When you buy your first home or if you are simply tired of how your current home looks, you should follow this simple philosophy to decorating it. Many people get lost in the spaces of their houses because they are worried about what others will think when the housewarming party comes around a month later. Do not worry about what others think about the decor of your home. Since you are going to be looking at your wall and your floors and your cabinets every day for the next few years or so, you should be the only one that gets a say. If you want popcorn poppers in the middle of the kitchen so you can make popcorn for a movie whenever you want, you should get one.
There are so few reasons to be truly happy in this world, and if something as simple as a popcorn machine will put a smile on your face, then you shouldn’t care whether your pretentious friends think about it. When you have that first housewarming party, be proud and confident with what you have done with the place and your friends will appreciate your home as a mural of who you are as a person. They will appreciate that you appreciate it. If you want that poster of Al Pacino in a poster frame right on top of the mantle, then you should hang that piece like it was a Picasso.
Individualism is suffering in our society and everything is starting to look the same. It is about time that someone stood up and decorated their own home in a way that pleases them. I’m not saying to decorate your home like a fun house or a clown college, but put that metal bar stool where you want it for god’s sake. Spending a few hundred thousand dollars on a home can be a painful decision and people should really be commended for it. But if they are then subject to ridicule when they decorate it with their own tastes, it makes the whole purchase sour instead of sweet.
So the next time you see your friends’ new home, try to embrace the popcorn machine and the poster of a large dog. Imagine that their home is an extension of your friends instead of trying to match it to a page in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Happy house hunting and remember to make it your own after you sign those papers.
