Styling Staples: How to Make Your Home Feel Personal and Inviting

What makes a house a home? It’s a space that’s designed to meet your needs while reflecting your personality so you feel comfortable. You also want it to be warm and welcoming for guests. Yes, the layout, furnishings, and overall aesthetic are all important factors when designing a home, but one aspect you don’t want to forget is styling.

What decorative items should you include to make your home look beautiful while reflecting your style and personality? When it comes to styling, it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why in this post, we’re digging into our go-to styling items, what to look for when making selections, and how to incorporate them into your home. 

What Is Styling and Why Is It Important

Before we dive into our styling recommendations, you may be wondering what is styling and why does it matter?

Styling (or decorating) is the accessories, decor, and details that make a space feel polished, complete, and lived-in. It allows you to add your unique personality to your home and helps set the tone by creating a specific mood and feel.

Styling is what makes the difference between a custom space that’s welcoming vs. a generic and unoriginal space. It also lets you embrace different times of the year by switching up styling elements seasonally.

CGD Go-to Styling Pieces and Tips

Now that you have a better understanding of what styling is, we’re covering some of the top styling pieces we like to include in our projects and expert recommendations for how you can go about styling your home.

It’s all about creating an aesthetic by mixing textures, shapes, materials, and patterns, but making it cohesive. Anything on display should coordinate with your home's color scheme and design aesthetic. Think about the vibe you want to create for the room and let that drive your styling selections.

Despite what the name suggests coffee table books aren’t just for coffee tables. You can also include them on a console table, on shelving, and in your kitchen – almost any room in your home.

We recommend stacking them horizontally on a console or coffee table. You can also group them vertically or stack them on shelves. When stacking books horizontally we love to anchor them with a decorative object like a small sculpture or candle. The kitchen is also a great place to display cookbooks.

When styling your spaces with books you’ll not only want the subject matter to be relevant and interesting, but you’ll want to take note of the aesthetic of the book cover to ensure that they fit with the color palette in the space. We also like to take paper covers off so just the hardcover is visible.

Another factor you’ll want to consider when stacking books is their size. We suggest placing a book that is slightly wider than the others at the bottom for some variation. We also recommend stacking two to three books only.

Decorative objects like a brass figurine, small sculpture, geode rock, or decorative box are great ways to add visual interest to a space while showing off your style and personality.

Maybe you want to display a piece or collection you acquired while traveling. You can incorporate these details in a variety of ways throughout your home. Include an arrangement of objects of differing heights on a built-in or floating shelves. Mixing and matching color and texture is a great way to add dimension to your space.

For our 4th Street project, we sourced a brass "hang ten" hand gesture as a nod to the homeowners who were married in Hawaii. We included this on the mini bar shelf off their living room. The material and color contrast nicely with the glassware and it adds a playful personal touch to the space.

It's the fun, unassuming, and unexpected details that make a space feel personal and unique. 

Another way to infuse color and personality throughout your home is with original artwork. Wall art is of course a must when decorating your walls, but don’t forget you can also include smaller framed prints or photographs on shelving, desks, consoles, or side tables. 

If you want to include photos of family and friends a black-and-white series of photographs is a great way to create a uniform and classic look. Or go with color photos and create cohesion through coordinating frames and sizes.

One design element that brightens up any room are plants and succulent arrangements. 

Plants bring life to a space and the pot is a good way to tie in the existing color scheme, introduce texture, or a new color. Include medium to large potted plants in an empty corner to fill an unused space and add a pop of color. Smaller potted plants and vases with florals are great to include on shelving, a side console, and coffee tables. 

We love a good moss bowl! It’s such a versatile item. You can include one as your dining table centerpiece, on a front entry table, coffee table, or on shelving. We recommend first selecting the bowl in an appropriate color and size, and then taking it to a local florist to custom mold your moss bowl. 

If you don’t have a green thumb or are worried about plant maintenance, then beautiful dried florals are another way to bring the outdoors inside and have fun with texture and color. We recommend bundling them together in a vase or fanning them out in a wide-mouth vase. 

Many home retailers like Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, and West Elm have realistic-looking faux plant options. They look great and you don't have to worry about accidentally killing them!

Decorative vessels, dishes, and bowls are great pieces you can add to many rooms in your home. They can be displayed empty and grouped with other items on shelves. Or you can layer them with faux air plants, fruits, or vegetables to add more texture and color. We love a stylish footed bowl and our go-to materials are wood or marble.

Vases are another great decorative object that you can place on almost any surface in your home like shelving, kitchen counters, tables, desks, and more. You can style them with or without plants.

We lean towards vases that are artisan-made with texture and character in materials like terracotta or clay. Incorporating unique handmade pieces throughout your home makes your interiors feel special.          

We like to suggest grouping vases in pairs or a trio in varying sizes. We love sourcing unique vases during the Round Top Antique Show twice a year. Other online retailers that sell beautiful assortments are Terrain, Burke Decor, Collected By Schwung. You can also find a variety of artisan handcrafted vases from retailers like Pottery Barn and West Elm. 

For pairs, you should have one taller and one shorter in different colors for contrast. You can add faux stems or florals inside one of the vases.

When styling a sofa, accent chair, or bed you can’t forget throw blankets and pillows. Without them, some of these furnishings can look a little naked. They’re a great way to tie in accents that coordinate with the room’s color palette or you can even introduce a new hue if everything else is neutral.

For sofas, we typically recommend groups of two or three pillows. These are all about adding style and comfort. If you’re going with three pillows a good rule of thumb is one large print, one small print, and one solid. You don’t want to be overwhelmed with too many patterns. In some cases, a very subtle print can act like a solid. When mixing patterns make sure each has a common color to tie into your color scheme. Place the larger pillows towards the ends of the sofa while the smaller ones are placed on the inside.

Bead garlands are another beautiful accent you can use to add visual interest throughout your home. They usually come in wood, ceramic, or glass options. Put them inside a decorative bowl or drape them in a vase or on coffee table books. They’re a very versatile decorative accent. We love to source ours at Roundtop Antiques Fair but many boutiques and home goods stores carry them as well.

Another item that has a huge impact on a room is a hand-knotted vintage rug. They are surprisingly versatile and can go with different aesthetics. You can include one as a living room area rug, kitchen or hallway runner, entry rug, or even a small rug in a bathroom. 

Combining old and new elements in your home makes it feel lived-in and cozy. No matter where you choose to put your vintage rug it’ll bring tons of character and personality to the space.

Baskets are a styling must-have and can go in most rooms in your home. They’re great for extra storage but making it stylish.

Tuck away throw blankets or kid's toys in your living area, place one in your bathroom for extra toiletries, or keep a couple in your bedroom. They’re so handy, once you get a few you’ll want more. We love baskets from The Citizenry, Crate & Barrel, and World Market. 

Last but not least, don’t underestimate the impact of small details. That’s why we like to thoughtfully select coasters for our projects. They’re a great way to introduce more texture. Our favorite kinds are agate, marble, and petrified wood. West Elm and Anthropology have good selections in a range of materials, patterns, and colors for inspiration.

Need professional help finding the right styling pieces for your home? At Cameron Getter Design we take on projects in the Austin area and offer a range of services from full-service interior design to furnishing and styling. No matter what stage you’re at with your home, we’re here to help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your project.