Vern Yip's Surprising Secret to Better Home Decor: Stop Scrolling and Start Touching

In today's digital age, it's tempting to curate your home's look with the help of artificial intelligence and social media. But renowned interior designer Vern Yip has a different approach: get offline and find inspiration in the real world.

Vern Yip, interior designer and author of 'Color Pattern Texture: The Foundation to Make Your Home Your Own' (Credit: Kameron Jennings)

Yip, host of Home Reimagined and former designer on Trading Spaces, shares this philosophy in his book, Color Pattern Texture: The Foundation to Make Your Home Your Own. He encourages a tactile, hands-on approach to interior design, arguing that physical samples like carpet swatches, paint chips, or wallpaper pieces are far superior to digital images. This method helps create spaces that not only look good but feel good too.

Here are Yip's four compelling reasons to decorate your dream home without relying on social media or AI.

Many Online Design Hacks Only Look Good in Pictures

Temporary solutions like peel-and-stick flooring often fall short in person (Credit: towfiqu ahamed/Getty Images)

Yip points out that many online decorating trends, such as peel-and-stick wall panels or flooring, might be passable in a photograph but disappoint in real life. These temporary solutions never truly replicate the feel of materials like wood, marble, or porcelain. Instead, he advises finding interim solutions that maintain quality—like using a great area rug until you can afford to redo your floors properly.

You Never Know What Treasures You'll Find in Person

Secondhand items often offer better quality and uniqueness than cheap online furniture (Credit: Massimo Ravera/Getty Images)

Before ordering cheaply made furniture online—often constructed with less durable materials like particle board or vinyl—consider exploring yard sales and thrift stores. Yip notes that secondhand items can be more affordable and higher in quality. For example, a used sofa might feature a hardwood frame or eight-way hand-tied springs, offering durability and comfort that mass-produced pieces lack.

It's Hard to Get a Sense of Color on a Screen

Always test paint colors in your space under different lighting conditions (Credit: malerapaso/Getty Images)

Variables like lighting and window direction can drastically alter how you perceive color. Yip emphasizes that south-facing light tends to be warmer, while north-facing light is cooler. Don't trust online color representations alone. Instead, test paint or wallpaper samples in your space, observing them at different times of day and under both natural and artificial light. He also suggests considering your skin tone when choosing colors, as reflections can affect how you look in a room.

Collecting Samples Is More Sentimental Than Saving Inspo Pics

Physical collections, like sea glass, can inspire meaningful decor (Credit: Jamie Grill/Getty Images)

With much of today's interior design inspiration being AI-generated, Yip advocates for gathering real-world inspiration. Create a treasure box of small items—like a floral napkin pattern, a piece of sea glass, or a fabric swatch—that resonate with you emotionally. These tokens can reveal your personal style and inspire your decor. For instance, Yip once kept an empty can of mixed nuts from Brazil because of its label design, which later inspired a wall covering. This approach leads to designing with meaning, building a home that reflects your life and memories.