Interior Design for Anyone Who’d Rather Be Told What to Do: Start Here

Part One: Tips to get you designing

Interior design tips for anyone struggling to know how to decorate or renovate their home.

Open shelves or glass front cabinets? Are white kitchens cool or uncool? And what does the fifth wall even mean?

If you’re not design-inclined and the thought of doing anything to your home makes your head spin, I empathise. With contradictory opinions, endless how-to tips and every type of home imaginable online, knowing what to listen to is overwhelming.

Which is why I’m never surprised when clients ask me, “Can you just tell me what to do?”

Images via Home & Garden

Hi, I’m Claire, an interior designer. I don’t ever tell them what to do. By the way, I ask a few questions and try to get to the bottom of why they just want to be told what to do.

My weekly newsletter, Interior Design for Anyone Who’d Rather Be Told What to Do, is about. Sharing design tips to simplify the decision-making process, so you can design your home yourself, with confidence and without the overwhelm.

Boost your confidence

I really do think we all have the ability to be our own interior designers. The reason most people struggle is usually down to a lack of confidence with a touch of fear, and that nagging voice in the background asking, “What if it looks crap?”

Remember, there is no right or wrong, no interior design police. Only your fear of being judged and someone else’s opinion will make you feel your decision is wrong. Which is why you should only ever choose something because you love it.

Who cares if you want something that might not be fashionable? Your home is for you and the people who live in it. Your home, your rules.

Confidence boosting questions:

• What decisions have you already made for your home that you’re happy with?
• Which part of your home have you already made look and feel good?
• Does it really matter what anyone else thinks of your home?
• Is someone else’s opinion about your home more important than yours?

You are more than capable of creating a home you love, I promise.

Understand your motivation

Before you embark on a home project and commit to spending thousands and losing hours you can’t get back, ask yourself: Why am I doing this?

It sounds simple, but most people skip it entirely and jump straight into choosing paint colours or browsing kitchen showrooms. Not understanding your why is the reason so many projects feel disappointing after they’re finished.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a beautiful home. We all deserve to live how we choose to. But from my experience, problems arise when motivation is driven by comparison or external validation.

I’ve had clients want to rip out perfectly good kitchens and bathrooms simply because they saw their neighbour’s new one. Suddenly, their own home didn’t feel good enough, even though nothing had actually changed.

Rather than being a people-pleaser with your home, be a me-pleaser. Only make home improvements to improve your life, not to impress someone else. Use your motivation as your end goal and try not to deviate, whether that’s a salesperson in a showroom, Pinterest, or anyone else’s home or opinion.

What to expect:

Design can feel scary because there are so many choices. When I have clients who struggle, I offer 3 options max. I’ll show you how to eliminate choices yourself, so you can narrow down what you search before you’ve even typed it into Google.

Up next: My simple 4-step framework to help you understand which style to choose and start the design process like a professional.

Thanks for reading, following along if you’d like more interior tips. I also write about home, and the people who live in it, over on Substack of you’d like to follow over there too.