Have a Game Plan

Before you redesign your entire home to showcase your spirit, it's important to know your design priorities. For Nisar, her design ethos is merging form and function.

"For me, it's about more than just curating a good-looking space," Nisar says. "It has to really make sense for the way people live, so practical design takes center stage."

Knowing what you want your home to look like—and function like—will help ensure you end up with an interior that feels like you, no matter what you decorate with.

Kevin Miyazaki

Tailor Design to Life Stages

The Early Years

Kids pick up new hobbies and interests regularly. For this reason, it's important to make sure their decor can adapt.

Take Nisar's daughter, for example. When she was younger, she begged Nisar for a basketball bed, but Nisar wanted something that would stand the test of time for her daughter as she got older.

Aishah Nisar Design

"We ended up loosely interpreting that as a tufted, arched, burnt sienna-colored velvet headboard, which appeased her greatly," Nisar says. "But as she's grown in the last few years, it's now no longer a basketball bed, but it still has a place in her room as it currently exists, which is a little less basketball-themed."

Floating shelves or cork wall panels are two smart ways to display your child's current favorite things. The best part is that they're adaptable, perfect for when they find something they're more passionate about.

For All Ages, Less Can Be More

No matter how old you are, one thing to remember, especially when decorating with sports memorabilia, is that intentionality is key.

"Pick the pieces that are most meaningful and showcase those," Nisar says. "I think it's more interesting and gives you more talking points to have a wider variety of things that reflect who you are altogether, as opposed to having one sort of shrine to a team, an athlete, or a particular sport."

Let Your Gear Do the Talking

If you're looking for a statement piece, look no further than your favorite piece of sports equipment—whether it be a bike, baseball bat, or surfboard.

Sports equipment as decor not only serves as a conversation piece but can also save storage space, which is great for athletics enthusiasts who reside in smaller quarters, such as apartments.

“It's nice to be able to display the things that you use every day to create visual interest and tell your story,” Nisar says. "And it's practical, right?"

But the last thing you want is for your unique 3D statement piece to feel out of place. To create cohesion throughout the rest of the room, pair it with pieces that support the story your sports equipment is telling.

"Incorporating art that also kind of tells that story—art or photography alongside that—it just creates a broader vision of who you are," Nisar says. "If you're a family who loves to surf, have some kind of artwork adjacent to that surfboard that showcases a family that surfs or enjoys being outdoors.

Reed Davis

Smart Color Theory Home Runs

Wanting to incorporate your team's favorite colors into your home design? Nisar has a few expert tips for doing so stylishly.

• Start with a neutral base: "One way is to sort of create a neutral palette and let all of the show pieces and the memorabilia add visual interest," Nisar says. Think a beige couch with blue and orange throw pillows.
• Get monochromatic: "Another way is to just add other shades of that same color family," Nisar says. This creates a nice layered color effect that doesn't feel too matchy-matchy.
• Lean into maximalism:  "A third way is to just say, 'Hey, this is its own sort of stand-alone piece, and I'm not afraid of a more maximalist kind of environment and am not married to just sticking to a very narrow color palette,'" Nisar says.

Bottom Line: Make Your Home Work For You

It'd be silly to cheer for a team you don't like, right? In the same vein, the most important aspect of design is making sure your home is compatible with your lifestyle.

"It's wonderful when someone has a passion, whether it's sports or otherwise," Nisar says. "It's also really nice to let the way in which you live in your house be the driver of how you showcase the things that are meaningful and important to you."

Ultimately, the most successful designs celebrate your passions while supporting the way you truly live.