Rookie Mistakes: a series of common decor mistakes made by rookies… aka us. And no we are not judging because we have made (and continue to make) these mistakes too!

• Rookie Mistake #1: Couch Pillows
• Rookie Mistake #2: Shower Curtains
• Rookie Mistake #3: Generic Home Decor
• Rookie Mistake #4: Carnations
• Rookie Mistake #5: Decorating with Picture Frames
• Rookie Mistake #6: Shop First, Plan Second
• Rookie Mistake #7: Hanging Curtains
• Rookie Mistake #8: Matching Furniture
• Rookie Mistake #9: Over-the-door Hooks & Mirrors
• Rookie Mistake #10: Hanging Wall Art
• Rookie Mistake #11: Buying the Wrong Size Rug
• Rookie Mistake #12: Fireplace Mantel Decorating
• Rookie Mistake #13: Displaying Throw Blankets
• Rookie Mistake #14: Countertop Clutter
• Rookie Mistake #15: Rules for Lighting
• Rookie Mistake #16: Not So Secret Storage
• Rookie Mistake #17: Too Many Quotes
• Rookie Mistake #18: Scale & Proportion

Remember the Rookie Mistakes series is a NO JUDGEMENT ZONE. We’ve both made ALL of these decorating mistakes in our own homes, and simply want you to learn from us so you can make your home look amazing without having to make the mistakes we did!

Rookie Mistake – Generic Home Decor

Today we’re moving onto Rookie Mistake #3 on our list….tackling generic home decor. When we moved into our first apartments, you can bet your bottom dollar that these 2 rookies were scooping up everything and anything we could get our hands on in an attempt to make our new places more “homey.”

Home Sweet Home picture frame? Toss it in the cart. Live Laugh Love art? Heck why not. I love to live, laugh, and love! An oversized poster of flowers in a vibrant hue? I mean who doesn’t like flowers? Let me buy that now!

Being completely new to the whole home decorating thing, we both just filled our places with generic crap in an attempt to fill the bare spots and make our spaces look more “lived in.” But if you walked into our homes at that time you wouldn’t really learn very much about us, our journey, or our story. Instead, you would just see a home filled with stuff.

We’ve slowly tried to correct this rookie mistake in our homes, replacing the generic with items that are much more personal.

Here are some of our favorite “decor” items that give guests a glimpse into our history.

Replace Generic Home Decor with These Ideas

Casey: Framed Keys from our 4 homes together

Casey: A small turtle from our honeymoon in MexicoBridget: Framed Photos of my wedding venue that I took while exploring the grounds with Matt this fall.

Casey: A Chicago album to show off our hometown pride! 

Casey: An assortment of glass decanters that Finn & I have collected during various thrifting days together! 

B & C: We can’t turn down a good photo booth! That’s why we both display our photo booth strips prominently in our homes. Bridget: Our office gallery wall is filled with photos from our travels, an oversized wedding photo and even our house sketched out as the “UP!” house in honor of our Halloween costume last year. 

Casey: Matchbooks from our favorite restaurants

B & C: A framed postcard from Sonoma and a vase filled with postcards from every one of Casey’s vacationsBridget: A DIY pallet sign that reads “Chestnut meets Mayfield”, which is the names of the streets that Matt and I grew up on. This hangs proudly in our bedroom and reminds us of where we came from. Also, the “13” symbolizes the year we got married. 

Casey: Here’s our wedding invitation matted and framed in our bedroom

Casey: A framed letter from my great grandmother’s memoir

Casey: Framed blueprints from our new home 

Now we are in no way saying that there needs to be a story behind every single item in your home. That would be craziness. Sometimes you just want to buy something because you LIKE IT! And that’s a-okay in our Playbook!

But we encourage you to be more mindful when shopping for home decor items. And instead of just filling spaces just to fill them…we want you to decorate each area of your home with intention and purpose.

We’re not perfect, and we’re known to scoop up goodies from Target & HomeGoods with the best of them…but the more we inject our story into our homes, the more we like our homes. So our motto is “less generic. more personal.”

Bridget&Casey