Finding my style

It's been interesting planning my living room redo.  (Which by the way I've decided to call my sitting room.  It's just sounds cozier and since the room is small and cozy, sitting room works for me.)  Anyway, the interesting part is getting to bring new stuff into my decor in a planned way.  Previously most of my decorating involved more serendipity than planning.  I found something I liked or I dug something out of box and then found a place for it.   Things happened in a very slow way and no room in my home has ever been fully decorated, at least decorated in a way that made me happy.

This time I'm planning.  I've got my inspiration board on Pintrest and I have a vision in my head of what the room will look like.  It's exciting and fun.  It's also been very revealing.  I've looked through a lot of inspiration photos both online and in print.  There's so many beautiful rooms out there. I love the look of the random plate collections and the milk glass and empty frames, however, none of those things will every be in my house.  I like the white rooms too, they look so tranquil, but they won't ever be in my home either.

I've discovered two things:  1.  I love color.    The color thing is obvious.  I am a woman who owns a red couch.  I full intend at this point to own a red couch for the rest of my life.  I love how cheerful colored walls look.   You won't find me sewing white slipcovers and painting the walls "soft bone" or "winter chill."

2.  My decor must be meaningful.  Not so much the furniture, partly because, quite frankly, both my husband and I come from a long line of families with lots of children and very little heirloom quality furniture.   The wall decor and the knick knacks need to mean something to me.  I have a small home.  I have purged a lot of stuff over the years that I don't love.  I discovered that for me to love and want to keep something it has to have a memory or at least an emotion associated with it.  Pretty alone doesn't cut it.  I love decorating with photos of my family, with the small heirlooms I do have.  Not just things.

I want to hang my walls with memories.

So as I start collecting the things that go in that room, there might be one or two just things, but just about every item will have a memory associated with it.  I'm really going to love having a little piece of my grandmother's talents, and a memory of a family vacation, and all the little things we love and cherish right there.

What has a decorating project taught you about yourself?  Do you go for collections?  Do you like busy full rooms, or clean, clutter free rooms?  Which way are you leaning on the great white trend of the 'teens?  How do you choose what to decorate with?