Lonny / Jessica Helgerson
I believe what most of us want from our homes is more style and less stuff. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed trying to define or stay true to a personal style when every store and social feed offers an endless array of things we could add. Target and HomeGoods brim with tempting finds, and Pinterest suggests a million quick projects using spray paint and a roll of tape. But piling on more items doesn’t necessarily create a more stylish home. In my experience, it often has the opposite effect.
A home should be functional, comfortable, and beautiful to you. The problem arises when we assume that acquiring more objects will magically transform our space. Many people bring in lots of pieces, then wonder why the result still doesn’t feel right. They can’t strike the balance they want because they’re looking in the wrong place for it.
Real style and satisfaction don’t come from collecting random things. They come from living your life intentionally and reflecting that life in the home around you. For years my message has been the same: prioritize authenticity. Your surroundings should represent who you are and what matters to you.
Working on books has given me the chance to name what I’ve learned—what I do, why I do it, and why it matters. Writing forces you to clarify your ideas, and it’s been rewarding to organize these lessons so they can help others who struggle with clutter and excess.
Studio McGee
Putting my thoughts on paper has been a thoughtful journey. I’ve outlined processes and lessons that helped me shape a home I love, and I’m grateful for a chance to share those ideas in beautiful, practical books.
One of my main goals this year is to focus on organization and order and to examine how those things affect home life. My house is a work in progress: I’ve made progress in some areas and still have work to do in others. Like anything worth doing, refining your home takes time and ongoing decisions about what truly matters to you.
One reason I started The Inspired Room was my belief that we should surround ourselves with meaningful reflections of who we are and where we’re headed, and remove the randomness that doesn’t inspire us.
From the earliest days of blogging I’ve shared a philosophy of authenticity—why the things we surround ourselves with matter. It’s a message I still feel deeply and continue to talk about.
Studio McGee
Not everyone thinks about home in such detail, and that’s okay, but I do it because the state of our home matters more than we often realize. When people consider style, they frequently focus on what pairs well, what’s trendy, or what others are doing—rather than on how their surroundings actually affect their daily life.
For me, style means the authentic way I live at home, not whether I meet some external standard of “stylish.” I don’t need a label or the latest trend rules. What I need is a clearer connection between my environment and how I want to live. That means continually refining my space: letting go of what distracts me and keeping what inspires me.
My home reflects who I am because I choose to keep things that matter and to say goodbye to what doesn’t. Arriving at a personal style isn’t a single moment when accessories fall into place. It’s an ongoing process of reflection, refinement, and intentional decision-making. It requires both letting go and knowing what to add.
I breathe a sigh of relief when I let go of stuff I no longer need.
Surround yourself with items that inspire you. Choose less stuff, but choose better—items with meaning, purpose, and beauty that support how you live. Clearing clutter allows you to breathe easier and to actually notice and enjoy the things you love.
I explore the balance between how we live and what we keep in Love The Home You Have, and I go deeper into practical home-decor principles in my coffee-table book The Inspired Room. In Make Room For What You Love I focus specifically on creating an organized life and home. These projects reflect my ongoing interest in deciding what belongs in our homes and what should go—and in sharing strategies that truly work.
Thank you for being here, for following along as I share these ideas, and for your interest in the books. It means a great deal to me.
Today is a good day to look around one area of your home and ask why things are there. Are they present because they inspire you or simply because they’ve always been there? Are they on-trend or do they genuinely reflect you? Could you achieve more by having less?
Good deep questions to ponder, right?
The last photos in this post are from Studio McGee—I love their fresh, livable approach and the way their projects feel inviting.