Your Decorating Style as a Guide

[Julie-Ann]

This can be the key to making all your decorating decisions so much easier. It is so easy to just fall in love with a beautiful item but then when you get it home it just doesn't work:(. You can so easily end up with a room full of beautiful items but not a beautiful room.:(

So you have worked out your and your partners decorating style. If not there are several articles, threads and even quizzes here on the forum and the internet that can help you to determine what your decorating style is. Define that style - actually put it into words. Have you seen the show Secrets of a Stylist on Foxtel? Emily Henderson the stylist does exactly this with her clients.

So in my house my DH's style is very simple - he loves Traditional, elegant and classic decor. My style is a bit more of a hotch potch:o. But we stayed in a B&B in Provence a few years ago and that was exactly my style - French, feminine, traditional and elegant, but with elements from nature that are more casual but not rustic, and then the odd very contemporary piece just to surprise. As complicated as that all sounds it is easy for DH and I to visualise as we only have to think of the B&B.

So now I know our decorating styles when I am decorating I just have to stay focused on those descriptions. So this week I decided to update our bookcase. Add a touch more elegance. DH looked at me confused and said "I thought we were going more casual". No he needs to add more of my casualness to his style but I need to add more of his elegance to my style - so we blend better. Gosh I hope this makes sense:o. So I bought 3 tealight holders and then added some items I already had. I think the bookcase now shows our merged styles - Traditional (bookcase itself), Elegant (tealight holders), French (Fleur de Lis on pots and finial), Feminine (floral photo frame and scrolls etched on tealight holders), Natural elements (plants and birds), and Contemporary elements (tealight holders bases and silver photo frame).

So the secret IMHO is to find your styles, define them and use them to guide you when decorating.

How would you define your decorating style? And if you share your home with a partner - what is their decorating style?

[rosierose]

Well said J-A and I completely understood you.................

Your style is very much evident in your book case...

I would love to see the back of bookcase painted in a darker shade so your lovely items would stand out against the pale bookcase... but then it probably is not Mr J-A's style although it could look very classical....

[rosierose]

this bookcase has darker back panel but very classical.......

[rosierose]

Oh and back to question I know my style it is in my head though...can't name it bc it comes from an expression of who I am and what grabs me.......the real test is how I will be able to put all that I have loved and collected into my first and last project (hopefully) Rome....

If I were to name it it would be everyday elegance......... probably Hamptons but less beachy ........ my husband knows what he doesn't like and so what is left over is in the realm of possibilities until he decides he doesn't like it....ROFL...


anyone confused........:confused:

[verychic]

Very well put JA. And thanks to you and Kristie I now know the name of my style - Classic American ;) Recently I realised that I have always known what I like and dislike. Everytime I look at something in the shop, I am always drawn to similar styles. But its great when I now have some guidance to define my style further instead of trying to fit in with current trends. DH styles is very similar to mine although he only knows to express what he doesnt like which includes too much colour, flower and bling-bling <-- those are his words :D We love dark timber and mixture of browns and whites.

Although one thing I hate is my cold (as in colour cold) white tiles. I wish I found this forum when I was building :(

[Julie-Ann]

That bookcase is lovely Rosie. I might just have to add painting the back of it to the To Do List. Although DH will roll his eyes when I tell him the bookcase makeover isn't finished:D.
My DH is also very good at saying what he doesn't like. But over the years I have worked out what he does like. When I told him that I thought that was his style he agreed. But I don't think he could have defined it himself.
So Rosie looking at what Mr Rosie has liked in the past, what style he has said something positive about - any ideas on how you would define it?

[rosierose]

I think he like classical American..............he often refers to what he calls the Manhattan look which is like stylish yet traditional new york.....he's probably right on...

I think we have same tastes.........

[dmplus3]

I understand everything you just said, JA. And, your bookcase looks gorgeous. I love, love, love how you've managed to pull together the different styles and it still looks awesome.

Now, as for our decorating style. Are you ready? We've named it Contempo-Hamptonese au Francais. :thumbs up:

So - we like a contemporary look (with a little glam), with more of the casual, Americanness of the Hamptons, dark Asian-inspired pieces and more recently, we've thrown in a little bit of classic French.

Who's confused now? As Rosie says, hopefully we can pull it all together in the new house, without it looking like we just chucked some stuff we liked at the walls and left it where it fell!

[Julie-Ann]

PCC by the time you add in some lovely big rugs and warm colours those white floors won't be so prominent.:)

Rosie I would love to see pictures of the type of rooms you are describing- even elements you would use in that style room.

So - we like a contemporary look (with a little glam), with more of the casual, Americanness of the Hamptons, dark Asian-inspired pieces and more recently, we've thrown in a little bit of classic French.

Who's confused now? As Rosie says, hopefully we can pull it all together in the new house, without it looking like we just chucked some stuff we liked at the walls and left it where it fell!

Lol I think I get it Dmplus3:D. If I can merge all our different styles I am sure it can be done. I think it works if you have dominant theme as the major theme - so in our case all the furnishings are traditional and mostly French in style. Then you layer the other styles on top - like natural elements and contemporary pieces. But these are only added in the accessories. What do you think? So would glamorous American Contemporary or Contemporary Hamptons be your base style? So then it's how to add the Asian and French elements? Maybe you could be inspired by Vietnam as they were once a French colony - just a thought:). This merging styles is tricky but interesting:).

[nqmummy]

Your bookcase looks lovely JA.

My style is definitely Modern Eclectic. Hubby is probably a Casual Modern.