Before you pick paint colors, furniture, or wallpaper… there’s ONE thing you must do first. ❤️ In this video, I’m teaching you how to decorate a room so easily!
Today, I’m sharing the interior design principle I use in every single room I design: choosing a Hero Inspiration. 🌟
Your hero inspiration is the starting point for your entire space—it sets the tone, mood, and direction for every design decision that follows. When you begin here, everything else starts to fall into place naturally.
In this video, you’ll learn:
👉 What a Hero Inspiration is (and why it’s a game-changer for decorating)
👉 Real examples of hero inspirations, including:
✨ Artwork
✨ Wallpaper
✨ Stone slabs for countertops
✨ Images from design books
✨ Even a favorite piece of clothing
👉 How to pull paint colors, rugs, fabrics, wallpaper, and furniture directly from your hero inspiration
👉 How this one step helps you avoid overwhelm and costly decorating mistakes
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed when decorating your home—this video will give you the clarity and confidence to move forward without the stress of making a mistake.
This is an interior design basic that works whether you’re decorating a single room or building a brand new home. And the best part? There’s no “right” or “wrong” hero inspiration—just one that fits You and Your Style. ✨
Happy Decorating! XO- Ashley
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Video Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
0:18 – The Design Questions I ALWAYS Get
0:34 – Choose Your Hero Inspiration
1:49 – Natural Stone as Inspiration
3:30 – Wallpaper as Inspiration
5:27 – Artwork as Inspiration
6:28 – Designing a Room with Your Hero Inspiration
9:52 – Clothing as Inspiration
10:42 – Fabric as Inspiration
11:59 – Hero Inspiration Makes Interior Design SO MUCH Easier
12:35 – Designing with Image Inspiration
13:05 – How to Create a Design Moodboard
13:31 – Decorative Accessories as Inspiration
13:54 – Rugs as Inspiration
14:22 – Try THIS Out!!
15:04 – Thanks for Watching!
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24 Comments
Before you decorate ANY room, you need a starting point — and that’s your Hero Inspiration 🤩
Whether it’s a piece of art, wallpaper, natural stone, an image from a book, or even your favorite outfit, this one choice sets the direction for every design decision that follows. Paint colors, rugs, fabrics, furniture… it all gets so much easier from here.
✨ Tell me in the comments — what would you choose as the hero inspiration for your next room? I can't wait to hear!❤
Pillows for my couch has been my hangup! I just can’t find any with coordinating sizes that inspires me. I might find a large size & pattern but need others and nothing seems to work or make me go Yeah, that’s it!
Quilter Jinny Beyer explains using the hero piece beautifully. Use tints, tones and shades of the hero piece colours to make them come alive. Matching all the colours perfectly tends to fall flat without us knowing why. Studying undertones is my jam! ❤
I sanded a little of my timber floors to see the actual colour the wood. The stain has made it orange but the wood is pink. I pulled some bark off a tree that matches it perfectly so I can take that to the paint store to find something to hide the pink. The wood has several values in it as does the bark. ❤
When looking at a hero piece I pay attention to what textures and colours will act as the negative space that will allow the focal point to shine. ❤
0:12 I'm loving the kitchen cabinets both design and color. What is the color?
This is so good!!
I must say, this is such a great tip!!!
I can already think of things I love that I can use to inspire my redecoration projects – especially my living room. I have this amazing moody painting of an Egret bird by a lakeside I just purchased. The colours in it are incredible – going to pick them all out for my living room now!!
Thank you so much – you’re a genius!!! 👌🏻✨💯
All this is really nice for people who have money to be thoughtful and curated. This is all lovely but a dream for most.
Sounds easy listening to you. But I’ve done two houses now and did not have inspiration like you showed. I just kept thinking that it’s all so permanent. It was very stressful. The first house we did during Covid. The stores didn’t have anything in stock. It was very hard to visualize it all together when we ordered it. I am a person that has to see things in person. And, it was even harder because my husband is a little color blind.
He’s color choices were so crazy. It made me even more nervous , because he didn’t think anything I showed him looked good together. God blessed you with a wonderful gift.
I've been lusting after that daggone Taplow wallpaper for a while, and here you are making it worse! LOL! But this is a great video, and very helpful.
Hi fm New Zealand! I have that top in the pinks and purple!!!! It looks amazing In those colours too! I got mine because it reminded me of the Missoni shop I visited in Rome. Never thought to do a room in it until now! Fab video 🩷🩷🩷
Great video❤
I know you talk about interiors. But please talk or link what you wear! Every time I watch your videos, I get such inspiration from what you wear. Such beautiful style!
This type of video is SO helpful! I always struggle with where to start.
Really good video. I do a mood board on canva for every space I do. I don't have a big budget right now to actually remodel so it's more refreshing spaces until I save up for remodeling. It is helpful. I
Love your ideas ❤ Ashley. I’m starting to research for my small outdoor covered patio. Minimalist Boho Design. So far it’s been difficult to find any videos on this style for inspiration.
So wonderful to see wallpaper, custom case goods and fabrics again. This is coming from a retired ASID designer of 45 years.
Thank you. Love the Hero inspiration. Helps me so much.
I loved this video. Haven't seen you before. Glad you brought up the top you're wearing. I was worried it was a coincidence. The top. The rug. The material. The wallpaper. Phew!
Love your hair !
I have a spirit for learning all things for the home. Stumbled upon this and the teaching was inspiring! Thanks and don't stop! 😊
Ashley!!! you have cleared this up so much. There’s a lot of YouTuber interior decorators and you are my favorite. You truly make designing something that feels attainable and easy to learn. You really break it down. This makes so much sense. I need a hero piece.! you’re awesome!!
What is the other video you mention?