PRACTICAL DECORATING IDEAS || HOME DECOR INSPIRATION || DECORATING ON A BUDGET

Hey everyone! It's Jenna. Welcome or welcome back to my channel. In today's video I want to show you guys some of my favorite practical home decor items. Now I feel like when we decorate our spaces it's really easy to kind of start gravitating towards just aesthetics and how things look over how they function. And I want to show you guys that you can totally combine the two aesthetics and function and make your spaces really purposeful, really practical, and just really work for you. So I want to show you guys some of my favorite items. These are things that I use almost every day and I think that they really also help elevate the look of your space while adding that element of function. So I'm really excited to share this one with you guys and without further ado let's get into it. Okay so a couple months ago I found this book stand at Ross for $10 and I knew it would fit perfectly in this awkward little space that I have on our countertop. And I knew it would really help hide the cord to our Keurig. So when I initially bought it I didn't realize how much I would use it but I put our meal delivery kit recipe cards on here, my family recipe book, or you know just a cookbook that I buy from the store, magazines, whatever. I seriously use this thing almost every single day and it's so convenient just to have it there on the countertop when I need to follow a recipe. It's all nice and propped up and you could always add a pretty recipe book to it when you're not using it just so it looks a little bit more styled. But overall one of my new favorite functional pieces that looks super cute on my countertop but it's so nice to have to prop up all my recipes. So an upgrade that we decided to go without in our kitchen was under cabinet lighting and we tried to buy some battery operated ones off of Amazon but they were just really disappointing. So a while ago I decided to get a mini tabletop plant from Target. This guy was under $15 and really helps the kitchen countertop to look a lot more homey and styled but the best part is how functional it is. I promise you guys this thing is so bright and functions exactly the same as under cabinet lights but it's just so much more affordable and it looks really high-end and designer especially when it's all grouped together with a couple of other items and a little tray or trivet. I absolutely love my little lamp and I use it all the time so might be a good purchase if you're in need of a little extra countertop light. Another favorite functional home decor detail are wall pegs or hooks and they're great for those little blank spaces of wall that need a little bit of added visual interest like this one in our bathroom. I just hung a mini picture frame and some cute wooden wall pegs that I found for a reasonable price on Amazon. I will link them below as well as everything that I can link in this video but I wanted them to be a functional decor piece so I just sewed some elastic onto our bath towels and you could just skip this step and hang the towels on the hooks but this took me not even 10 minutes to do and this way I feel like it just shows off the pretty wall pegs and looks really professional. I love how this instantly dressed up this little piece of wall while also being nice and practical with the towels being within arm's reach of the shower. We also did the same thing in our workout room. I just found some really cute hooks with a gorgeous leather detail on Amazon. We just hung four of them up on a little blank piece of wall and this is where I hang my resistance bands that I use in my daily workouts, a little perspiration towel, and a jump rope for cardio. So this wall would have otherwise been blank and boring and because of its proximity to the entryway there's no way that something could have been placed on the floor so wall pegs were a perfect solution for some practical and decorative storage. Another decor piece that is a non-negotiable for me in bathrooms and kitchens are canisters because they can be such a great way to have those daily use items readily available to you on your countertop but they are stored and displayed in a visually pleasing way. I typically gravitate towards neutral canisters made out of natural materials like wood or stone just because I feel like this emits a very spa-like look and keeps your space feeling very grounded and down-to-earth which is what I'm personally into but I also really love the look of ceramic canisters that maybe look handmade or you know have some kind of subtle stripe or detail. Glass canisters can also be really pretty depending on what you store in them but I usually gravitate towards solid ones just because of the versatility and it makes it easier to swap out my storage items if you know I want to store uglier things like band-aids or plastic flossers or whatever. I also use canisters on my countertop for all of my coffee fixings. I store my stevia sweetener in here and then my k-cups for my keurig because you know when I'm all groggy in the morning I cannot be bothered to walk all the way to the pantry to get my stuff. Just kidding but it is nice to have it all displayed all nice and pretty and just to be within arm's reach. So another thing that I love to incorporate into my decor are baskets and this console table you know looked really cute by itself but I thought it would really elevate it if I added some large storage baskets so this is just going to help add texture and dimension to this wall while also giving me some extra storage for my overflow magazines that I still love to go back and look through months later. Does anybody else do that or is it just me? But I also like to use these to store extra blankets because our dog loves blankets and so do Mike and I. Everyone usually has their own in this house when lounging but you could totally use these for kids toys, board games, crafts, whatever you frequently use in your living room that needs a good storage solution. But if I put blankets in these I just style it so a corner of the basket hangs over the side just to soften the overall look a little bit and make it feel really casual and lived in. So another place I love to use baskets is the bathroom and specifically that super glamorous spot right above the toilet. We have one in our guest's bath and I use it to store all the necessities like wipes, potty spray, washcloths, and extra toilet paper and I love how this keeps things really functional and organized but just helps hide all of that ugly stuff so all you really see when you look at the bathroom is this really pretty textured woven basket that helps soften and warm up the look of the space. Another place where baskets are a must are entryways and mud rooms and this is great for kids. They can each have their own basket for shoes and in our house Kona gets one specifically for her portable water bowl and leash so it's right there when we leave for walks. It's really nice but baskets are also just great for those items that you would otherwise just kind of have laying around your room. We use them for our workout mats and overflow gym equipment in our workout room just so everything can be intentionally organized and clutter can be stored Another practical decor piece I find myself using a lot are coaster sets and if you get the right set they can be a really pretty finishing accent to your coffee table decor and the kind of coasters I usually gravitate towards are made of stone or marble because I think this is a very expensive look. It's always being sold on all the high-end designer websites and stone just looks really great contrasted on a wood surface. I have these all over my home. I use them on our coffee table, our dining table, and even out on our patio. I think when displayed in groups of three something as simple as a coaster set can really elevate the look of your decor and my go-to combo is a plant or an arrangement, some sort of candle, and then a pretty coaster set. Another thing I love to decorate with are stools ottomans and benches and you usually have you know your typical standard seating like your sofa maybe an accent chair or two your dining chairs etc but these are great for areas that aren't originally part of that core furniture and just add a little bit of an extra layer of decoration function and visual interest and they can help round out a conversation circle meaning that these can be very practical and useful when placed opposite a sofa because it allows for a better conversation flow and it's also just great for gathering around a coffee table to play games as So we have the double ottomans in both our living room and game room upstairs but we also incorporated an ottoman into our workout room as well and it's just great to have a spot to rest during a workout in between exercises and honestly an extra place to sit down and rest is so underrated and I try to create a little moment like that in every room of our home. We also have a really long bench in our entryway area which is a perfect place for stopping to sit to put your shoes on before heading out the door we utilize this spot all the time and benches really are so great for entryways because there often are long awkward stretches of wall that just need a little zhuzhing up and they are great to store baskets underneath if you don't have a built-in mudroom it's kind of a great way of making a little makeshift one that looks very intentional definitely a great spot for a bench if you don't already have one in your entryway. I also love to put benches at the foot of beds because I think it's a great extra surface to set down some laundry, a drink, decor, whatever so maybe if you have an empty wall or extra space in your bedroom maybe consider a little seating moment. So something that I love incorporating into my decor are secret storage boxes and books and I feel like it's really easy to put boxes into your decor and just kind of forget that that extra storage exists so don't forget to utilize it. I keep little odds and ends like scissors, rubber bands, and pens in the boxes on my console table and it's nice when I need them to just go to the box instead of digging around a drawer and honestly a set of boxes could potentially eliminate the need for a junk drawer in your kitchen and you know free up an entire drawer space. I also have this really pretty trunk looking box that I got from Hobby Lobby and we store all of our games in it so it's really nice and convenient it all just tucks away right in this really pretty box and we use it underneath our coffee table for decoration but it's also right there readily available for when someone says hey let's play a game you do not even have to get up off of the couch which is really nice. So another secret storage item that I've mentioned before on this channel are my recipe card holder books and this is where we store all of our meal delivery kit recipe cards that we reference quite often actually when recreating these recipes on our own and these are actually just faux storage books that I found at TJ Maxx they also have them at Tuesday morning but I taped up the sides with painter's tape I spray painted them colors that I liked and then I added some names of countries that I want to visit one day on the bindings with my Cricut machine and I love how expensive and decorative these books look but I really just use them as storage and they're super functional and the last piece of functional decor I love to decorate with are blanket ladders now if done right I think that these can really add to the coziness of your space and what I love about blanket ladders is that not only are they a great way to add some height next to a lower reading chair but they add in that element of function by having a blanket right there ready for you to use when you just want to cozy up with a book in a warm drink they also help add some visual interest to blank empty walls like this one in our guest bedroom by bringing in a simple blanket ladder it's easy to create an intentional decorative moment that really benefits the space visually and practically they are great to pair with a plant to just really round out the look of a wall and something that I think keeps a blanket ladder feeling very classy is just not to overload it with blankets I personally opt for simple patterns and textures for my blankets usually with a fringe detail just to add some added visual interest without going too crazy and I feel like that can really make it look just effortlessly styled all right you guys so that about wraps up this video I hope that you enjoyed seeing my favorite practical decor items leave me a comment if you have a practical decor item that you love that wasn't mentioned in this video close down to add some more to my space so I want to thank you all so so much for watching and I will see you all in my next video bye