Thank goodness 2020 is done. It’s been so odd from all the fires to the pandemic, and just normal everyday things seemed less… normal.

Have you made any resolutions? Do any of those resolutions involve home decorating? I’m not a resolution person per se (I normally say I’m resolute on no resolutions.) Yet, I’m yearning for something new in 2021.

As a matter of fact, to get my decorating done this new year, I created a Trello board with a calendar. I know, a bit anal. But even with all the ‘free time’ at home, I wasn’t able to make some holiday decorations (mid-century fabric trees) I wanted to before the holiday season hit. And I still haven’t wallpapered my secretary desk to give it that mid-century vibe I want.

So sometimes, the best way to get things done (like my list of decor projects) is just to resolve to do it.

And since I already have a list of those to-dos (and then some), I’m resolving to have a productive attitude! Also, I am resolved to complete those projects in small steps (and my Trello board helps with that).

Want to join me in home decorating resolutions?  Here are a few to get you started that I’ve added to my Trello board:

Clearing Clutter Step by Step

Clearing out clutter. Isn’t that something we all wish we could do every year day? And don’t we inevitably end up overwhelmed and more buried in clutter than ever?

Not this year! Resolve to clear the clutter in steps. It’s indeed overwhelming to look at your whole house and imagine tackling it all at once, not stopping until it’s finished.  Instead, approach it on a room-by-room basis, resolving to clear the clutter from, say, one room a month.

You could even begin with corners of rooms to make it even less overwhelming – say, clear the clutter from one corner of the living room every Saturday for four weeks. Then move on to the next room or area.

Organize Your Stuff

Although 2020 saw me throwing away a ton of unused items as I made space for remote working for Matt and me and remote school for the girls, I didn’t throw away everything.  And when you clean up the clutter, you won’t be throwing away everything this year, either. There will be “stuff” you’ll need to organize and store in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Here are some suggestions.

• Baskets are definitely your friend. Baskets can be used to hold items like shoes by the front door, CDs, DVDs, remote controls, and all those adapters for cell phones and computers.
• Decorative boxes are also handy. Slip them onto shelves and look like decorative pieces but they’re actually holding stuff. I have some next to that desk I need to wallpaper. They contain paper clips and other desk-related items that can look cluttered otherwise.
• If you have items to display, use simple trays or clear bowls. I love my British inspired tray with my mid-century cocktail glasses display in our dining room/piano bar pub area. It really makes the place look organized with a theme.

Living Decorations

Although I wish I could be talking about my girls and the cats, what I mean is houseplants. Adding them brings beauty; they are also gaining a reputation for detoxifying indoor air. Not enough sunny areas? You can get plants that do well in low light areas (and that’s most of my house). I recommend starting with spider plants. We have tons of them and can’t kill them.

Sparking Joy – And Function

I learned this year to keep items only that spark joy. Yes, just like Marie Kondo said. Yet, if the item had a functional purpose that I was really using, even when it didn’t spark joy, I kept it too. The result was paring down many items and using nostalgic items, such as my grandmother’s hope chest, as real functional pieces in the home.

Whatever you do, don’t rush the process. After all, you have a whole year to get it done.  I also recommend checking out Joan Silva’s Tidy Up Tuesdays.  She has some great tips if you make home decorating tidy.

I’ve owned three homes: my grandparents’ foursquare built in the early 1900s, an 1853 Victorian row house in Albany, NY, and now our mid-century home in the San Francisco Bay area.

I’ve loved each home for different reasons, but it seems they all have one thing in common: not enough storage space. It’s no wonder, we have more stuff than generations before. A TV in every bedroom? Computers? A ‘chef’s’ kitchen? All were unheard of. And now that many of us are at home full-time due to the pandemic, it feels even more cramped.

Yet owning three homes with a lack of storage has allowed me to get creative while still being functional, comfortable, and attractive spaces. The key is maximizing what you have got!

Get It Off the Floor

One of the easiest ways to make the most of a room that is short on square footage is to go up. Use the walls to create storage, height, and visual appeal.

For example, in my girls’ remodeled bathroom in the Victorian home, there was no room to have a traditional space for towel storage. I used a wine rack on the wall to hold towels. It looked amazing and certainly got the job done!  I also used antique crystal door knobs to hang wet towels and hand towels. It was so pretty, yet functional.

In our current mid-century home, there were (to our disgust) no bookshelves.  Yet, there really wasn’t a place to put some freestanding ones without losing valuable floor space. So we created one. By hanging a mid-century modern style bookcase over the desk, we’ve got the needed place to share our love of books and plants. And – a bonus –  it helps anchor the space in a way we didn’t expect.

Create Stations

Identify how you want to use the room and then create stations that represent your habits and needs.

For example, if you generally sit in one corner of the room to read, you might organize the room to house books in that corner. If you use the room to study as well, you might create a small office space in one corner of the room.

Once COVID-19 hit and all of us were at home all day, my space I used to work from getting too much foot traffic.  It was too noisy for meetings and I was interrupted a lot. I moved my ‘office’ to our very tiny guest room (which at the time could only fit a queen bed and a small side table). By switching out the bed to a lovely modern futon, I was able to add enough space for a desk. One area is meant for guests to relax and sleep, the other area focuses on a place for me to think and work. And it works perfectly together, thanks to great pieces of furniture and a unified theme in the room.

Think Inside the Box

You read that right! Sometimes places for organization are right in front of you if you are creative.

If there are items that don’t need to be at the ready, you can hide them in plain sight. For example, my grandmother’s hope chest, which I would never part with, now serves double duty in our foyer.  It stores a ton of heavier winter items that we don’t often need in California except on some very cold days. But I also added a cushion and pillow for a very clever seating area to get shoes on and off by the door.

I also snagged some old mid-century pieces of matching luggage for a steal.  They now sit next to a desk in the piano room, chock full of digital gadgets, including chargers, webcams and headphones. No one sees those items as they admire the vintage set as simple home decor.

I’m currently planning a rehab of our fireplace, which will include some cabinetry to store board games, throw blankets, and other occasionally needed supplies.  The goal is to have a place to access these items without adding more clutter.

There are many options to find extra space. Look for end tables, coffee tables, and couches with hidden storage options.

Another way is to simply revamp a storage space you already have for more room. Our master closet was big enough, but the garage-style wire shelves everywhere made it difficult to hang things, let alone use the shelves for clothes. We also needed more space in our bedroom, since it was now also being used as a workspace for Matt during the pandemic. The choice we made was to rehab the closet to get rid of the dressers in the room. Today, we have a lovely closet space that fits everything, and still has space for more. We also utilized the space under the bed for things we needed to access for the room, including sheets and blankets.

Put It on Wheels

Carts with wheels can make storage in a small space much easier. For example, a small entertainment center on wheels can be rolled into a different space if you need or want to entertain. In small bathrooms and kitchens, carts can be used to store basic items and be wheeled out when you need them.

Sophia’s room has storage cubes on wheels, which double as a table to draw or play games on.

Functional Pieces

In addition to purchasing furniture that doubles as storage, you can find functional pieces that serve a multitude of purposes.

For example, in a small space, a shelving unit can function as an entertainment center and a room divider. A kitchen table can also be a kitchen prep center or island.

Remember my grandmother’s hope chest? At one point, I used it as seating to my dining room table, where I had all my table linens stored as well.

My office’s TV does double duty as a TV for guests and as my second monitor. (A simple HDMI cable between the laptop and the TV does the trick!)

Finding pieces that serve dual purposes helps you make the most of your space, no matter what the size.

My bathroom is lovely.  A huge walk-in glass-encased shower. Double sinks. Plenty of space.  I never had such a beautiful master bathroom and simply began to enjoy the space since we bought the house.

But even in the beginning, the bathroom had two issues:

1. The very large master closet door is in the bathroom, not the bedroom. Typically I plan what I am wearing the day before, but if I decide at the last minute on something else, it can become awkward pretty quickly.
2. There is only one window in the room. It’s small, narrow, and right in the corner of the room.

Although Matt and I have worked out the closet door issue (sort of), that small window needed something to dress it up, as it looked a little too modern and cold in the space.

It’s the only natural light we get in the room and privacy isn’t an issue as it’s on the 2nd floor and it has built-in privacy glass (although I wish it didn’t).  Simply putting up a curtain would actually hurt the light we do get, which means I needed to get creative or spend a ton of money on something I would never be completely pleased with.

Lucky for me, on a trip to a local department store (Do they still call them department stores?), I was in the clearance section and found two very cute napkin rings for $1 apiece. Another search found two long, woven blue and green summer scarves, just $2 apiece.

So for a total of $6, I had the perfect items for a window treatment.  It wasn’t difficult to create. I simply nailed up the rings and looped the scarves through, rearranging them until they looked ‘just right’ to me.  It makes the area look softer, especially with the nice weave and details in the scarves, without blocking the light. Take a look:

This isn’t the first time I’ve been thrifty with a window treatment. When we first moved to California, I couldn’t find anything I liked to provide privacy but look nice in our rented condo. I found fabric tablecloths on sale for $8 that fit the windows perfectly and attached them to the curtain rod with clips.  The total for one window (with the clips) was $20.  And they were easily washable, too, perfect for young kiddos in a small space.

Another time I used washi tape to stylize the vertical blinds in that same condo.

Others also have similar ideas for chic, no-sew curtains and window treatments:

• Michaeli Marler made some out of sheets.
• Kathy at Pettycoat Junktion used dish/tea towels for cute cafe curtains.
• I seriously considered Rachel’s doily valance for my daughter’s beachy-boho bedroom. (Although she sews them together, fabric glue would work too!)
• Amy tied ribbons on a rod to make a very cheerful valance.

The moral of this story is you never know where you’ll find inspiration for your window treatments. (And keep an eye out in those bargain bins!)

In the search for our home, we visited many, many houses.  Different styles, different floor plans. Yet one thing made them common: greige, that color palette that is part grey and part beige. (I question using the word color or palette here, as it is neither.)

It was EVERYWHERE. The walls, the counters, the backsplashes and the furniture. I even had on realtor say how on trend the house was all due to the paint.  When I gave him the skeptical eye and crinkled my nose a bit, he pivoted to talking about the next trend will be greigreen (greige with a hint of green).  Ugh.

Greige (and any thing with such a tone) sucks, literally. It’s drabness sucks the light from a room. It makes humans look less alive.

It reminds me of hospitals.  Old, worn, and sterile.  But even that’s changing. Many newer hospitals, however, have realized color helps keep people cheerful, helps them feel confident and allows people to relax.

Yes, greige was fresh and new when it hit homes in 2006. (That’s when my kids were born!) But today, it looks washout in most houses, and I believe it has overstayed its welcome.

Now I know some will say I am completely off base; greige can be warm, they will claim.  Maybe.  But it takes a lot of effort to get it right: to add warmth to your home. (After all, isn’t that the point?)  How to add that warmth?  Add your favorite color.  I promise you it will make you a lot happier. (Has anyone ever said greige is their favorite color?)

That’s not to say greige should be abandoned completely.  As an accent color it can really be great! (I’m currently on the lookout for a couch in a particular tone that will go with coral and navy.)  But after seeing way too many greige interiors on our quest for our home, it’s a trend too common to continue.