Any home decorating afficionados out there?

allwildgirl

allwildgirl

Cathlete
So, tell me about your decorating style. What does your house look like? Are you eclectic, country, modern, traditional or just a big hodge podge? What kind of colours do you like to surround yourself with? What colours are your rooms? I love this stuff.:)

This is triggered by the fact that I'm painting my spare room today. It's a colour called "Latte" from Restoration Hardware. The molding is all going to be white. I have lighter creamy coloured curtains to hang. I'm doing some built-in bookshelves along one wall with a desk area. The floors are hardwood, a light finish, and I'm putting in my SO's mother's chaise longue, a small side table, a small dresser and a reading lamp. It's going to be my "den". :D
 
She usually hangs out under the step if I have 3 or more risers on it. Sometimes, she attacks my legs when I do squats and she sits on my stomach for ab work! She's a great workout partner!
 
That's so adorable. My Lizzycat just likes to put her cold, wet nose on the backs of my legs when I'm doing core work on the stability ball.
 
Shelley, your den sounds fab. I love Restoration Hardware. I live in a earth tone/yellows/green environment. My kitchen is faux painter by a professional painter. It's a Tuscan theme, but not over done. I made a very professional window treatment that is an awning. The fabric is from Waverly and has topiaries all over it with a muted gold background. You can view the pattern I used at
www.patemeadows.com

My living room is neutral with beautiful leather sofas from Italy. Too bad my 4 year old scribbled them with ballpoint pen when he was 2. :(. It has accents of green. I made my window treatments in there too.

My bedroom is called Sherwood green from Benjamin Moore. I have some original artwork in there from Florida artists. I love plants, so they are mostly of palm trees, orchids, agave, stuff like that.
You can see some stuff I have here:
http://www.pcbaileyartstore.com/

http://www.karenleffelmassengill.com/

I have made my own window treatments in my entire house, except for my boys room. I am working on them now. :)

I love decorating too and could talk about it for hours!

Lori
 
Shelly, I don't know what you'd think of my house. I have a watermelon color bedroom (bright orangey-red) with a lavendar Calvin Klein bedspread on a platform bed.

My family room is lavendar with a burnt-orange sofa. My livingroom is a lighter blue with a special-made royal purple couch that looks like something out of transylvannia.

I love my house, but traditional it is not!

Marla

P.S. one of my bathrooms is lime green!
 
Marla, It sounds great!

Both of my bathrooms are green. :) One is light green and white stripes, with white towels and white waffle weave shower curtain. Very Key West/Spa. :) My master bath is green too. Spa green with white towels again with tropical plant artwork and white linen curtains.

Lori
 
I can't post her picture here because it isn't hosted anywhere. But if you PM me with your email, I'll send you a picture of her!
 
Marla - I bet it looks amazing, but I don't think I could live with all that colour. It would stress me out.

Lori, your house sounds lovely. I envy you your ability to make window treatments. I can't make anything:p I'm toying with the idea of making an upholstered headboard for my bed, but I can only imagine it would turn out looking like something... well, I don't know what, but something not good.x(
 
Mine is all french country except for the master bedroom. it is all red and gold with bamboo and wicker and has an asian feel to it.


jes:)
 
Shelly, Your new room sounds awesome! Your post caught my eye because I just spent all last weekend painting kitchen. It was a disaster! I tried the sandwash paint by Behr. Talk about a mess, I swear that paint is defective. I would never recommend that to anyone. Just redid computer room with the Ralph Lauren suede paint and love love love it. Oh well, live and learn. So heres a question, how do you design your rooms? Do you just naturally have a sense of what looks right, or do you get some help? I only ask because I find that I am clueless when it comes to decorating. I can shop and shop and love lots of different styles but when it comes to implementing them it never looks just right. Like Marlas room, it sounds sooo invigorating and probably looks like something in a magazine. But when I go to pick out paint I'm so intimidated? And always end up with neutrals and boring stuff... Carolyn
 
Carolyn:

I'm addicted to decorating magazines. As I go through, I either tear out the pictures that I like, or I mark the page. After a while, you start to sense a trend. You'll notice that all the rooms are in neutral, soothing tones, or they're all French country (which sounds fab, by the way, Jes), or whatever. I found that mine are all neutral-ish colours, but tending towards the earth tones, sage greens, rusts, mustards - with warm wood accents and usually white trim. I remember two houses ago, I decided that I would do my dining room this beautiful historical Benjamin Moore colour called "Revere Pewter" with a dark navy accent wall. Well, now whenever I make a decorating mistake, I call it my "blue wall" because I hated that wall from about the third day it was blue.:p

So, now I know which direction I should take, and my first gut instinct is usually right. I painted my bedroom three times in this house (in four months) because I didn't go with my initial gut instinct. Now it's Restoration Hardware Silver Sage with white trim, hardwood floor, an oatmeal colour berber area rug and chocolate accents (nightstand, dresser, etc.) and it looks fantastic.

And find yourself a paint store with a really good colour consultant. I mostly use Benjamin Moore and my local dealer is EXCELLENT! And I still find choosing paint intimidating. How could you not? There's only about 4 bajillion colours to choose from!

Well, that's enough blathering from me at 6:30 on a Sunday morning!
 
Silver Sage, that sounds great Shelley. I am going to have to view that one.

Carolyn, I used to be so obsessed with creating a unique look, and finding the right paint color. I find that clean, simple design is sometimes the best look. Choose a color you like. In my office I have a Ralph Lauren blue. It's gorgeous. I have a yellow,blue, green striped window treatment in here, a couple pictures, and some potted plants in blue ceramic pots. It's simple, but it still looks pulled together.

I highly recommend these 2 books:
Use What You Have Decorating: Transform Your Home in One Hour with Ten Simple Design Principles Using...

and Trade Secrets from Use What You Have Decorating both titles are by Lauri Ward.

I wish I had these books a long time ago, I would of saved thousands of dollars. They are great, and give lots of great tips on arranging artwork, etc. They are especially great because you don't have to spend a bundle of money. You use what you have, and tweak it a little. :)

Lori
 
Lori - Silver Sage is absolutely gorgeous. It's a watery blue/green/silver that looks different in different lights. Warning - if you use it, it looks absolutely atrocious in the can! I opened it and went "oh nooooooooo", but as soon as it was up, it looked amazing.
 
Great advice, all of you! Shelley your "blue wall" fiasco is cracking me up, even though I can soooo relate. Mine will have to be my "sand wall". I'm going to visit the Restoration Hardware site, I keep hearing that name. I think Oprahs' guy, Nate (love him) uses their stuff alot. And I think your right, it's paying attention, looking around and figuring your own style. I read a book, I think Christopher Lowell and he said basicaly it's confidence. Which I seem to lack when decorating. Like you said Lori, I seem to obsess on trying to find a unique perfect look. Those books sound good. In fact, I think I've seen the one you recommended about using stuff you already had, but didn't even take it off the shelf, cuz I thought, "YUCK" I don't like any stuff I have, ha ha. But I am going to Barnes and Noble today and will check out that book. I'm trying to work up the energy to go pull the blue tape off those sand walls I told you about. Maybe by some miracle it won't look as bad as I think..... said with alot of sarcasism. And I would love to see pictures of those rooms you all were describing, they sound beautiful.
Thanks, Carolyn
 
I don't like a lot of stuff I have either, but it has to stay for a while. :) These books are great because it gives you the know how on what to choose when you are ready to buy new furniture. I would of done it so differently. :)

The most useful of all of the information is how she arranges furniture.

Lori
 
Oh and Carolyn, I am sure your sand walls aren't that bad. I have made so many mistakes. Painitng is difficult. I once picked out a beige color for my office. It looked pink when we were done. When people would come over, I would ask, what color is this room, and they would reply Pink. I would say, noooooooooo, it's beige, but really it was pink! That is just one of hundreds of decorating mistakes I have made. :)

Lori
 
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