thinking outside the box - The Inspired Room

Anthropologie Dishes and hutch

I love going into Anthropologie. Why? I just like the feel of it. Every item in the store isn’t exactly my style, but that is OK. Somehow when I walk in, I am content and happy! I am inspired to walk slowly, ponder and stay awhile (OK, they have to throw me out at closing time) — I want to take in all the details.

Isn’t that what we all want for our homes? Don’t we want to walk in, feel embraced and at peace and not want to leave? Don’t we want to savor every detail of life at home?

I promised last week that I was going to share some more ideas from my visit to Anthropologie. Since we recently reviewed some tips for finding our own decorating style, today we can find some inspiration for that from Anthropologie.

I decided to take some time to analyze why I love Anthropologie so — to see what inspiration I can take away from Anthropologie stores (because that is just the kind of thing I quietly ponder on a lazy Sunday afternoon, while the rest of the world is napping or planting a garden or whatever. Don’t judge.).

So go ahead and grab your cup of coffee, let’s see what I came up with...

4 Decorating Lessons from Anthropologie

1. Create ambience.

If you’ve been a reader at The Inspired Room for awhile, you know I love LOVE a home with ambience. I feature them, I talk about them, I dream about them. I am not bound by one particular decorating style, but I do love a room that oozes ambience. Most people are affected by the ambience of a room, even if they don’t know why a room makes them happy, draws them in or actually might make them feel uncomfortable.

Anthropologie does a great job at grabbing your senses to create ambience on many levels. From their eye catching displays in old weathered cabinets, textiles that make you want to reach out and touch them, pebbled and distressed wood floors, to delicious smelling (and lit!) candles filling the air, Anthropologie has the ambience thing down well. It feels like a personal and creative home you could really enjoy spending time in.

The more senses we can engage in our home, especially in ways that are personal to us (our own favorite scents, textures, colors, patterns, emotional & spiritual connections, etc.), the more we are going to love the feel of our home.

2. Be fearless.

Break out of the expected decorating box! Instead of being worried about what is right, proper, popular and acceptable in the world of decorating, Anthropologie pushes the envelope on creativity. They ignore all the rules. Animal heads on the wall? Check. Rubber hoses draped on a display? Ok.

Cardboard murals? Why not? Recycled plastic bottle garland strung across the ceilling? Check. Fabric bunched up haphazardly to make a table covering? Check. Giant dinosaur topiary? Fun! Wood crates or pallets for wall hangings or towels? Love that.

Now, bear with the illustration here. I know Anthropologie is a store and what might work in a store might look kind of silly in a home. Or maybe the things they do just aren’t your style. But so what if “you wouldn’t do those things at your home”? What COULD you do? That is the question.

Stretch your mind to look at objects in new ways. Maybe take a tour around a hardware store or your own garage and see what might be able to be re-purposed for decorating. Who says you have to hang a towel on a towel rod? Or that paintings need to be hung from nails? Or that art has to be purchased in an art gallery?

3. Express your personality
{and what does that really mean anyway}

Most people seem to know that our homes should express our personality. That idea has been around for a long time now. In fact, I sometimes I feel like it is an overused concept so I hesitate to use the phrase too much. Yet it something we still can struggle with, even when we know it is something important!

So let’s think about what ‘express your personality’ means, really, and how do we do it?

If we aspire to make our home look exactly like a store catalog we love, does that mean we have ‘expressed our personality’ because we happen to love Ballard Designs catalogs? I mean, I do love to look at Ballard Designs (don’t get me wrong) but do I really want people to come in and say, “wow your home looks just like a {insert store name} catalog!”? Hmmmm. That would disturb me a bit. Just sayin’. But maybe that is just me.

To make our home a true reflection of who we really are, we should be striving to have a unique collection of things that other people couldn’t possibly have because we found them in a thousand different places and moments in time.

I love a home that is filled with things that are basically snapshots of a person’s life. By looking at their accessories you see a part of who they are, their things tell a story! I get that feeling at Anthropologie, like someone has traveled the world and collected a variety of things they found interesting, humorous, or meaningful. The modern, the quirky, the reinvented, the antique and the memorable — all happily coexisting in one personality-filled room.

Life is not lived in a day. You could buy everything in the Ballard Designs catalog in one day, if you wanted to. Instant Decor. And none of it would say much about who YOU are. Enough said. Disclaimer: Nothing personal against Ballard Designs lovers or Ballard Designs catalogs. I love many things in the BD catalog and find it quite inspiring as a resource. It is just an illustration.

If you really struggle with expressing your own personality in your decor, it might mean you are not fully embracing your own uniqueness. What makes you YOU? I can’t truly have a unique style if I don’t really know who I am and what I have loved about life. Our personality at home will flow out of our life experiences. You can’t really copy that.

What ways could you break out of the cookie cutter, predictable and expected decor? Find unique ways to express your life through your accessories. It is OK to have some good basic or classic pieces, but what unique things can you add to make a personal statement?

4. Details Matter.

Anthopologie celebrates details. Their clothes have ruffles and their towels have pom poms. Their lampshades have patterns and their dishes have fun designs and pretty colors. Items have unique buttons and unexpected trim.

If your home is lacking some special little details, it is likely your home will be a little bit boring. Not to say you have to have ruffles or wood buttons on everything, but put some thought into some unique things that will set your style apart from your neighbors and show that you really care about your home. Details take time and a little creativity, but they are worth the effort.

What is your style? Whether you like things that are feminine or rustic or modern or antique, you can find your own trademark details to show off your unique style.