Decorating your home in the age of influencers.

Your home is your base, so decorating it is always going to feel personal. But when you're renovating or redecorating, it can be surprisingly hard to work out what you actually like. Taste takes time and experience to develop.

Home trends have always spread quickly, from renovation shows to glossy magazines. Influencers have turned that up a notch. Scroll for ten minutes and you'll see a dozen "must-have" looks, each promising to be the answer. It's easy to end up copying whatever is popular, or freezing because there are simply too many options.

The good news is that there's no rush. Your home doesn't need to be finished in a weekend, and for plenty of people it takes years to get it just right.

Remember that influencer homes are curated

Home influencers spend a huge amount of time making their spaces as picturesque as possible, and those spaces are styled for the camera. A room that looks perfect in a photo isn't always a room that works day to day.

Why copying a look rarely works

Taking inspiration is great. You might love a colour, a texture or a piece of furniture and want to bring it into your own home. Copying the whole room is another story. Space and light change how everything looks, so a style that glows in a big, bright, open-plan home can fall flat in a small, shadier one. It's a quick route to disappointment.

How to curate your own taste

Finding your own taste takes longer than most people expect, and it changes as you grow into a space. Real homes are arranged around real life, which usually means kids, pets and busy routines that you'll never see in a 15-second reel.

A few ways to get started:

• Save images you love and look for the patterns, such as colours, textures and materials
• Start with one room rather than the whole house
• Live with paint samples for a few days before committing
• Buy slowly and choose pieces you'd still like in five years

Build your space around your daily routines and gather pieces over time, and one day you'll walk in and realise your home is full of things that are unique to you. It's also kinder to your wallet, because a home built on your own taste is far less likely to date than one built on the latest trend.

Use influencers for inspiration, not instructions, and trust your own taste.

Thinking about your next move, or wondering what your home could be worth once it's styled your way? Get in touch with the Estatio team for friendly, honest advice on all things property.

Tel:

Email: hello@esatio.co.uk