How did you decide how to decorate your home?
Question:We are getting ready to buy our first house. I have been pulling pictures out of magazines and jotting down ideas for decorating. I find though, that I will really like style #1, but then the next week, not so much. There are many homes (of friends and family) that I've been in and like the decor, but would get bored of it quickly. How did you pick your decor? We have very limited funds, so I can't keep changing the look. Our sofa is a deep dark green and our furniture (table, chairs, coffee table, bed) are all darker woods. I'm leaning towards an earthy theme.browns and greens. How did you know? Do you still love it?
Answers:
First of all, don't be in too big of a hurry.
Move in with what you have. Arrange what you have and see how you like it. Move things around until they feel right to you.
Once the items you already have are in their proper place, begin looking at adding items one at a time.
Look at the style of the home. Is it modern? A retro 50's ranch? An old farmhouse? Take some of your style cues from that.
You may find one style too restrictive and opt to go with a more eclectic theme mixing and matching various items that you love.
Look in your own closet to see what styles and colors you are drawn to. Lot of pink and purple with ruffles and lace? Neat, tailored lines? Hip and modern? Lots of denim and casual outdoorsy clothes? This will give you an idea of what your lifestyle choices are and perhaps some ideas of how you want to decorate your home.
Neutral colors with white trim is almost always a safe bet, but if you have or are planning to have children in the near future, that pristine white woodwork will show fingerprints. Light shades of your favorite colors with a darker shade for the trim may stay fresh looking longer.
Look at thrift and second hand stores for pictures and knick knacks. See if any cities around you have second hand or consignment furniture shops. You might find some excellent condition quality items at bargain prices. Check out antique shops and flea markets as well. Watch your newspaper for auctions in some of the better neighborhoods in your area. Buy what you love in the best quality you can afford.
Our first home was a 50's ranch style. We moved in with what pieces of furniture my husband and I each had in our individual apartments and added to that over the years. Twenty years ago, we moved to a farmhouse built in 1900.
We are still using the Paul Bunyan style bedroom furniture we started our married life with. It has been earthy with natural colors, frilly with lush rose patterned comforter and bedskirt and is currently casual country with denim duvet and a tailored bedskirt. The early American living room furniture we began with now is used in our family room. The living room is more formal with Chippendale style upholstered pieces and antique coffee tables and end tables. Our dining room furniture we found in someone's attic. It was originally purchased in 1923. I refinished it 25 years ago and we are still using that and getting compliments on it. Our guest room is mahagony pineapple poster style bed and matching dresser and nightstands that I found at an auction.
The point is you can mix and match styles and eras of what you love for your own individual look. Add pictures, etc. as you find things you like and you will have your own unique style. I always get compliments on the warmth and beauty of our home. It was not done by a decorator but evolved over the past 29 years of marriage.
Think about how you plan to live in your new home. Just a sanctuary for the two of you? A couple of comfy overstuffed pieces for reading and watching TV in might be just right. If you plan to do lots of entertaining, you will want more seating available and a larger dining or kitchen table to seat guests.
Oh! And watch for "starving artist" sales for lovely, low priced original art work.
Much happiness in your new home!
Like most people I use my imagination.
umm I was born with the sense I dont know for others.
You never know. Pick what you like, what makes you feel comfortable and then use accent pieces to change the look. A picture, plant (real or fake), mirror or rug, throws and moving a chair or table makes a huge difference when you get bored, believe me. I invested a large amount of money to go from french provincial to a modern asian theme with black built in cabinets and I use different colored clothes to change the shelves when I get bored and I love it. Good luck
Our house burnt down in Nov. 2006.
We just built our new home and moved in.
I love it because we picked out all our colors and updates.
we used all behr paints
We done our living room in pumpkin butter
kitchen in spicy cayenne
and bedrooms in shingle tan
it is beautiful.
e-mail me and ill send you some pics.
good luck! and choose the colors you love don't be scared of color!
We used a VERY funky, mosaic glasstile from Walker-Zanger in our kitchen/backsplash. I ended up designing nearly EVERYTHING around this dang tile. Its colors are evocative of abalone, or the inside of an oyster, clam...really beautiful. Lots of blue/green/tan/pink/sand.
Our kitchen has room for furniture, so I ordered a loveseat and two chairs from Calico Corners to harmonize w/backsplash. Now I'm using colors elsewhere that have some relationship w/kitchen to tie whole house thematically.
I think many people DO begin w/one favorite element (like a gorgeous rug) and build around it.
Good luck! My only big opinion is: DON'T go for the "model home" look--too impersonal, pedestrian, IMO. Your home should look like YOU.
get a drink you like and with a good friend...or even by your self, go look through tons of decorator magazines...talk, think, look.and you will realize which decor you are most attracted to and why. you may say "this is lovel but too stuffy"...etc. soon you will know what decor consistently is to your liking...and a friend would help by increasing your prospective.
good luck
I find that with each time I move and re-decorate, I get more daring. For your first house, play it safe. Stick with the earthy colors and keep the decor simple. Embellish with pictures and accessories that you like. Decide if you like cool tones or warm tones and stick with one or the other throughout. I like decorating with paint - you can change it if you don't like it without costing a fortune. In fact, it is good to have one color for the main living area and work off of that color throughout. Once that is done, you can get comfortable with the "theme" and you'll know more where you want to go from there - every house has a different feel to it. From there, you can go bolder with a foyer or add an accent wall color, or you can add a faux finish or mural somewhere. Sometimes after painting a room neutral, you can get a painting or print and decorate around it. In fact, that is how I do bathrooms. I pick out a shower curtain that I really love and decorate the entire room around it. It already provides my color pallete, so there isn't much creativity that has to go into the colors. I watch HGTV on cable and when I see something I like, I go to their website and print it out if it's there.
I just ask my wife.
But you would be better served to have some people look at the place first hand.
Look through what you've picked out of magazines, look for colors that are timeless. Earthy colors are great. Then when you pick your accessories choose things you can change when you want to freshen the look without blowing your budget. Changing the small things can make a huge difference, you can even rotate things in the seasons. For example I change our couches throw pillows every season. I also like accent walls where you can add a punch of color without committing the whole room to something new, after all it's only paint.
I guess I have always just had a good sense for decor. I love shopping and putting things together. My home is a more modern style house. I have a lot of wrough Iron and taupes, my kitchen is a garnet red with black appliances, white cabinets with black knobs and has the whole fat chef guy with the Italian feel with grapes and wine. I have since decorated a few other homes and would be willing to give some suggestions. Feel free to email me and we can pass some pictures back & forth...
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