Today I worked with a woman whose home made her feel bad every time she walked through the door. The problem wasn’t the space nor her things. She liked most of her furnishings but she had a common problem: Her home looked and felt dated and seemed to represent who she was a decade ago, not who she is in 2008. Can you relate to this?

“How can I get my home to reflect who I am today and not look like my college dorm or, worse, my childhood bedroom?” I hear this question from countless clients. If you are one of those people who have difficulty parting with anything, aka a pack rat, it is a serious psychological hurdle that, at least, requires the services of a professional organizer. But, having a home that reflects your personality can simply be a matter of continually clearing clutter such as old newspapers, magazines and anything else you are not using on a day-to-day basis.

The other challenge in creating a home that feels comfortable visually, emotionally and physically is correcting the 10 Most Common Decorating Mistakes. No matter what your style, the size of your budget or the type of dwelling you live in, if any of these issues are present, your home cannot live up to its full potential. Some of those common errors are: Badly lit rooms, uncomfortable conversation areas, improper use of artwork, lack of balance and furniture of different heights. If you clear the clutter and correct all of the mistakes that are present in your rooms, remarkably, you can transform any space in a couple of hours. And you can do it without spending money.

What happened to my client? After she and I worked to correct the decorating mistakes in her living room and dining room and piled up some stuff in her garage that she wasn’t using (and will be donating to charity) her place looked open, airy and sophisticated. She said, “I knew I couldn’t sell my home in this real estate market and I felt trapped. Now, for the first time since I bought the house, my home really feels like me.”

I sang in my car all the way home.