Home Decor Do’s and Dont’s: 4 Things Making Your House Look Tacky

Ok the word tacky is a little harsh but I couldn’t come up with a better hook. I might get some flack for this post because yes, I think you should decorate your house ANY WAY YOU WANT. I believe the same goes for clothing so take this all with a grain of salt. And I am absolutely 100% guilty of decorating my own home with some of these things in the past. But on the flip side, I follow a lot of home accounts and interior designers that I’ve learned some tips and tricks along the way that I’ve incorpoated and wanted to share. And if you have any of these things in your home, I’m here to offer up some solutions to elevate your home 🙂

Faux Plants / Specifically in alcoves or places that collect dust

I am guilty of having some faux plants around my house.. still. And I hate them lol. I have a couple of faux olive tree in some of the bedrooms and to be honest, they look SO bad. However, sometimes you just need to fill a corner of a room that you don’t go into all that often and forget it’s there. Faux plants are tough because most of them look so cheap. My Restoration Hardware faux olive tree in my entryway is the only exception and I found it at an outlet at a discounted price and it was still outrageous. For the cost, it better look real and it does. However, all of my other faux trees (even the one from Pottery Barn) look cheap to me in real lighting. An even bigger ick is when people put faux plants above entryways or in those 80’s alcoves that you just don’t know what to do with the space. When in doubt, please don’t put a fake plant in them. A piece of art, pottery, anything else would suffice. My house has a couple of those alcoves in our master staircase and they are empty because I refuse to put a dust colector up there. As an alternative to fake plants, get a REAL plant that is extremely low maintenance that requires little to no watering and aren’t sensitive to light (meaning it could be bright or dark) like a snake plant, spider plant, philodendron, peace lily, or pothos. I have a number of snake plants around the house in bathrooms that I water maybe once a month and they are thriving and have been for over 2 years.

Word Signs

We don’t need to see the word GATHER above your kitchen sink to know it’s the kitchen or ALWAYS KISS ME GOODNIGHT above your bed.. ick lol. When decorating walls in your home, my advice is to stay away from Hobby Lobby 😉 When I walk into someone’s house I don’t want to be told to live, laugh or love. I want to see personal photos or art you picked up in your travels, which is a great conversation starter. Obvioulsy art or antique pieces are extremely personal and unique to an individual but I love going antiquing and finding vintage pieces to put on my walls. I also love to frame my children’s art (the good ones) and put them up in their rooms/play room. To me, word signs are just a placeholder on your wall until you find something personal to hang. So just don’t put anything up if you have a blank space.. wait until something really speaks to you and hopefully it’s not a sign that says Beach with an arrow sign (the ONLY caveat here is if you actually have a beach house).

Scented Candles That Smell like Pumpkin

I’m sorry but any candle from Bed, Bath and Beyond or anything that smells like pumpkin is a no for me and when someone is burning one I have a visceral reaction. There is nothing elegant or elevated about a pumpkin scent unless you have bread in the oven. I used to burn these candles all the time and now I have a scent I always want my house to smell like and it’s LAFCO Feu de Bois. I also love love love Hotel Lobby candles but they are sold out pretty often so my go to has been LAFCO for a couple years now. And when people walk in my house they say, “Wow it smells SO good in here!” and I agree 😉 Find a beautiful scent that speaks to you.. anything other than a pumpkin spice something.

Bright White LED Light Bulbs

This one is likely controversial because they last so long and I get why people love them but I absolutely despise bright white overhead lighting. It creates a really sterile environment in my opinion. We don’t want our house to look like a hospital waiting room. I enjoy a soft warm tone around my house and you’ll rarely find any of our main lighting turned on. It’s always lamps and accent lighting that I turn on at night and people complain it’s dark but I truly hate the harsh bright white lights that LED bulbs produce. And not all LED bulbs are bad because they do have versions of them that are meant to produce a warmer glow. In this case, I always opt for 2700K bulbs that fall in the ideal warm color temperature range. But these are my favorite bulbs for around the house and it just makes it feel so cozy.

Again, take all of these with a grain of salt and DO YOU! But these are just some tips I’ve picked up along the way of decorating a few different homes and what I think creates an inviting home.

xx, H