Home and Garden Chat

If someone asked you to name the kind of decor you like, could you do it? Or would you stumble and mumble, mention a few stores, and look off into the distance in search of the right adjectives? You’re not alone. Understanding and articulating your style is the key to creating a room that really reflects you. There are some simple steps to help you identify the look you crave. Read on and you’ll learn how to make great choices and get cohesive results that you’ll love.

If you are like most people, you know what you want and don’t want. And that’s great! Sometimes, however, we are unable to communicate what it is we want in a way that others are able to understand. When you are shopping for items in your home, this kind of shopping can be extremely frustrating and expensive. If you don’t know what you are looking for, you wander aimlessly searching for things. Sometimes you see something and it may not be the right selection, but you purchase it anyway because you are just exhausted and need to get something. Once you get it home, you find it doesn’t work or you just don’t like it and have to return it. What a pain that is!!! So, how do we determine what we like and dislike, what we want, what we may need and what we really desire?

The answer is simple, you need to get a clear idea of your needs through education and planning before you go out shopping. Lets begin by having you find out what you like and discovering a way for you to communicate that to others. I want you to gather home and decorating magazines. I have found them at the local library for free or very little. Begin flipping through them, finding photographs of rooms you really like and appeal to you. Cut them out and set save in a folder. You can also do this with decorating books but magazines are much less expensive. Gather inspiration from the decor around you. Look at Websites for more inspiration. Cut out images or copy ideas from rooms that inspire you. Do not limit yourself to images of fully finished rooms. If you see a detail, such as a wallpaper pattern, chair, garden or light fixture, that catches your eye, clip it. Even nontraditional elements, such as famous paintings, product packaging and flea market finds, have a place in your clippings. Keep all your ideas in a folder for easy reference. Review your findings, when you have gathered several decorating ideas, look through them for common elements. Look for similarities throughout the different decorating schemes. Place these images in different combinations and look for themes. For example, a gypsy-style ottoman and silk throw pillows can transform a forgotten window into a reading area. Swatches of vintage fabric may seem relatively useless until you hold them up to a small window and find they can serve as curtains or place them against a couch as inspiration for throw pillow covers.

This step is controversial because many people do not want to limit their aesthetic preferences to an established style. However, even nonconformists may find decor nirvana in the styles known as eclectic, bohemian vintage, bohemian modern and international. Era-specific decor preferences, such as Victorian or retro 1950s, make for easy labeling. Some styles seem more elusive, so look to details such as hardware, finishes, paint combinations, textiles and accessories. The point is to find what pleases you and fits your need.

As you are searching, you will find things that jump out at you and eventually you will see a pattern emerge of rooms you like and styles that represent the kind of home you want.  Styles are typically grouped into the following basic categories:

• Traditional (formal, dressy, rich fabrics, cherry wood)

• Country (antiques, pine, collectibles, cozy warm feeling)

• Contemporary (clean lines, dramatic)

• Romantic (soft, elegant, ruffles, lace)

• Oriental (antiques, dramatic colors, high style)

• Southwestern (earth tones, textures, artifacts)

• Transitional or Eclectic (mixes of any style)

Knowing basic style categories will further help define your style preferences.  Purchase a couple of magazines that represented your style so you will have them as reference. It will help you when you are looking for furniture, colors, accessories, etc. later on. This exercise will also help you find a definition to your style.  Integrate your preferred elements of style slowly into your home. You may keep with a relatively simple backdrop, but try a sampling of accessories in a decor theme to see if it suits you as well as your home

Do you entertain a lot? Do you like to read? How many people are in your family? Do all the kids in the neighborhood come to you house? Do you have small children? Do you only entertain a few times a year for family and friends? Do you have large dinner parties with business associates? Do you prefer to have a home where jeans and T-shirts are considered formal wear? Who are you and how does your home get used? This is an important part of the process because the answers to those questions will determine where you should begin decorating your home.

If you are a person who loves to entertain formally, then you should consider working first on your living room and dining room. If you like to entertain informally with friends and family, work on your family room and kitchen spaces. If you are a cook and everyone congregates to your kitchen, then by all means do that room first. If you are a homebody and just love relaxing in your bedroom, do that room first. If you are a busy professional and are rarely home, then the bedroom theory from above may be the best for you. Typically, you will be in that room more often anyway. Once you define what areas are most important to have completed first, you will be well on your way to a finished home.

If you don’t focus on what area first, second and third, you will become very overwhelmed by all the things you need to accomplish. Break it down into smaller pieces and get it done. Figure out with your lifestyle what rooms are most important to finish first while keeping an overall eye on your whole house. If you see bedding that would work for your master bedroom and its on sale, go ahead and purchase it, but don’t then switch focus to that room when you are almost finished with the family room. Once you find your style, the rest falls into place.

Decorating is an extension of your personal style, but so much better, because it comes without the concerns of sizing and fit. That should make it fun, but for a lot of us it’s incredibly stressful to fill a blank canvas that involves big commitments and potentially pricey mistakes. Aside from the money part, choosing a sofa is not all that different from picking a pair of shoes: It’s all about who you are and what you like on a gut level.

Finding your decorating groove depends on getting in touch with that. Pull together small items you love, including clothes. Tap your memory and your imagination. Now for the hard part. Look for common threads, design, colors, shapes, materials, vibe among the things you love. You may find yourself attracted to a blend of styles rather than just one; as you do research, notice which features appeal to you and which don’t. This will help you translate your taste into smart decorating choices.

Get comfortable, then close your eyes and think about places you love to be and why you love them from a local café to a faraway beach. Recall paintings, movies, and books that have stuck with you for some reason. Then go into fantasy mode. Imagine that real world constraints don’t apply. Picture your dream home. If you could live anywhere in the world, would you choose a loft in New York? An English manor? A tree house in the tropics? Then think outside of home: If you were invited to the Oscars, what would you wear? Include jewelry and shoes. This moves you beyond the limitations of your own lifestyle and budget and into a new realm of creativity. Jot down your answers. Check the top of your dresser, your mantel, your bookshelves, your china cabinet. Sift through collections and mementos. Make a pile of favorites on your bed. Then pull special clothes from your closet. Focus on the items that make you feel beautiful and joyful, the ones that inspire you to stand tall. Take the same eye to your jewelry and accessories. Have a pad in hand and walk from room to room examining your belongings and make two truthful lists: “Love It” and “Wish I Could Replace It.” Catalog everything you can, including art and be real, even if it’s difficult. It’s all based on how things make you feel. Maybe you come across a piece of art that bugs you, but you’ve kept it around because it was your grandmother’s. Pay attention to that and categorize it accordingly.  Pull together small items you love, including clothes.

Now for the hard part. Look for common threads, design, colors, shapes, materials, vibe among the things you love. You may find yourself attracted to a blend of styles rather than just one; as you do research, notice which features appeal to you and which don’t. This will help you translate your taste into smart decorating choices.