The phone rang, and I barely said hello before I heard “‘Oh my gosh! Can you believe she is stapling flowers all over the bathroom walls!?'”

My daughter, generally laid back and easygoing, calls me like clockwork when, in her opinion, one of the decorators on “Trading Spaces” does something so farfetched that it causes her casual nature to bristle.

(She also doesn’t like it when this same decorator paints a homeowner’s sofa bright pink.)

In spite of the entertainment value that many of the home decorating shows provide, I watch them hoping to soak in even the slightest bit of home decor know-how. If there is a decorating equivalent to a gardener’s green thumb, I must admit that I am sorely lacking it.

I wonder if the experience that comes with planning a garden might work with home decorating. I thought I would try.

• Start with a plan. Your plan begins with examining what look you are after in the overall scheme of things. Do you prefer a modern or country look? Do you like the traditional or stylized look? Formal or informal? Is your preference for clean, straight lines or soft and scattered ones? Perhaps, you like a mixture of several styles, leaning a bit toward the eclectic side. Just as browsing through gardening magazines can provide inspiration, looking at home decorating books and magazines may help you find out what style or look pleases you.
• Know the room’s function. In other words, how is the room going to be used? Entertaining, conversation, reading, relaxing, conducting business or doing a hobby? Are the main users of the room adults? Children? What about pets? Knowing how the room will be used and who will be its main occupants may provide some direction in the type of furnishings and accessories that are needed.
• Know your limits. One of the biggest obstacles to overcome with a home decorating project is that it seems overwhelming. It is sometimes difficult to know where to begin and when to end. We’ve all seen it before. One project leads to another, which leads into another and so on. Decide ahead of time if the project is merely a solo one or the first in a series of improvements to be made over several years. After all, time and money only go so far. Splitting out an entire home makeover over a number of years is easier on the budget and the nerves than tackling the entire thing all at once. Also, take into account your energy and expertise levels. You may not be able (or want) to hang wallpaper, but painting may be a snap for you.
• Choose paint, furnishings, window treatments and accessories wisely. This is significantly easier to do when the plan has been developed and thought out at the outset.
• Diminish competition. I thought about this one. In gardening it means to keep out the weeds. In home decorating this recognizes that you are decorating for yourself, not others. Don’t worry about “Keeping up with the Joneses.” And, don’t worry about what others think of your decorating tastes. A friend once told me that “Everyone decorates his cave in his own way.”
• Follow the rules. This definitely implies that you know the rules. My suggestion: If you truly are stumped, get help. A bedroom I redecorated shortly after my youngest daughter went off to college looks much better because I followed the advice of a decorator.
• Ignore the rules. My final suggestion for showing off your decorating “green thumb” is to experiment and be creative in your home. Have fun, enjoy it and revel in the results. If you don’t like it, you can redo it in the future.

Even though I think my plan borrowed from gardening will work, I still flip through home decorating shows. You never know when you might learn some great technique. Wait, what’s she doing now? Whoa! Attaching a bunch of old LPs to the wall and painting each wall a different color.

Oh, excuse me, my phone is ringing.

— Carol Boncella is education coordinator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and home and garden writer for the Journal-World.