I’ve been reading random articles about decorating (or redecorating). This is a nice diversion from the political craziness and health issues, allowing me to focus on the trivial debate about wallpaper and accent walls. To be clear, these articles (well, posts really) are not necessarily written by anyone who knows about design or style, but they are entertaining. When you read them over the course of several days, it becomes apparent that they fall into three buckets:

• Follow the trendy minimals – if it’s not on trend, you need to get rid of it. Grey is last year. Wheat or some other variation on beige, oatmeal, or straw is on point. You need to get rid of the grey immediately so that anyone who comes to visit is not appalled by your lack of trendiness. You need to be minimal and chic, not too cozy or cluttered. Prints may be too much – maybe a pillow or two would work. Your home needs to be ready to appear in a magazine, so nothing too wild.
• Don’t do matchy but don’t clash – now that you’ve repainted and bought non-grey furniture, make sure that things don’t match too closely because that would be a bad thing. No furniture sets. There needs to be a bit of variation in color – perhaps add in some white for contrast, maybe paint one wall a shade or two darker than the other walls or, if you are daring, do one wall in wood finishes. We used to call that an accent wall, but those have been vilified so don’t call it an accent wall.
• Bring in your personality, within reason of course – this one is a little tricky to reconcile with the trendy because personality is essentially not trendy. Personality may be that brightly colored, comfortable, not-so-gently worn sofa that doesn’t really go with anything else in the room. It may be the piles of books or random knickknacks on the shelves. It may be the artwork on the walls – nothing too common – the goal is to have it look like something original. Anyway, just be careful that you don’t bring in so much personality that it overwhelms the overall design aesthetic.

Guidance for the three buckets is a little sketchy and often contradictory. I love when the articles contradict each other. Get rid of your random floral sofa … maybe add a flora sofa for personality. Be careful with color … paint a wall in the dining room red. Focus on sleek and fashionable … keep those cozy antiques. The real question is: what do you like?

I like grey tones better than yellow-based tones, so I’m holding on to grey regardless of whether it’s on trend. I believe that my home should reflect who I am and what I like. I also think that when I have someone else living with me – in my case, my mother – the decor should also reflect their tastes. My home is comfortable and works for me. Would I like to change out some furniture? Yes and maybe I will someday but it’s not my priority right now. Still, it’s entertaining to read about what I apparently should think is important!