Decorating with Focal Points
By being intentional with where you place your décor you can reduce potential clutter while drawing attention to the most beloved areas within your home. Creating focal points allows you to enjoy a simple yet comfortable home that is decorated with purpose.
The Benefits of Focal Points
Finding that perfect place for every object in your home can be a challenge, and the last thing you want is for it to look unorganized as a result. Focal points can help with that! They give you go-to locations for where the bulk of your decorations will reside.
As a bonus, these chosen areas often stay pretty consistent throughout the seasons and holidays, making it even easier to decorate your home!
I love my friends bold accent wall that draws attention as you walk in the room.
Where to Focus your Décor
Look around your home and find where your decorations would make the most impact. Do you have a fireplace mantle? An entry table? Perhaps placing a large tray on your kitchen counter or coffee table would be ideal?
For the focal points in our own home, I consistently use the front porch, the couch, and the bar cart. Since I love fall and winter and decorate more during these times, I add the dining room table and the tv stand fireplace as additional focal points.
In the sections below, I will discuss some of the best focal point locations and where to begin when decorating these areas.
Decorate your Porch
Your porch is the first thing that people notice when visiting your house. So, by adding a homey element outside of the house, they feel welcomed before even walking through the door! It’s the perfect way to greet your guests upon arrival.
My front porch motto is this: Always have a wreath at the door and a welcome mat on the floor. This is a great rule to live by year-round. These two simple items are basic yet wonderful ways to greet your guests, as well as you and your family!
A wreath and mat are easily swapped out to fit any season or holiday. Welcome mats make for a fun DIY craft and easily stack for storage. The same wreath can be used for the majority of the year by changing how you decorate it. A basic twig (grapevine) wreath is a great example, or my personal favorite, a preserved boxwood wreath. They are beautiful, vibrant, and last for many years.
Often our porches tend to truly come alive during the fall and Christmas season. I especially love decorating the porch for fall and have an entire post about how to decorate along with what elements to layer for a stunning effect. You can read more about decorating your porch for fall here.
Living Room Lounging
The living room is often the center of our homes. Because of this, we should focus on making it feel extra welcoming and relaxing. In all seasons, the couch just needs a few pillows and a well-paired throw. Your ottoman or coffee table should display a few items that add a sense of relaxation without cluttering the space.
I love the woven blue and white pillows I have on our couch; they add a subtle pop of color and a lot of texture. All I need is that white throw tossed on our dark blue couch to complete the look.
I decorate my ottoman tray with a vase (one that I use year-round but change out the foliage seasonally to make the display look completely different) and a couple of stacked books. Home books, recipe books, novels, or holiday crafts, it is an ever-changing book display. Anything that adds some character while being easy to pick up and relax on the couch with. Want to know what the best part is? They take up no storage and are completely free! I rent them all from the local library.
Our bar cart décor this Fall
Bar Cart Cheer
Bar carts are the perfect place for décor. I love that you can make it as simple or decked out as you would like, and the small surface it provides doesn’t need much to look festive. Items such as a letter board, some flowers (or a plant), glassware, or some garland will go a long way.
The bar cart is often one of the most decorated places in our home and it changes often to fit the season, a party theme, or if I just feel like mixing it up a bit.
The Kitchen Counter
Talk about simple, it doesn’t get much better than this! All you need is a single tray where your décor can live without intruding on your cooking space. That’s prime real estate there!
I have a small tray where I keep a white, slim vase, a candle, and cute sign. Then I place a bowl of fresh fruit out for a quick and accessible snack.
Setting the Table
If you are someone who likes to keep the table set, this is a great focal point for you. Just a set of matching plates, neutral charger plates, and some decorative glassware are enough for a simple table setting! Adding a centerpiece or vase of flowers gives it that finishing touch. I use a big cream pitcher year-round on our table that goes well with any season.
I do recommend having a 6-8 piece set of dishware, even if you have a small 4-person table right now. This will be beneficial if you end up getting a larger dining set, and you won’t have to worry about not being able to find matching dishes down the road.
Mantel Display
We don’t have a real mantle ourselves, but I just love seeing pictures of decorated mantles! If you have a mantle, consider yourself lucky, and don’t let that space go to waste. It’s the ideal spot to display things such as mirrors, photos, vases, and artwork. You can string garland from it or display candles for some great evening ambiance lighting.
We use our fireplace tv stand like a mantle during the holidays, adding festive evergreen garland and hanging stockings on it for Christmas.
Seasonal Focal Points
As far as seasonal home décor goes, I go all out for fall and winter but prefer to keep spring and summer much more low-key.
I let my home stay light, airy, and simple in the warmer months. This is when I enjoy that clutter-free feeling with minimal decorations. During the cooler months, I embrace my favorite times of the year by adding cozy yet intentional décor. This makes me feel like I am bringing the seasons themselves into my home.
Decorating with Intention
I hope that by creating focal points within your own home, you will feel that each decoration has found its perfect location. Now that everything has been placed with consideration, instead of creating clutter, you have filled a void where something seemed to be missing.
