While the process of decorating your home is thrilling, it also comes with its fair share of challenges. Your goal should be to showcase your design aesthetic in a tasteful way, but it’s a given that you'll be faced with everything from an interior that lacks natural light to a layout that’s much smaller than you’d like. So it’s no surprise that these common dilemmas might turn you off from decorating altogether. But instead of viewing them as stumbling blocks, use them as inspiration to design the home of your dreams.

Regardless of the type of space you're decorating, there's nothing more important than paying attention to details—and expressing your creativity. Taking the time to understand the basic principles of decorating, from choosing the right furniture to finding the perfect color palette, will get you one step closer to crafting the home you’ve always wanted.

Here, we share decorating pointers from our archives and useful tips from top interior decorators to help you make sense of what good design really means. If you're ready to master the art of decorating and up for putting your imagination to the test, click through for some of the best tips in the business.

GO BOLD IN SMALL SPACES

Graphic prints can have a major impact in small spaces such as a powder room. Here, an Ellie Cashman floral wallpaper is the star of a powder room a New Orleans manse designed by Sara Ruffin Costello.

EXPERIMENT WITH PATTERNS

Layering patterns in a range of styles and scales is an easy way to add visual interest to a room. Here, Refinery29 Global Editor-in-Chief Christene Barberich pairs black and white pillows with green chevron bedding in her Brooklyn Heights bedroom.

USE COLOR IN HALLWAYS

If you tend to be more reserved when it comes to color choices, step outside of your comfort zone by choosing a bold hue, like purple, for a hallway. It's unexpected and can be a chic backdrop for showcasing an art collection like this design by David Hicks.

DISPLAY COLLECTIBLES ON A TABLE

Every room can benefit from accessories that have a history. Rather than showcasing your collectibles on a shelf, set them out on a table, as seen in this Italian apartment. Just be sure your collection is highly curated to maintain a sense of balance in your display.

GROUP ANTIQUES BY COLOR

There's a fine line between kitschy and curated. Rebecca Robertson unifies vintage and new pieces by grouping them by color.

TRY FLOOR-TO-CEILING SHELVING

Floor-to-ceiling shelving never fails to add character to a room. In his Los Angeles home, acclaimed chef Ludovic "Ludo" Lefebvre opted for this shelving style for his collection of more than 1,000 cookbooks.

LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE

Looking at your home from a holistic perspective—seeing how each room works in balance against the others—can help craft a welcome variety in your spaces, like this emerald and charcoal dining room that adds a touch of formality to an otherwise contemporary Los Angeles home.

EMBRACE THE FEAR OF COMMITMENT

To avoid being locked into a single style, lighting designer Lindsey Adelman switches up the fixtures in her Park Slope home on a regular basis. “It’s part of my creative process," she explains, "I love to see things in context, in real life—to live with them.”

USE YOUR WALLS AS A CANVAS

Rather than art, a high-impact wallpaper can give a subdued room some wow-factor. The 19th century wallcovering from this luxe Milan apartment was purchased at auction in France and adapted to the room. “We created the missing parts, the plinth and the ceiling frame, to depict an Italian capriccio, a fantastical and bucolic landscape with architectural features,” Laura Sartori Rimini of Studio Peregalli says.