Nine

Kristin from Discover Interior Design did a great series about design resolutions. She invited several bloggers to participate. I love them all, and it was fun to see how each blogger took on the assignment. One of my favorites is by new blogger Lynda who has new the blog Focal Point (please check out Focal Point and add it to your blog list).

I'm not big on making New Years resolutions, are you? But I took a stab at it, and approached mine in the vein of a dating advice column....

reprint from Discover Interior Design:

Top Nine New Years Decorating Resolutions

Resolution #1: Define what you want in a decor relationship
Before you can find what you want, you first must inventory what you need, so start the New Year off by making a dream list of stuff you want in a potential room and don’t just file it away when you’re done. Keep the list in mind whenever you see a room with potential, instead of solely relying on physical attraction. It doesn’t matter if a room looks like Domino if it doesn’t treat you well.

I have an ongoing master bathroom project for five years now – will I finish it in 2010?

Resolution #2: Assess your baggage
Be honest with yourself; if you have any residual feelings or anger leftover from your last decor project, don’t take it with you into the New Year. See a decor shrink, vent on your blog, whatever you need to do – just get rid of it!

I love big clocks and cow hide rugs – can I live without this baggage in 2010?!

Resolution #3: Get your booty off the couch
The likelihood of decorating the perfect room while you’re parked in front of your TV watching HGTV is miniscule (unless, of course, your mailman or local pizza delivery boy just happens to be a dead ringer for Candice Olson.)

Resolution #4: Get out of your decorating comfort zone
If you are the type of person who has had the same sea grass rug for the past eight years, it’s likely that you’ve been doing the same type of decor for just as long. If your past interior designs haven’t panned out the way you hoped, it may be time to shake some things up in your family room. In 2010, make it your goal to rethink the kind of slipcover you are keeping around and be more open to pursuing new kinds of furniture. For example, if you are a serial online decor blogger, try getting offline. (And vice-versa).

Just do a fabulous 2005 design mash up – It’s so five years ago so who will know in 2010 that you’re off trend.

Resolution #5: Decorate more than one room at a time
Decorating more than one room at a time helps takes that this-has-to-work-out-or-else pressure off of you that can doom many a fledgling project. So while I certainly don’t advocate written-in-stone-projects, until you get serious, try to see at least three different design styles simultaneously in one room. For those of you who are thinking “But it’s so hard to just think of one!” my advice is to stop being so picky.

Open your eyes and design more than one room at a time.

Resolution #6: Stop trying to make lemonade out of bad lemons
You can’t whip your bad furniture into tip-top shape without dumping any lingering baggage, whether it be river rocks, foo dogs, Buddha heads, or any other zen knick-knacks that you can never quite shake. If these so-called decor schemes don’t have the ability to go anywhere, than it’s not worth exerting your creative energy to maintain them. Refrain from dwelling on, or hooking up with yesterday’s bad news and instead re-channel that momentum into getting something new.

Lemonade from lemons – Yes or No?! Discuss!

Resolution #7: Ditch the deadline
Milestone birthdays have the ability to send even the most rational of decorators into a frenzy, so stop comparing yourself to your friends, sisters, and/or bitchy bloggers, and realize, with as much Zen-Chinoiserie-like tranquility as you can muster, that everyone is sitting on their own unique Ghost Chair. When it comes to credenzas, there is no right time for it to happen.

Tick-tock it’s February and you still haven’t taken down the Christmas stuff –
Forget deadlines and relax, recycle, reuse. And reinvent it for Spring.

Resolution #8: Decorate yourself
Remember that the longest relationship you will ever have is with yourself, so be your own interior designer and don’t wait until you’re room is finished to post it on your blog. Give yourself permission to exaggerate on something that’s totally not your idea and reinvent it as your own.

Why wait for fame? Make your own magazine cover HERE

Resolution #9: Enjoy the journey
Decorating is a process, not unlike applying to colleges as a high school senior. Sometimes it can be exciting (OMG, they like me even if that tacky lamp looks bad!) and sometimes disappointing (How could I have picked that fake Ikat pillow from Wal Mart!) but no matter what happens this year, remember that it is only the end-result that matters. Whatever your decor resolutions are, be the boss of them. Go public with them, if need be. You won’t regret it when you are mentioned in a defunct magazine, or get a book deal, or get on a radio show like The Skirted Roundtable, or on everyone’s blog list in 2010.