Looking for simple 20 minute decorating ideas for your home? Oh, good. You’ve come to the right post. Here are 50 simple ideas to change up your home.
Good morning to you and your amazing self.
I am so full of joy right now that I’m literally on my second cup of coffee and about to do cartwheels in the kitchen.
Maybe it’s because it thunderstormed all night and I got to watch the most incredible display of thunder and lightning dancing across the sky.
Maybe it’s because I have book club tonight.
Maybe it’s because the first spring football game is less than two weeks away.
Maybe it’s because you all love semi-colons as much as I do.
Maybe it’s because I’m joining the most fun group of bloggers to share our 20 minute decorating ideas.
Whatever the reason? I’m just so happy right now.
And because I’m happy? Because I’m so full of joy? Because today is Thursday and the weekend is just one day away, I thought to myself why share just one 20 minute decorating idea.
When you could share 50.
Buckle up buttercup. 20 minute decorating ideas are heading your way.
Here are my favorite 50 simple 20 minute decorating ideas (in no particular order):
1. Add fresh flowers to a table. If you are using grocery store flowers, fill them in with greenery from the yard.
2. Rotate your rug. Remove the furniture from your space (be sure to vacuum) and turn the rug a new way. You won’t believe how much different the room looks.
3. Add stacks of books to your coffee table. Fill your coffee table with stacked books and create visual interest with a box or simple accessory on top of some of the stacks.
4. Group like things together. Search your house and find like things. Like candlesticks. Like pitchers. Like vases. Like tiny blue and white boxes. Then create a collection.
5. Place a tray on your coffee table. Layer in something tall. Layer in something with texture. Layer in something shiny. Layer in something green.
6. Make slipcovers for your stools. Take a pillow, tack ribbons on to the end of it and tie it onto the stool.
7. Frame something important. Find a frame that you have in your home. Remove the glass and the backing, leaving only the frame. Hang something unexpected on the wall (like an apron or an architectural piece or a plate) and then? Frame it.
8. Take a giant canvas from the craft store. Paint it with chalkboard paint. Instant chalkboard.
9. Add a table cloth to your space. Take one out of the drawer, iron it and add a little color to your room.
10. Take everything off your kitchen counters. Find the three cutest things (and only three things) you had on the counters and add them back. Find a home for everything else.
11. Add down inserts to your pillows. You won’t believe the difference.
12. Create a coffee station (or iced tea station) somewhere in your house. It doesn’t have to be the kitchen. Next time your guests visit, work your coffee or iced tea station into conversation.
13. Make a simple summer/spring mantel with a strand of greenery. You can find these online and in craft stores. Simply drape the greenery and walk away from the mantel. Mike drop.
14. Paint a side table an unexpected color. If you are looking for a change, nothing is easier than a painted side table. You can see some of my favorite summer paint colors here.
15. Make a simple monogrammed pillow. It’s an easy way to personalize your space. You can see the DIY here.
16. Fill the space under the sofa table. If you don’t have a fabulous collection of corbels add stacks of books or boxes or baskets instead.
17. Shop your refrigerator. Place a bowl of apples or fruit on the counter. Add another bowl with a stack of folded dish towels for color.
18. Spray paint a monogram on a basket. You can see the entire DIY here. You can also find a thrift store basket and spray paint the entire thing.
19. Move the furniture around in your living room. Take the furniture out and relocate things with a new perspective. You won’t believe how much better your room feels.
20. Place a row of mason jars on your mantel. Fill with fresh greenery from the yard for an instant mantel change.
21. Lean some pictures on a side table. Groupings of three work best. Choose pictures that are different sizes and different heights.
22. Add a bench to the end of your bed. It’s kind of like adding polish to your nails. It finishes the look in the space.
23. Find a space in your home that needs a stool and add it. Stools are the best for stacking books or adding a basket or a vase of fresh flowers.
24. Create a gallery wall. Collect all the things that you love and create a wall of them. Sometimes it’s easier to start with a theme, like mirrors or paint-by-numbers or baskets or architectural pieces.
25. Make sure your living room or family room has three points of light. Add a table lamp, a floor lamp and task lighting to the space to create a visual mood to the space.
More 20 minute decorating ideas
26. Add a throw. Change up your space with a textured throw. Toss them over the bed. Toss them over a chair or a sofa or a basket or a bench.
27. Create a reading space in your home. Find a cozy chair. Add a basket with books and an overhead lamp and a side table for sweet tea.
28. Spray paint something a different color. Yesterday we talked about spray painting thrift store finds. Find something in your home you were about to get rid of and spray paint it.
29. Add an oversized basket to your stairs. It’s the perfect place to make all the stuff that needs to go upstairs look cute.
30. Poufs are so 2019. Find a cute one at your local home goods store and layer it next to a chair in your room.
31. Add visual interest to your hallway. This is the perfect place for your gallery wall that we talked about in suggestion 24.
32. Make a tabletop from paint sticks. You know. The ones that you find in the paint store. See the DIY here.
33. Paint something white. White is the color of summer and spring. Add a little freshness with a white painted piece.
34. Copper is making a reappearance in homes across America. Shop thrift stores or your kitchen cabinets for a little copper to add to your space.
35. Make your own duvet cover. You can make a duvet cover out of sheets. Place the right sides of the sheets together, sew the edges together, leaving the top open. Turn right side out and tie off with ribbons.
36. Rearrange your bookshelves. Take everything off your bookshelves (dust them) and then rearrange what you already had.
37. Add an oversized plant to a space. Fiddle leaf figs, ficus trees, palms and lemon trees are all good choices for oversized greenery in a space.
38. Find a table that needs a chair. Sometimes pulling a chair up to a table helps add a new purpose to a corner of your room.
39. Add a grouping of large glass vases to your side tables. You can add greenery to them or just let them shine on their own.
40. Create a plate wall. This is one of my favorite things to do with that big blank wall I don’t know what to do with.
41. Move furniture away from the walls. Introduce it to the center of your room a little more. This allows the room to breathe.
42. Layer rugs in your space. If you have a large neutral rug, add a little color and pattern to your space with a smaller rug. You can see this in my home here.
43. Mix and match your chairs in a space. Leather and wood. Different decorating styles. Different shapes. Mix it up a little.
44. Bring in a new textured pillow. Sometimes just changing out one textured pillow makes all the difference in a room (make sure it has a down insert).
45. Place a basket tray in your bedroom. You can add it to a stool or the end of the bed or a side table. Keep a favorite book and a glass ready for sweet tea.
46. Let the sunshine in. If the weather permits, through open the windows or doors and let the sunshine dance across your floors.
47. Add a curtain to a hallway. If you have a hallway entrance to another part of the home, why not add a curtain in the entry?
48. Makeover a yard sale find. Shop thrift stores or yard sales for furniture that needs a little love. You can see one of my favorite pieces here.
49. Paint the back of a bookcase. This is one of the easiest ways to transform a room. You can see an example here.
50. Decorate with what you love. Find something that makes your heart beat faster and add it to your space. It will make you smile every time you walk by.
WHEW.
That was a lot.
That was an entire decorating encyclopedia.
Now go forth and make your home amazing.
Just like you. 🙂
You're always full of joy ! You're an anti-depressant all to yourself ! Have a wonderful day !
Couldn't agree more, Anne-Marie - she certainly is all that and more. : - )
All the pictures were gorgeous but the "headboard" made of stained glass windows??? Amazing!!
Great ideas! What “joy” you bring to my day!!
Thank you! As always you are like human glitter or sprinkles! You have the ability to make everything so much better. Your posts always make me happy I found you and it seems when I need boundless joy most, there you are. Thank you so very very much for being within my reach. Going through do tough times right now and I so needed this uplifting. Thank you. You are truely a gift to the world!!! ❤🐝
Wow! that was a lot of wonderful information, thanks.
A beautiful post. Loving some of those ceilings in the photo. That rusted one is awesome. And now I wonder where to find that simple black iron chandelier in the last large photo. Has anyone seen one?
Jillian, I've seen several just like that over on Lamps Plus! Hope this helps a little! Happy day! karianne
Thanks for sending links, both are nice, I will have to research. For the size of the room a fairly large on is needed. Maybe 38-42.
You just gave me 50 more reasons to think you are absolutely amazing!!! Have a fabulous day friend!!
Bravo!!!!!! 👏👏👏👏👏
Great list of suggestions! Number 25 - these three types of lighting have a name in the design world that you might like to know, if you don't already. General illumination (Usually an overhead light or a lamp with high wattage you turn on by a wall switch), task lighting ( A lamp next to your favorite reading or TV spot!) and lastly, ambient or mood lighting (A lower wattage that just lights up the space enough to be able to see and create a mood.) Just thought this might help those thinking about types of lighting.
Sorry to bother you ;; Who won the Little Tykes contest? Have a Blessed Day.
How do you do it; but you do it so well!!! Love these recommendations!!!
Great decorating tips! Thank you.
I love all of the ideas! Maybe I'll actually DO some of them... soon.
Great ideas!! I’m toying with painting the back of a mahogany bookcase that was my Grandparents. It’s such a special piece to me....a little update would be fun 😊. I won’t paint the gorgeous wood though!
Love this! I indulged in the therapeutic delight of dragging furniture around the house this week ... https://www.lindastoll.net/2019/05/the-therapeutic-delight-of-dragging.html I couldn't be happier with everything in their new homes!
Nice list! Funny story on the pulling the furniture away from the wall in the living room . . . we got a new sofa, and it's a little taller and a little lighter than the old one. My rug, much smoother than the old one and thinner over the hardwood floors, could be just a TAD wider. I had it placed perfectly, about 10 inches away from the wall, front sofa legs on the rug. The thing is, when you PLOP down on the couch, as people in my house will do, you get quite a surprise when it goes running back toward the wall! LOL! I'm thinking I need a bigger rug! LOL!
Woah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best get busyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks for all the quick and wonderful ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that was the list of an over-achiever!! Great tips! I love using what you have or inexpensively changing things up. So many ideas in this post; pinning it to go back and check it again! Was that the proper use of a semi-colon?
This is brilliant KariAnne! So many great ideas!! I must admit, I smiled a lot at the idea of being in a book club with you... :-) (I was once in a book club where no one talked!)
Hi Karianne! Wow, I just fell down a rabbit hole for over an hour clicking on all your highlighted links, reading and learning about all kinds of things I needed to know!! I’m so glad I found you in the huge ole blogosphere!! I always learn so much from you, thank you! I wish I’d seen your older post about sea grass rugs sooner, before I bought a huge sisal rug I’m now going to have to live with, and all it’s shedding self! Hahaha! 😂😊. Oh well, I’ll just know better to check your blog for tips first next time! 😊. I so enjoy your blog Karianne! Thanks for putting in all the time that you do. Have a great day! 😊
Hey! This was SUCH a great and helpful blog post! I also wondered if you could tell us where you got the beautiful mirror above your bed?
Karianne, You have outdone yourself again!!!! What great ideas to follow. I'm still spring cleaning and I'll try and use some of your great ideas to Wake up our Home!!! It won't look like what YOU could do but I'll try. Thanks so much for all your hard work on your blog site. I love reading it and look forward to is everyday. Keep sending us more ideas for the summer and have a great day. your blog friend, jean
Great ideas, Karianne. Will implement some this weekend to make my home ready for Mother's Day next weekend. Thank for sharing.
Sylvia, That room is actually a show house that I photographed! You can see most of the resources for the room (or super similar) here: https://thistlewoodfarms.com/the-tour-of-the-house-that-photographed-itself/ Hope this helps friend! Happy day! karianne
I am obsessed with your striped wall paper that is behind your cute white table with flowers on it. Can you tell me where you got it? Love your posts. Really liked the 50 decor ideas!
I'm so glad you put this in today's blog- because I thought I had saved it from when it first appeared, so I could take time to really read through all the ideas. Where did I save it to, though, lol? You are so right, sometimes just something as simple as a new throw pillow, or adding a potted plant can make such a difference in a room. This morning I got the urge to freshen things up- mine is an old house, rooms sort of open to each other and spaces are fairly small. The dining table and chairs got a surprise move to the room right off the kitchen and deck. They look amazing there. Now the former dining area is going to get a cozy chair, footstool , floor lamp and side table with a basketful of reading materials. I can tell you don't have cats, though. They are the ultimate decorators. Mine often clear off the mantel, rearrange a plant, and use the baskets and pillows as napping spots.