How to Style Your Home to Reflect Your Personality

A few easy ways to inspire you to bring more personality into your home
5 Ideas to Bring More Personality Into Your Home: slow design, curating a collection, prioritizing functionality and more! interior design tips and inspiration

Any time someone comes into our house for the first time, one of the first things they say is that our home has so much personality. And it’s so true! I’ve worked really hard to style out home so that it reflects our personalities and that which is special to us — and in a way that’s more meaningful and subtle than groupings of family photos. So today I wanted to share a few ideas to inspire you to bring more personality into your home and encourage you to change things up in order to make it feel more meaningful. I hope you enjoy these tips!

5 Ideas to Bring More Personality Into Your Home

Embrace slow design

I know it seems like I’ve designed our cabin overnight, but it’s really been a loooong time coming and a lengthy process. I’ve dreamed and saved inspiration for years leading up to this! With this home, I’m taking my time and making sure to select decor that feels right… even if that means waiting longer and slowly curating a space. Giving a room the time it needs (and deserves) means that you’ll ultimately be happier with the end product!

I encourage you to take your time when it comes to styling a space. Get to know it and all of it’s quirks. That will inform the changes to make and the decor that feels right.

Think of it as ‘curating’ instead of ‘decorating’

There is something that feels temporary or less-permanent when I think of a space being decorated. Instead, I prefer to think of it as curating a space. To me, that means pulling inspiration via Pinterest, Instagram, magazines, etc and playing around with the styling of items to match that inspo. For example, I often save photos where I like the art placement within a room. When it’s time for me to hang art, I pull up those images and see if there are any interesting elements that I can incorporate. You’re not copying someone. Rather, it’s all about taking an idea and morphing it to fit into your own home with your own pieces.

Start a collection

When I think about the truly spectacular homes seen in magazines like Architectural Digest, most of the time they have epic collections. Sometimes it’s a grouping of plates on a wall, a collection of vintage books, or maybe even groupings of handmade ceramics. Collections are an excellent way to reflect your personality in your home.

When it came time to design our cabin, I knew that I wanted to expand my vintage art collection and curate some epic gallery walls. Given how tall our ceilings are and the number of rooms available to me to decorate, it was perfect! The gallery walls continue to evolve as I thrift more pieces and add to them. It’s like a living thing in our home and I love it!

Always design for functionality

At the end of the day, your home needs to serve you. So as much as you might love an item, if it impedes you from living comfortably in your space, then it probably isn’t right. For example, I first put a beautiful vintage Moroccan rug in our entry area because I loved the rug… it lived there for about 2 days before I realized how bad of an idea it was! We need a rug that traps dirt and can handle a lot of mud.

Don’t be afraid to mix styles

I am constantly asked what my decor style is and I truthfully don’t know. Nor do I really think it matters anymore. Having a label on your interior design style matters when you’re a professional designer, but for my own home it doesn’t feel applicable.

Instead, I’ve embraced a mix of styles. The cabin is a bit PNW, a bit eclectic, even a bit boho with touches of mid-century modern. And that’s totally ok because it’s a reflection of us and what we love. I think with the dawn of Pinterest, Instagram and home decor influencers, it’s easy to fall into feeling like you have to decorate in ONE style. But you don’t! So have fun.

I hope these tips inspire you to bring more personality into your home! Let me know what you think of them and if they help.

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This was a reader submitted question for one of my small space Q&As, but it felt like the topic of rugs needed a full post. There’s just so much to cover! Also, I used to design rugs for a living, which means I know wayyy too much about them. So without further ado, let’s dig into my best rug styling tips — they are perfect for any space in your home!

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Photography, design & styling by Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

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