The Messy Girl Aesthetic Is the Laid-Back Home Trend Everyone’s Embracing Right Now

TikTok always seems to bring in a wealth of new ideas for your home design, from cottagecore to dark academia to quiet luxury. But maybe what you really want is something that you can’t just buy wholesale at your favorite home store. Consider the messy girl aesthetic, aka you-core, which creates a space that’s totally unique, with items that suit your personality and your life. (And doesn’t look super pristine and empty!)

And the best part? It’s the kind of home design you can build slowly and deliberately—and not redo all at once. “The messy girl aesthetic is a timeless style, as long as you only continue to layer in what you love so the home truly reflects you, says Liz Goldberg, designer and founder of CAROLYNLEONA.

Ready to take the plunge? Get the full scoop on what the messy girl aesthetic is—and how to make it your own.

What Is the Messy Girl Aesthetic?

The messy girl aesthetic is essentially a buzzy name for a standard practice in home design—filling your space with the things you love and that have meaning for you. “This is a style that stands the test of time,” Goldberg says. “We are all about spaces reflecting who lives there, and this aesthetic does just that when done well, making a home feel personalized and lived-in. By adding layers of objects, mixing patterns, and more, you have the opportunity to express yourself and add a major dose of personality, interest, and color.”

This isn’t the one-and-done style of finding a sample room at IKEA or Pottery Barn and just throwing down your card to buy a whole matchy-matchy set. Instead, it’s a slow, intentional process of finding or collecting items that resonate with you, whether it’s a flea market rocking chair for a corner of your home office, or a gallery wall of watercolors and sketches from your travel destinations.   

The end result should have lots of intriguing things for guests to see and enjoy—and to help spark joy whenever you use or view them.

How to Get the Messy Girl Aesthetic for Yourself

Fortunately, it’s really easy to get started with this aesthetic—just take a look at what’s around you, and what you love. And don’t worry about spotless surfaces and perfectly folded throws. This look is all about being cozy and lived-in.

Start with the furniture

Goldberg recommends starting with the biggest pieces—the furniture and rugs. “The furniture floor plan should always come first. To achieve this aesthetic, we would find classic, vintage pieces and reupholster them with velvets, linens, and other textural materials mixed with wood and natural stones like marble to add layers.”

Choose your focal point—and base your color scheme on that

“Every space needs to have a star of the show—and not everything can be the star,” Goldberg says. If the star is a showstopping painting or a wow-worthy couch, it’ll help you determine what colors to use in the rest of your space. “Figure out your color palette and really lean into it,” Goldberg says. “Adding shades of a few colors and sticking to your palette is the way to go. Think light and dark variations of those shades for contrast.”

Accessorize wildly

The secret sauce for that messy girl vibe is the accessories—think luxe (and cozy) throws and detailed (yet mismatched) pillows, along with patterned rugs. “More is more, but always with intention…and even better with a good story behind it,” Goldberg says. Still, don’t go too overboard! “You never want the space to feel overwhelmingly cluttered; it should be balanced and full of life.”

Decorate with meaning

Your accessories are going to be what really gives you that messy girl/you-core vibe. This is all about finding artwork and collections that really speak to you—and again, hopefully have special meaning to you. Think items like framed artwork that your kid produced or a vase you picked up on vacation. And it isn’t meant to be done all in one go—you’ll be adding (and perhaps, subtracting) as the years go by.

Curate your collections

Look around your house to gather items of a kind together to create collections. “Grouping collections together in a space adds impact,” Goldberg says. “This applies to anything, such as books, a collection of globes, or vintage objects. Rather than sprinkling them around your home, create a dedicated space to show them off. You can even create zones that stack or group collections together that help anchor the style and tell your story.”