4 Ways to Design a Well-Curated Home

The secret to making a space feel made for you? It’s linked directly to how pieces are carefully gathered, styled, paired, and organized—or, for short, curated. A well-curated home involves highly intentional choices, which can be achieved by designers and homeowners alike with the right inspiration and a few insider tips.

Before diving into our favorite ways to achieve a curated home design, let’s first explore a shining example.

Inspired by the low-key luxury of tropical locales, this timeless interpretation brings a resort-like feel to your everyday routines and rituals. Notice how each element works together, evoking a cool, calm, and collected feel—all underscoring the impact of curating.

Those rooms that hit you with a distinct mood immediately upon entering? It’s through curated style that these unique spaces come to life. Although unique means something different from person to person, intriguing statement pieces and intentional pairings ensure styles of all varieties can be expressed loudly and proudly. After all, the root of eclectic design is choosing the best.

Your unique design perspective deserves to be seen, so lean into it. For a moody bathroom, choose statement pieces drenched in your favorite intriguing hue.

For retro lovers, an MCM-inspired wood vanity helps anchor the entire room. Overall, let your foundational pieces do the work and use metals and other accents to reinforce the mood.

For those who love strong themes from western to coastal design, you can stay out of cheesy territory by focusing on the essence of the style through your pieces rather than style-specific decor; when all brought together, your room will feel timeless and tasteful yet totally you.

With this same idea in mind, you can create a unique space by going all-in on a design element. As seen in maximalist and boho design, a commitment to color, pattern, or texture (or all the above) achieves an inherently unique look.

Another way to achieve a curated home is through functional design. A home should cater to your unique needs, working hard through multi-functional fixtures and clever placements.

In the kitchen in particular, underutilized areas are being converted into hidden kitchens, opening up to a bonus prep space as needed. With function at every opportunity in the hidden kitchen seen here, a three-compartment farmhouse sink handles multi-step tasks with ease while two kitchen faucets allow multiple hands to work harmoniously from rinsing veggies to washing dishes to doing both at once.

In mudrooms, beloved pets are incorporated into designs more than ever. In this pet-friendly mudroom, a watering station is built in with a conveniently placed pot filler and the washing area is complete with a hand shower for hosing off muddy paws with ease.

In the bathroom, wet rooms are gaining popularity for their open, effortlessly flowing layout—made possible with clever shower and drain placements along with water-resistant fixtures. With function prioritized, a well-curated look follows.

In laundry rooms and mudrooms, the same applies to clothing and accessories. Whether it’s shelving or wall hooks, creating a dedicated zone for coats, bags, and beyond will keep floors clear and your most-used items at-the-ready.

By designing for organization carefully and thoughtfully, your curated home will fall perfectly into place.

One final way you can create a curated home is by embracing minimalism. Defined by a less-is-more approach, getting the restrained simplicity of a minimalist space right is an art on its own, but well worth the open, airy look it imparts.

The key to a minimalist space? Prioritizing simple silhouettes, seeking space-conserving features, and overall making each piece count.

As seen in this wet room, through floating fixtures like wall-mount vanities and wall-mount toilets, floors are kept clear which visually enlarge the space. Throughout the metal fixtures, cohesive shapes and perfectly matched finishes are integrated courtesy of a shared collection, completing a clean, open feel.

This approach can be especially helpful in powder rooms, as limited space is often a concern. By focusing on the essentials to make a statement whether it’s a beautifully understated vanity or a sleek freestanding tub, this eliminates the need for additional decor that would likely crowd the room.