The Four Blocks Stopping Your DIY Decorating

Learn what’s really getting in the way of your DIY decorating project and how to finally get it done

When you’re redecorating your home, the first thing you usually think of is, “What do I wanna buy?” You might not think that exact thought, but you’re on Pinterest scrolling for inspo more than you’re looking around the room you already have.

You know you’re ready for a change, but you’re not always sure how exactly to get from point A (your house now) to point Z (the house you want). Even getting to point B feels like a mystery when you don’t know what to do first to move the needle in the right direction.

Scrolling and saving and maybe even ordering might feel productive, but then you wind up with a handful of new things that looked good on the screen but make no sense at all in your house.

You feel confused at first and then discouraged, thinking you’re just bad at decorating. You feel frustrated that you just can’t get the room to change, and you end up sinking right back into the couch, scrolling again to try to “fix” it.

This is such a common conundrum for DIY decorators, and it’s why the Home Alchemy Method opens with a guided “Clearing Space” module before we ever buy anything new. You have to understand your “no” before your “yes” can truly land.

Lock in, because I’m about to tell you why you’re so blocked that not even a 6-hour Pinterest scroll can save you.

Block #1: The Physical

Your current room is full. It’s got everything in it – what you like, don’t like and what you’re indifferent toward. You move through the same walkways, your eye travels in the same patterns, and you see the same things over and over again.

Even if there are things in the room you do like, our negativity bias filters for all the things we don’t like first.

That’s why even when you do get a hit of inspiration or bring some new things home, they don’t feel like they work.

The room is still the same room you didn’t like before, but now it has more shit in it.

Block #2: The Mental

Hi, hello, it’s Life. Have we met?

You’re busy as hell. You are not an interior designer. Your mental load would send a Victorian woman into a coma.

If you just can’t put your finger on what’s not working, it really isn’t because you’re not good at decorating.

Decorating is like putting together a puzzle – making everything in the room make sense is like trying to see the finished picture in each individual piece scattered around the coffee table.

Half the pieces are upside down, yet you’re blaming yourself for not seeing the big picture!

Unless you know what picture you’re creating, you’re just going to spin in circles, ruminating on the same problems over and over again.

In fact, inside the Home Alchemy Method, we warm up for your new room by creating the exact Mood Board you’ll be aiming for the whole time. We set up a built-in mental filter from day one just to eliminate the mental stress of decorating.

Block #3: The Emotional

Then there come the feelies.

Our homes are full of sentiment, nostalgia, memories and feelings. We’re attached, for better or for worse.

Our homes are full of things that we love that also remind us of pain. Sometimes we even keep things we dislike just because they’re attached to someone we love.

Then there’s the guesswork-guilt and commitment-fear we feel as soon as we click “add to cart.”

“Am I sure this rug is gonna work?”

“Do we have to repaint if we get this sofa?”

“I’ve already tried 6 samples, and I can’t even tell them apart anymore! I can’t commit!”

Wading through the emotional minefield of decorating is enough to keep anyone from trying! Sometimes it seems easier to sit in a blah-boring-lackluster room than confront the things that come up when we try to change it!

Block #4: The Energetic

And finally, the most subtle block of all: the energy.

The energy in the room is the felt atmosphere. It’s the patterns, the repetition, the personality of the room itself.

It’s the identity that’s here— the one that feels familiar, for better or for worse. Disrupting it does feel like rupture. To change it is to shake the bedrock and upend what was here.

The inertia we create with even one change means that we’re changing, too. And even if it’s wanted, it can be wildly uncomfortable.

Hesitation to start is not an indication of laziness or indecisiveness as much as it is an indication that something in you just isn’t ready to change yet.

If you’re experiencing this, you probably want to change the room, but you’re dreading actually doing it rather than feeling excited for a fresh chapter.

HOW TO GET UNBLOCKED

I don’t think most people need to hire interior designers to redecorate their homes. That would be ridiculous.

But the 4 blocks I just listed above have to be overcome, or you’ll stay frozen forever in house you don’t love.

DIY leaves you to figure all this out on your own.

When you DIY decorate, you’re basically left alone to not only figure out how to redecorate the room, but also navigate the physical, mental, emotional and energetic blocks that come along with creative projects like this.

I’m a DIY gal myself, but not because it’s easy. I DIY because it’s self-paced, more affordable and I like being in creative control — you can probably relate.

But like I said, it’s not easy. And I don’t like that. I like things to be easy, and I knew there had to be an easier way to DIY decorate.

DIY is Out. DIT is In

Over the past year and a half working one-on-one with DIY clients, I realized something: they really don’t need a designer, they just need help.

When they were DIY-ing, they were stuck and frustrated, but as soon as we got on calls together and talked it through, things started moving. I didn’t even have to set foot in their homes because having support — an ear, a cheerleader, a teacher — was all they really needed. Having a stylist on speed dial was the secret sauce to finally getting their rooms looking the way they’d been imagining.

I realized that Do It Together (DIT) is so much more effective than DIY.

If you’ve been hitting wall after wall inside your four walls, let me invite you to take a breath and call for backup.

Ring, ring! Backup’s here.

I started offering free Vibe Check Room Audits to help get some of these blocks off your plate. You can show me your home as is — no judgement here — and I can give you some quick, actionable ideas to get the momentum moving in the room.

You don’t have to DIY when DIT is on the table! I’d love to audit your space with you, and you can submit yours for free just below.

Remember: you have your own brilliant style just waiting to come out behind a few pesky blocks, and we can Do It Together.

 Written from home,

Liz