How can you decorate your home to make it feel cozy, and reflective of your personality, transitions in life, make it show your inner workings, perception of the world, how you walk through life, while still honoring your family heirlooms? (Especially if you can’t afford an interior designer!)
Brittany Shepard is a a 41-year-old content creator and influencer in the home and lifestyle niche, who has amassed a substantial following on social media. She specializes in what’s called sentimental decorating and joyful rituals of home. Sentimental decorating is using items you’ve inherited, collected, or been gifted that have meaning to decorate your home so that you can honor your past and find joy in the present. Joyful rituals are about establishing habits and routines for living well in an effort to find peace and contentment in your daily life.
Home is meant to be our safe havens where we regulate and where we recover from the world. Particularly for women navigating life transitions like loss, caregiving, divorce, or empty nesting, the outside world can feel a bit overwhelming and unstable. – Brittany Shepard
Turning 40 in October 2024 was a bit of a pivot moment for her. She wasn’t trying to reinvent herself, but she wanted a creative outlet and realized she had a point of view on home that was missing in the home decor segment on Instagram. After losing her mother in her early thirties, and navigating midlife as a single woman, she began to see her home differently. It no longer felt like a space that needed to impress or chase trends. It needed to be a space that supported her in her current season, while still honoring her past. She had inherited so many beautiful items from her mother and grandmothers, and she felt that they deserved to be honored.
Photo: Instagram @brittanyshepard
Things like her grandmother’s wedding China, her mother’s needlepoint designs, art given to her by a friend, furniture from two generations back, and vintage and antique she bought for herself as “big girl” purchases (she calls them “adopted heirlooms”) became the star of her content, along with her philosophy of decorating with meaning—not just for looks.
She committed to showing up daily, sharing her home philosophy consistently through inspiring content from her own home, and it seemed to resonate with women who were craving this message—especially women over 40—who are navigating a life transition like losing a parent, experiencing a divorce, becoming widowed, empty nesting, or right-sizing. They might be caring for aging parents, redefining their careers, or just asking questions about what they want in life…and in their homes
And, that’s how her successful business, The Sentimental Decorator, was born.
SW Newsmagazine caught up with Shepard to find out what makes a house a home, how to de-clutter, how to bring romance into your home, and more!
SW News: How did you begin your work as a home decor curator?
I have always joked that my one true hobby is decorating and “puttering” around my home. I always had an eye for design, but more than that, I’ve always cared about how a home feels for those who live in it.
When I turned 40 in 2024, I made a decision to share my home and decor ideas on Instagram consistently everyday for a year. It wasn’t a business plan, but it was meant to be a creative outlet. I wanted to connect with other women who care about beauty, history, and meaning in their spaces and, perhaps, score a few brand partnerships from time to time.
What surprised me, though, was how quickly women (especially those over 40) resonated with my philosophy of decorating with sentimental pieces and heirlooms. That’s when I realized I wasn’t just sharing my home decor. I was helping women process life through their homes.
SW News: What motivates you to help people create a safe space inside their homes?
Home is meant to be our safe havens where we regulate and where we recover from the world. Particularly for women navigating life transitions like loss, caregiving, divorce, or empty nesting, the outside world can feel a bit overwhelming and unstable. So, creating a safe, grounded, and even beautiful home becomes a way to steady ourselves.
I am motivated by the idea that a home isn’t just a place to be decorated, or a project to be styled and finished. It can actively support your wellbeing, through whatever season of life you are in.
A house becomes a home when it reflects your story, not just your style. – Brittany Shepard
Courtesy of Hutomo Abrianto
SW News: What is your philosophy on what makes a house a home?
A house becomes a home when it reflects your story, not just your style. Trends create beautiful rooms, but stories create grounded homes. I think that when the objects in our spaces carry memories, history, or meaning to us, our homes feel rooted and more authentic. It feels lived in, and it feels like you. The stories that we display beautifully in our homes—whether about our past, present, or who we are becoming—can help create joy and contentment in our daily lives.
I encourage people to separate meaningful items from guilt-driven ones first.
SW News: What tips can you give to people who have too much clutter?
To me, clutter isn’t necessarily about having too much stuff. It’s about having unresolved decisions about our things. And we need to give ourselves grace as we make those decisions, especially if they are tied to people and places we love.
Keep what carries meaning. Release what carries weight. Then go from there, slowly and intentionally sorting through the things that feel heavy.
I encourage people to separate meaningful items from guilt-driven ones first. I encourage them to ask, “Does this object represent a story I want to carry forward? A loved one I want to honor? Or does it represent obligation?”
Keep what carries meaning. Release what carries weight. Then go from there, slowly and intentionally sorting through the things that feel heavy.
In my context, romance equals rituals. The whole trend of “romanticize your life” for me means having joyful rituals at home that make everyday feel special.
SW News: How can a person bring romance into their home?
In my context, romance equals rituals. The whole trend of “romanticize your life” for me means having joyful rituals at home that make everyday feel special. Rituals are just things we purposefully and regularly do to turn ordinary moments into something meaningful. Some of my favorites include using your pretty dishes and glassware for a weeknight meal instead of sitting in front of the television to eat, buying a small grocery bouquet or clipping branches from the yard to bring nature inside, and lighting lamps or candles in the evening to signal the end of work and the beginning of downtime.
As a single person, this is how I romanticize my life.
Photo: Instagram @brittanyshepard
SW News: What are ways you recommend decorating during the holidays?
I always recommend decorating for the holidays with repetition and memory in mind rather than chasing a new theme for your holiday decor every year.
When you use the same ornaments, dishes, music, and traditions year after year, they become emotional anchors. Your children and grandchildren begin to associate those specific details with comfort and belonging.
I also encourage keeping a few holiday pieces from your own childhood, if possible. Even one ornament or inherited decoration can instantly connect you with your own memories.
And, then, of course, allow yourself to add to your holiday decor to reflect who you are today. I have a tradition to purchase a few ornaments each year that reflect my past year. One of my trees in my home is my “Memories Tree,” and it includes these new ornaments; ones I collected from travels, and ones that were given to me as gifts. This little tree is a living scrapbook of my life.
SW News: Why do you think your clientele tend to be women over 40?
Women over 40 are often in a season of transition. Perhaps they are experiencing loss (parent or spouse), downsizing/rightsizing, empty nesting, going through a divorce, etc. In transition, we spend a lot of time reflecting. These women are not just decorating anymore. They are assessing. They’re sorting through what to keep, what to let go of, and how they want their next chapter to feel.
At this stage home becomes more about having a soft place to land and find emotional support, rather than trying to impress others.
SW News: How does navigating a midlife transition like losing a parent, experiencing a divorce, caretaking aging parents, or empty nesting affect how you perceive your living space?
Major life transitions shift identity. And when our identities shift, our homes can often feel stuck in the past or lagging behind. A widow may look at a room filled with shared memories and feel stuck in her grief. An empty nester may hear echoes in a quiet kitchen and feel a lack of purpose. A grieving daughter may look at boxes that hold a lifetime of her mother’s treasures and feel overwhelmed by guilt when having to let some of it go.
During transition, this discomfort isn’t about decorating spaces. But, processing this discomfort through home can often bring more alignment and peace. I guide women on how to gently update their spaces to reflect who they are now, while still honoring this past.
Display them intentionally rather than storing them indefinitely. Rotate them seasonally, if needed.
SW News: How can we preserve and honor family heirlooms?
I call this practice “storykeeping,” and it can be done in many practical ways.
Photograph them and record their stories in writing (digitally or by hand). Display them intentionally rather than storing them indefinitely. Rotate them seasonally, if needed.
Heirlooms become clutter when their stories are lost. They are treasures when their stories are documented and shared.
SW News: How long do you think we should keep something around the house that we rarely use?
I don’t think there is one right answer to this question.
If something is rarely used but deeply meaningful, it deserves a visible space. Or, if nothing else, its story deserves to be preserved before a decision is made to let it go.
But if something is rarely used and doesn’t evoke memories or joy, it’s worth reconsidering and potentially letting it go.
I don’t believe in keeping things “just in case.” I believe in keeping things because they matter.
A home for a single person can feel especially intentional.There is freedom in designing entirely around your own rhythms, style, and schedule. I am joyfully single, and I enjoy my home.
Photo: Instagram @brittanyshepard
SW News: Last, how is a home different for a single person versus a couple?
A home for a single person can feel especially intentional. There is freedom in designing entirely around your own rhythms, style, and schedule. I am joyfully single, and I enjoy my home.
My encouragement to other singles is not to wait for “someday” to create the home that makes you happy. You don’t need to be married to have pretty dishes, to invest in luxury bedding, or to create a space that is authentic to you.
In a couple’s home, there’s collaboration and shared identity, which is very beautiful and intentional, too.
Neither is better. I think the important thing for either situation is to create personal spaces that reflect the stories of the people within in the home.
Main image: Courtesy of Vitaly Gariev
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