where should i get started to figure out how to actually set up and decorate a home space?? (books, other resources?) i have no idea how to do it.
Hmmmm. I think the first step to designing any space is to live in the space without anything except for what you have and or what you absolutely need (you are moving with nearly no furniture, right? just moving out there in a car?). So then you can learn (possibly take notes if you are really serious) how you use space, what you are missing from every space, what you need the spaces to do for you, etc. (I think for the nature of your new life, you will want to consider, for example, how much you want or need your work to take space in your home.) I always recommend people do this before buying anything other than a thing to put your ass on and a second thing to put your drink on, but that’s just me! This is also a good time to reflect on what you liked or hated about what your setup was before. Some of these can be quick judgments: do you have absolutely nowhere to do kitchen prep? Are there rooms that get zero sunlight? No overhead light? Does a patch of floor need to be covered at any cost? But most of it you won’t figure out except with time, living in it, and that is why this is always a living process and not an event! (Making some assumptions about the status & condition of the place you’ll be renting, forgive me and I hope they pan out to be true for you 😬)
Take note of things that you have always wanted in your living space and whether they can be achieved in an easy way (for example, if you have always coveted yellow walls, just fucking do it, and if you absolutely cannot paint, do it with curtains and wall hangings). For me these things were things like: an in-closet shelf for shoes, dimmable lighting, bathroom drawers, a central decorative laundry hamper, extremely organized christmas storage, etc. Some of that has not been fulfilled but identifying how much it meant to me made the process clearer. Like, don’t invest yourself in a fantasy for no reason, but some ummm basic journaling can help you figure out what the roots of your desires or feelings of home inadequacy if you have them lol might be, and if the answer is “I just want a pink couch” then like…do it? Literally yolo.
1. What are the tasks and activities you do in your home vs. wish to do in your home, and can you do them with what you have? Can you do them optimally? (Working [writing, grading, etc.], entertaining, cooking, BAKING, crafts and hobbies, tv watching, gardening, access to the windows for the cats, litter) (Wait: are you living alone?)
2. Where do things go? (Books, kitchen items, yarn, toiletries, clothes, laundry.) Is this system making it easier to locate your things when you need them, use them, and hide them when you’re not using them?
During this time you can figure out where the best places in your area are to get furnishings (one always has to get acquainted with a new thrift market)! (Look for habitat for humanity restores and university surplus.*) *Design tip: do your whole home in former university library furniture
Don’t read any bullshit that tells you rules about how to decorate or live until you know how you actually use your space and what you want! You will only get SOLD [things and ideologies], misled, shamed, lied to by Dwell… after that you deal with the nebulous problem of “inspiration” and “figuring out what you actually like aesthetically.”
So the other part of that is looking at what you have actually brought with you and, well, you’ve surely already marikonned, right. But look at the decorating and furnishing items (as well as practical items ofc), live with them, and ask whether they are working for you or need eventual replacement (not buying a bunch of furniture you don’t need immediately is a good way to save money for idk replacing your cutting board, quilts and rugs). For decorative items or potentially decorative items (maybe art objects or ephemera that are special to you that you could frame and thus turn into “art,” for example), this is a time where you can let them tell you the aesthetic direction of your home! For example in my personal life, basically the whole visual story of my bedroom was gradually directed by two enameled salmon pieces (a lamp and a cigarette stand) that I’ve had for so long that they aren’t even my “style” per se, but I love them, and so I let them determine the way!
For you in particular I would suggest an aesthetic inspo quest that involves not looking at instagram and internet design sites (”pinterest,” as they say) but old magazines and primary sources, esp re: “lifestyle.” (A lot of the 70s high tech kind of stuff I look at now makes me really try to want to “decorate” my space in a way that would have been called “lifestyle” back then, even if for me it just means “what if I got table surfaces I can move around in different ways to accommodate my multiple craft hobbies,” etc.) Secondarily I recommend thrift shopping and, when finances allow, just buying the thing that moves you and figuring it out later. (I recommend this technique to everyone who has the liquid $20-100, it is the more utopian version of “settling for the ikea coffee table.”)
Figure out ASAP whether you can paint, etc. and whether you’d want to. As far as books? I mean I don’t really recommend any in particular because, again, Ideology. That’s why I like looking at older ones, because they expose the historical situatedness of interiors ideology!!
1. A big move is an emotionally vulnerable time, do not let Apartment Therapy prey on that. Don’t read anything! Instead, look at old books and magazines and browse craigslist
3. Figure out your budget
4. IKEA should be a last resort for absolutely anything except for those things you put plastic bags in, drawer organizers, recycling bins and maybe rugs (unfortunately rugs are just expensive everywhere but ikea). Unless you have 200 bottles of nail polish in which case the helmer is still the best option on the market. Don’t go to IKEA.
Not really what you were asking, lol :). Now once you tell me details about your space and collect notes on your vision, I can tell you sources that I trust to brainwash you the cool way and not the apartment therapy way (lbr am not above apartment therapy and have visited them a lot every time I moved into a new place) (it will make you feel bad about yourself)
