A decorator is a good choice if all you want is decor.

Since you say you are looking for functionality, you might try to find a home oreganization expert, and then get a decorator for the finishing touches once you have the functionality you need.

jmm1837 -- you are right. "Accessories" ideally are things you gathered in travels or that have meaning to you or that you could not resist. Usually things gathered over time end up fitting in with/being your decor. BUT, I know how this lady feels. My cousin is very timid about making decisions. She has a very nice living room with all decisions made by her daughter. My cousin has other wonderful talents but putting a room together is not her thing. Having the art match the sofa is the best she can do. She has a few pieces of good, not expensive, art that were given to her and they are hung in an out of the way hallway. The things hung in her living room are inoffensive bird prints and the like. As i said, she has other preoccupations.

Houzz offers another option -- if you post good pics of your rooms (one at a time, maybe), and say what you don't like about them, and what sorts of things you do like, you would probably get loads of advice -- and most of it won't be over-prescriptive, either. You can just use the suggestions to give you direction.

Only YOU can put the YOU and YOURS in your home. Help with a major piece of art? A gallery will tote to your home and let you see in the space! Objects? Sculpture, glass, etc.? Those should be things you find beautiful.

You have to put your life into your home, or you are just purchasing someone else's "life"

If you want the suggestions of a world wide community? Post photos of your space.

bleusblue2 - I get the impression that the OP has some clear aesthetic tastes, and that her decorator wasn't a good match because of that. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but if she has strong preferences, I think she should simply buy art that she loves, and let the rest of the decorating chips fall where they may. Obviously, I'm not a pro! ;)

I have never understood why one would want someone else to decide what makes their house their home.

I have seen decorators who come in and place knick knacks all around and tell the client to live with it for a while. Why? Then, they come back and rearrange the knick knacks, and so on and so on.

Advise on what options are available as per the flooring, window coverings, etc, might be good to know. You know---the basics. But, as to the things that we keep, display, use and store around us in our home--that is be a personal decision.

Unless you have some type of more formal showcase house that you want to look like a photo shoot, why?

[https://www.houzz.com/magazine/decorating-101-the-abcs-of-arranging-vignettes-stsetivw-vs~33336175[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/decorating-101-the-abcs-of-arranging-vignettes-stsetivw-vs~33336175)

There is no shame is admitting that decorating is not your thing. And there are plenty of decorators who will help you with your home. Most local furniture or interior decor stores have people who could do that. Or contact a few interior designers in your area and they can redirect you to someone. Don't listen to people who say they don't understand hiring someone to help you decorate your home. Those comments don't make any sense. Why wouldn't you hire someone to help make your home look amazing when it's not in your skill set to do it yourself.

jmm1837 aren't there two points of view here? -- hire someone if you don't feel able arrange your house yourself or use only things you yourself have chosen. When I wrote my comment I was thinking about my cousin who simply feels overwhelmed by "decorating" and just wants her house to look like a beautiful house for some neutral viewer and she'll like it too. Not to say that she is a total blank slate! What bethdeth needs to do is find all the things in her house that have sentimental meaning. Surely she has something she bought just "because" she couldn't resist. That's what the decorator she hires should work with. For instance, yesterday my neighbour told me about a keepsake that she keeps in a drawer -- it's a baseball scorecard that her grandfather kept in a box because he took his sweetheart -- her future grandmother -- to that game. I suggested she have it framed and insert photos of the couple so she could hang it up and her friends could see it. This is just a thought. But yes, bethdeth -- take some time and buy one picture that you really like. The decorator should be able to bring out your own tastes!

1. You can grab a girlfriend or two (that you know might have design skills) to come have coffee and just start arranging things to get an eye for different layouts. It's fun too...

2. Or, start a 'design dilemma' and post photos of your rooms that need help on Houzz and you'll get some great feedback. However, as you've experienced, everyone has different tastes, just as each designer here does. But you'll get some good ideas....

3. Yes, you can hire a decorator just to help decorate and do finishing touches. Look on Houzz for someone in your area and look at their work. See if you like it, then interview them. That is the best feature of Houzz is you can find design pros in your area....

Mistake #1 was hiring a decorator and not a designer. Mistake #2 is thinking that person #2 without the proper training can fix the gaps inherent in Mistake #1 without totally reassessing the space on all levels, starting with space planing.

You can design by committee if you want, but that is very likely to feel even more impersonal than what you’re living with currently.

You need an actual designer. And tchotchkes isn’t going to fix the disconnect between what you want and what you have, no matter what you have.

Useless stuff is never the answer.

It’s why so many people are on here complaining about how cold their gray on gray rooms feel. They followed what was popular, regardless of it suited the home, or their actual true life needs and likes.

A designer helps you do you. Just better than you could yourself, without the help of experienced eyes.

When our house burned down, we bought a brand new house and started from scratch. We purchased a lot of furniture from the designer who had done the model house for the builder, but not accessories. I hired an event planner to stage our home with low cost decor. We had a Tommy Bahama thing going on. She brought in neutral tropical decor that I thought would be temporary, but give a homey feel. 13 years later most of it was still there. Not everyone has the luxury of time to collect and curate their homes with "meaningful" personal items.