Hello loves!
Did you know that there are particular words that we love hearing our house described as? Something such as cozy, welcoming, or comforting. I mean, who doesn’t love being in spaces defined like that?
It was only recently that it dawned on me that I design and style our spaces to emote those kinds of words. Which is why it meant so much to me when someone used them!
This realization became really helpful while designing our styling course (Did you know we are building a mini course?! We are so excited! Eek!) because it is a great starting point when trying to design your own home.
What Do I Mean by Keywords?
I thought that it could be helpful to give you a taster of what I mean about keywords and how they can be integrated into your design style.
But first let’s be clear about what I mean by keywords and how they differ from your design style.
Examples of design styles are country, farmhouse, eclectic, cottage, modern, contemporary, minimalism, and the list goes on. The design keywords don’t necessarily connect with these terms but more of an overall emotion that is felt when entering the space.
How Do I Come Up with My Keywords?
I would recommend starting with a brainstorm of emotions and sensations you would like to feel when in your home. It does not have to be what you feel in your house now. It can be what your end goal is and even better if that is the case!
Start with a blank sheet of paper and just list all the words that come to mind when imagining your dream home. Then once you’ve finished about five minutes of that then you can go back through it and circle the top three or four words.
How Do I Introduce My Keywords Right Away?
Now that you have your words, I would start using them right away! Maybe rearrange a small space in your home or restyle a shelf. Each time you use an object, ask yourself about whether it elicits one of your keywords.
Then when you are finished, take a step back and imagine you are walking into the space for the first time and what is the first thought when you walk into the space.
A small disclaimer for this: if you have clutter anxiety, have kids, pets or you know, live in your house give yourself some grace if the first word you feel is chaos. It’ll take time to transition into your keywords and build in the calm (or whatever words you choose!).
How Do I Continue to Incorporate My Keywords?
When you are purchasing new items for your home keep your keywords in mind and make sure that they fit into those emotions. If you are unsure and love it then go for it! If you are unsure and are on the fence, then I would wait and maybe do some inspiration searching before going for it.
My second tip for this would be practice and trial and error. We didn’t wake up with a home like this. It takes time, lots of mistakes, moving things around, and learning. I still have rooms that don’t fully fix all my keywords, so I am continually editing and changing them.
There you go! Now with all these questions answered you can go and create your own keywords for your home.
If you do jump into this challenge and do the brainstorm, we would love to hear what your keywords are! Share in the comments, send us an email or DM us on Insta.
Also, if you loved this and want more then keep your eye out for our course launch!
XX Waite and Matthew
