you’ve chosen actually works together. Have fun and get creative with no strings attached.
Create a plan – you’ve got your mood boards ready, now it’s time to create a plan. One you can actually work with. While you get ready to turn your house into a home you love, you’ll use this plan to help you stay organized and stay on track. Your plan should have:
- Your wish list
- Your actual space layout
- List of items (and pricing) you plan to add to your space
Add the finishing touches – this is where you pull it all together. You should have some good inspiration from when you created your mood board. Now it’s time to tie everything together. This is where you can add your personality and showcase your style! Things like:
- Window treatments
- Wall décor or artwork
- Rugs
- Accessories
Go shopping! – this is self-explanatory, but it’s definitely the last step of decorating a room. You can even go shopping from the comfort of your online home. Then use your plan to set up your space. Have fun!

How To Decorate Any Room From Start To Finish In 10 Easy Steps

We just covered the how to decorate any room on your house in 10 easy steps – taking you from start to finish. You can use these steps to begin decorating any interior space from your bedroom to your family room. If you haven’t already, you should go ahead and join my FREE Decorating Made Easy Challenge. You’ll learn the tricks to easily decorate your home, even if you don’t have an eye for design.