person in cozy socks in bed with coffee and a book

This blog post was originally a transcript from a podcast recording. Listen to the full episode below. Subscribe today!

“You can’t make positive choices for the rest of your life without an environment that makes those choices easy, natural, and enjoyable.”

— Deepak Chopra

How to Style Your Environment

This week is the first week of fall and I’m so happy for this season to be here. Usually I’m feeling a bit sad when summer comes to an end, but this year I’m so ready for the fall!

When the season changes from summer to fall, it brings so many pleasant thoughts - warm apple cider, a crackling fire, football on the weekends, cool, crisp air, crunchy leaves, cozy blankets.

But beyond all the physical things that make me happy about fall, I also love the symbolism of fall. It’s a season of transition. And whenever we’re in a season of transition, we are taught to let go once again and to release the things that have been burdening you, just as a tree would let go of its leaves. Fall is a time that reminds us how temporal the world is. Life is full of cycles and change. Fall always reminds me how temporary things can be, and it reminds me to be even more grateful for the gifts that I have in my present.

I love spring for its symbolism of rebirth and growth. But we also need seasons like the fall, where things die and grow dormant because we need the contrast. We need the fall to appreciate the spring.

So as the weather begins growing cooler, we’ll likely start spending more time indoors. Although, actually, this year has been quite the anomaly hasn’t it?! I don't think I’ve spent this much time at home in a long time because of the pandemic. Either way, now is a great time to look around your environment and make sure it’s in alignment with your aesthetic and values.

I talk a lot about our mindset, and truly our mindset has the power to set the tone of our entire quality of life regardless of our environment. You could be in a tiny apartment or a huge mansion, but it’s our mindset that determines our level of happiness with that environment. Someone who adores New York City may adore their 500 square foot apartment, while others would find that too small. So our mindset is truly what sets the tone when it comes to interpreting our environment and our overall quality of life.

But, that being said, our environment does have the ability to impact our mindset and consequently our quality of life if we let it. If we aren’t loving our environment, we’ll spend more time trying to work on our mindset to overcome it. Personally, I’d rather focus my brain power on other things than trying to make peace with an environment that doesn’t align with me.

If given the choice, I’d much rather work and live in a beautiful environment that brings me joy and comfort, wouldn’t you? That way I can stay inspired and keep motivated.

So today I wanted to share with you some tips for how to style your environment. Now is the perfect time to assess your surroundings and determine if it's serving you in the best way possible.

This is actually what I’ve been spending a lot of time doing for the past couple of months.

This past summer, Jordan and I were planning on visiting the Grand Cayman Islands, but that got cancelled due to COVID. Then this month, we were supposed to go to Prague, which I was so frickin’ excited about, but alas, COVID cancelled that as well.

Rather than wallow in self-pity, I decided to ask myself, “How should I spend my new-found time now that I’ll be at home?” And because I was spending so much more time at home, I felt like it was finally time to start working on some of the house projects that I had put off.

And it all started with the fireplace. Our fireplace had brick around it that was painted tan, but I thought that a fresh coat of bright white paint would really improve the look. Well, I was right, because that white paint really helped brighten up the room and make it more modern. But then Pandora’s box was opened! I couldn’t just stop with the fireplace.

So next came my celestial study. We have this room just off our entryway that could have been a formal dining room, but I decided to make it more of a traditional study. It was a small room with two walls open to the living room, so it was the perfect next room to tackle.

Well after that came the entryway, the hallways, and the kitchen.

Then we didn’t stop there - we finished with painting the dining room and living room. Then I went in and upgraded a lot of the décor and furniture pieces that I had been wanting to get for a while.

We’re certainly not finished but we made a lot of really nice but simple improvements that have significantly upgraded the atmosphere in our home and helped make it feel that much more inviting.

So today, let’s talk about how to create a space that’s welcoming, peaceful, encouraging, cozy, and safe. Let’s work on creating a space for yourself that’s in complete alignment with what you value and what you need in this moment. Maybe you need peace, maybe you need comfort, maybe you need organization, maybe you need something to brighten your day. Whatever you need, let’s do something in your environment to help support that.

For starters, I want to make it very clear that you don’t need to hire a designer or throw out everything in your home and start from scratch. Jordan and I did all the painting in our house - it’s not perfect, but we preferred this option instead of paying thousands of dollars for someone else to do it.

I also want to add that styling your environment doesn’t have to mean that you’re signing up for a huge or expensive project.

Start small.

So as we start to style your environment, let’s start small. And I mean really small - choose one space. It can be a whole room, but it could also be a small portion of the room - a nook, a closet, a desk, a pantry, a dresser.

I think many people go for years without ever improving or reflecting on how their environment is affecting them because it feels like the project or the house is just too big to tackle. And yes, if you tried to tackle the whole house at once, that could get rather overwhelming fast! So even if you have a whole laundry list of home improvements that you want to do (like me), narrow down that list to just focus on a single area or room.

There’s no wrong selection - narrow it down by choosing the room you like the least, the room you’re in the most, the room that you’d benefit from the most by being in more.

Not only will this give you clarity and focus, but it will also keep you level-headed with the project. Styling your environment should be fun and exciting, not stressful and overwhelming.

2. Be patient.

When I first moved into our current home about 2 years ago, I wanted to start working on everything. But I definitely didn’t have the budget to do that. And actually, I found that it was a good thing that I waited to buy everything up. It really helps living in the space you’re in for a while before investing in new furniture pieces because after living there, you’ll get a greater sense for what’s needed in terms of function and style.

Budgets are important to consider and I’m not encouraging anyone to go out and blow all their savings on upgrading your house or your environment. Financial responsibility comes first, and if you’re patient, your styled environment will come at the pace of your budget. For example, we’ve had this black media console in my living room since we moved in. In fact, I’ve had it since my first apartment. It was only this year that we decided it was time to upgrade the media console and make that investment.

So keep in mind that you don’t have to have every piece of furniture perfectly purchased and placed right when you move in. Be patient with your budget.

I also remember not wanting people to come over at first because the space wasn’t “done” yet. But the reality is, your space will never be done. Your style and tastes will evolve. Ideas and preferences will strike at random. So don’t wait for things to be just right or perfect before you start enjoying your space.

We want to start enjoying our environment today - and we can, but it requires that we accept our environment as it is today and appreciate the improvements that we can influence with the current time and budget currently available to us.

Life comes first and sometimes we just aren’t going to have enough time to focus on getting a project done in a single week. Our painting of multiple rooms spanned weeks - there were some weekends that we took off and others that we spent the entire weekend just painting away. Allow yourself the space to actually have a life while you’re in the midst of a house project.

3. Focus on the feeling you want to evoke.

So now that we’re starting small and we’re in the proper patient mindset, we need to actually decide what kind of feeling we want to evoke in our selected space.

Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel in this space? How do I want others to feel when they walk in this space?”

I recently heard an interior designer explain that she focuses on the feeling that she wants to create. She gave a great example of a coffee shop. A lot of times, people will think of a coffee shop, then buy a lot of things that have to do with coffee - like things with coffee patterns, signs with coffee sayings, and other kitschy décor.

But when you focus on the feeling, you will likely make different décor choices. If you want a cozy vibe, maybe you’ll opt for a shiplap wall versus a wall with little coffee cups painted on it. If you want to create a collaborative vibe that encourages socialization, maybe you’ll create cool seating pods instead of a standard aluminum coffee table with 2 to 4 chairs around it.

I guess what I’m saying here with this one is you don't have to be so literal with your space. Focus on the feeling and how that would reflect in the choice of furniture, materials, textures, colors that you make.

In a cozy area, maybe you want softer, warmer textures whereas your office will have sharper areas of focus.

And on this one I’d like to go on a tangent for a second. There’s actual psychology involved in picking the colors and tones of a room.

In general, lighter colors will feel more light open while darker colors will create a heavier, more dramatic feeling.

So let’s quickly go through the different colors and how it can make you feel certain ways.

Starting with neutrals, brown can feel very grounding because it’s associated with wood, nature, and stability. White can evoke elegance and cleanliness, but too much white can make a room feel sterile like a medical office.

Warmer colors like red can inspire passion and energy. Pink can bring feelings of happiness, peace, and love.

And moving on to colder colors - blues are good for inspiring confidence and relaxation, and purple is a versatile color that can make people feel creative, ambitious, and luxurious.

4. Get inspired.

I think by now, everyone knows what Pinterest is and does, but if not, it’s a visual search engine essentially. When starting, I create a board on Pinterest and label it the room name or space name that I am finding inspiration for.

If you don’t want others to see what you’re working on, you can make the Pinterest board secret.

Then I type in a keyword or a few and start searching and pinning. The key here is to not judge what you’re pinning. Pin based on gut reactions. Pin any images that make you happy or that evoke that emotion that you’re wanting to create. Don’t worry about the details or if the image contains certain things you don’t like. If it has a color in it you like, a style you like, a certain piece of furniture in it that you like, then pin it.

I find this part of the process really fun because I could scroll and pin beautiful pictures for hours!

When you’ve exhausted your pinning binge, click into the board and start looking for commonalities. Notice trends between the pictures you pinned. Notice if the same patterns or colors keep coming up. Notice if there’s a certain style of furniture piece that keeps popping up. Maybe you keep seeing a lot of indoor plants. Maybe you keep seeing blue hues. Maybe you keep seeing Ikat print or velvet fabrics.

Pick up on the patterns you’re seeing in the mix of pictures that you pinned and that’s your aesthetic. Don’t worry about putting a label on your style - chances are, you don’t have one straight up interior design style that you like. Me personally - I’m a blend of traditional and mid-century modern with an occasional flair for boho and Moroccan elements.

There’s really no need to pinpoint or label your design style because it’s unique to you and that’s all that matters. What matters is that it creates the emotion that you want it to and that it ultimately brings you joy.

5. Try to tackle bigger furniture pieces first.

Now I don’t always follow this tip, so take this one with a grain of salt. Typically, it’s a lot easier to style a room if you create the room around the largest piece of furniture first. If it’s a bedroom, start with the bed, if it’s a living room, start with the sofa, if it’s the office, start with the desk.

Although you don’t have to, this can just help make styling the room easier. Once you have the largest piece in place, you’ll get a sense for how much space you have for other items.

And I love my accessories and décor, but try to do this at the end. Starting with décor can make your environment start to feel cluttered or like there’s too much of one particular décor type. So as a rule of thumb, it’s usually best to put all the other pieces in place before you put the final décor touch on the room.

6. Little improvements make a difference.

Going back to point number two, we need to be patient. Which means that we may not have the time or money to completely overhaul a room. So, that being the case, look at the little improvements that you can make to impact a room - improvements that won’t break the bank or take up too much time.

Here are some items to look at if you want to see a quick improvement without gutting a room:

Update the fans and/or lighting fixtures to be both functional and stylish
Swap out the fixtures on your cabinetry or in your bathroom to something that’s more your style
Add a fresh coat of paint to transform a room
No time for painting the walls? Consider just painting all the trim a bright white to help make the walls pop
Get some beautiful indoor plants to improve the air quality and your relaxation (I recommend starting with a pothos plant or a snake plant for indoor plant beginners. I have both in my home and I adore them!)
Organize your space to remove distractions and improve productivity
Hang some new drapes (remember to hang them high) or look at new window treatments (We have plantation shutters, which are functional, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to go with any style!)
Switch out the plates on your light switches to screwless wall plates

7. Don’t forget your 6 senses!

My final tip is to not forget your 6 senses. Styling your environment is important in terms of visual appeal, but there’s also other elements that can help that you can pay attention to - things like scents, textures, and sounds.

We all love a good fall palette with reds, oranges, and browns, but imagine how much more your environment could welcome fall if you were to pay attention to the other senses too - the smell of warm cider brewing, the sound of a crackling fire, the softness of a cozy blanket and slippers.

I recently shared the most perfect and affordable candle for the fall right now on Instagram. And on a side note, if you’re not following me on Instagram, let’s connect over at @thejetsetblonde. The perfect autumn candle I found is from Target and it’s only $5 to $10 depending on the size you get. There are several scents but I got Warm Cider and Cinnamon and it's absolutely heavenly. It totally puts me in the fall mood in my house when I light it.

Another great seasonal candle that I get in winter is “The Smell of Christmas” candle by Aromatique. It's the perfect blend of spice and citrus with warm notes of natural botanicals.

Also, music is such a powerful thing. I create my playlists based on the mood I want to feel - I have playlists for lots of different emotions - Happy, Melancholy, Chill, Angry and more. When I’m not working on something that takes up too much brain power, I love turning on some music to listen to in the background. Another time that I love music or maybe a podcast is when I’m cooking - it’s the perfect time to add more elegance to your environment.

So those are my tips for how to style your environment. Let’s do a quick recap.

Start small.
Be patient.
Focus on the feeling you want to evoke.
Get inspired.
Try to tackle bigger furniture pieces first.
Little improvements make a difference.
Don’t forget your 6 senses!

What would you add to this list? What are some ways that you style your environment? I’d love to know! Share them with me in the comments below or on Instagram by screenshotting this post and sharing.