Decorating your home is not an easy task even with the help of an interior designer. If you don't have a plan, or at least a picture of what you have in mind, then you'll just end up buying random things that you like and end up not making it "connect" with the other things that you have in your home.
So have a plan of what theme you're going for, what style, what color scheme or the general look of the room you want. Then measure the room and measure the items when you go shopping. You don't want to get furniture that's over-sized for a small room and vice versa. Even if I found the perfect rustic bar stools, if it doesn't bode well with the other furniture, it just won't do. It needs to be unified and old furniture need to mesh well with the new furniture.
Traffic flow is a good thing to focus on. You don't want your living room or home space to be a maze of sorts.
Balance and proportion are key to decorating. Don't over-stuff your bookshelves with books. Add other items such as photo frames, flower frames to make it more interesting. Minimize your clutter. Too many photo frames, too many books on the coffee table, that sort of thing.
When decorating a small room, you don't always have to think of what color you should use to make it bigger. You can always go for colors that will enhance the rooms liveliness and add some dramatic elements to the room.
A lot of people also always focus on the floor space. Remember your walls. Nowadays, there are a lot of wall shelves, wall sconces, and window treatments that can enhance your room and create storage space without using floor space.
I still have a lot of decorating to do in my new home, but I'm taking my own sweet time. So it'll be a while before I throw my housewarming party!! Here are some cool housewarming gifts I've written quite a while back, by the way.. *hint hint*
