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I was talking to a friend earlier about the topic for today’s “T” blog post because I was not really happy with my initial topic choices. It’s every good woman’s right to change her mind and I must be a very good woman today because I’ve changed my mind about my blog topic a hundred times. But enough about my blogging angst….
I have always pictured living in a house with personality – one that’s warm, personal and says a lot about its inhabitants. Understandably, this personality is not created overnight and requires something more than just a professional interior decorator’s touch. Our naked rooms are just begging to be dressed and I would like nothing more than to dress them. But I am looking straight into those oncoming headlights, just like those cute little rabbits that end up as someone’s rabbit stew.
Coordinating taste, texture and tone just seems like an impossible task. Scanning ads and the Internet for furniture pieces I like is easy. I’ve got a pile of torn out newspaper pages all depicting wonderful buffets, sofas and display cabinets. But matching pieces to decor, pieces with each other, pieces to fabric and having the vision to put it all together is beyond me. No number of trips to IKEA or items with really cool sounding nordic names will teach me the art of home decorating. Just digressing for a moment: those IKEA design names are so great, I wonder if they design first and wait for inspiration to name it or some manager at IKEA says make me a “pysslingar” or a “raskog”.
As a result, our rooms echo, our walls are bare, our sofa is old and our knick knacks are homeless. This friend I was talking to has so much talent in this area, I want to live in her house…. heck, I want to be her house! She decorated it herself and it screams “welcome” and this is a “home” from every angle. Thankfully, she has offered to provide me with some much needed advice, hopefully enough to overcome my decorating inertia.
Another tool I am going to use is the website, design-seeds.com. The site has delicious colour cards, presented in such a fashion that you mostly want to eat them. I am hoping to find at least a few cards that will give me some ideas on what matches with what. One of life’s little mysteries has always been that I cannot transfer my ability to colour co-ordinate my wardrobe to furnishings and wall colour. They are not so different, are they?
Maybe it’s the thought that getting it wrong has big consequences. The possibility of having to stare at an olive green coloured wall next to pink skirting for the next 20 years of dinnertime does not bode well. But they looked really good on the colour card and that small postage size sample we tried out before committing. They did officer, honest…..
The time has therefore come to bite the home decorating bullet. My knick knacks need a home, the rooms need to be dressed and I need to get over myself. My tones will now learn to match my textures so that I can telegraph my taste. Onwards and upwards to furniture swatch, colour palette and wood grain hell heaven!
Have you had any interesting home decorating experiences?
Raising the Curtain 
I share your indecision Jude. I was nearly going spare over picking colours. Our painter was the one who coached me through it. He said “The thing is you have to do is relax. Get the colour pallets and just relax over your choices”. Dulux have a great web site you can play on. I actually chose the colours and other people love them – go figure. Once you do it it’s not the end of the world, you just get to change it sooner.
Thanks Deb, hoping to check that colour scheme of yours one day soon ;).
As I have often heard, paint is cheap (well, depends on which brand, I guess). Good luck. We are renting now and I would love to be able to just paint and decorate to my heart’s content. I think my hubby would do a happy dance if knew how much I am itching to decorate and he is being spared the expense (thus the happy dance). Have fun, this is your home and I know whatever you pick you will ultmately love. Keep us posted on your progress!
Thanks for the encouragment, DAF. It’s really looking like a “Nike” job – just do it.
My wife doesn’t much like my ideas on decorating. If it were up to me our house would look more like a library with some places to sit.
Lee
Places I Remember
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
Nothing wrong with that! As long as you are permitted to make noise and speak 😉
We are in the midst of decorating our first home, and I have to tell you I have been very intimidated! We’ve been here 6 months and have only hung three small things on the walls and have yet to paint anything, though there are definitely changes that need to be made. We did find it helpful to have someone from Ethan Allen come out to look at our space and help us figure out our furniture.. Maybe that is a place to start? It’s free! 🙂
Happy last week of A-Z!
Thanks for visiting AJ and I’m glad I’m not the only one in decoaration dismay. Happy last week to you too, I will swing by your blog before the end of the Challenge.
We’ve lived here for almost 11 years, and only the bedrooms and the kitchen are painted. And I did some really funky textured painting in my master bedroom that was supposed to go with this whole island theme I was going to do… but 11 yrs later, and I still don’t even have curtains in there, just blinds! The rest of the house is still in carpenter paint & my nana’s bell collection is still in boxes in the basement. *sigh* I get so envious when I visit friends who have such lovely, welcoming homes. Ah well, one of these days….
We did pick out colors for the master bath and that is what I’m asking for as a gift for Mother’s Day this year… a freshly painted and modern designed bath! 😀
~Lynn
Hi Lynn, really good to meet you.What a lovely mother’s day gift, a modern designed bath. Does it come with special mother soak time as well? Yes, I feel so domestically challenged sometimes 🙂
I have a wonderful soaking tub that came with the bathroom… but I haven’t actually soaked in it for years! It’s the kids’ bathtime play area, and I’m usually too tired to clean it all out just so I can have a bath LOL
It’s always good to have a friend who has the decorating-gene, especially if they are willing to help and give advice. I’ve gone with several friends to pick out paint, counters, etc. and I find that most people know what they like, they’re just afraid it might be wrong. I say, if you LIKE it, then it’s right! Obviously, keep the big ticket items somewhat neutral (sofas), and change the pillows or paint (low cost!) Sometimes it is just getting started – that’s all you need. Good luck! Trust your gut.
I really like your tips and advice and you’re right one colour choice leads to the next one which leads to the furniture pieces and so on.
You hear that gut, it’s time to show me the way!
Neither Mary nor I has an eye for decorating, nor a desire to do any of it. We pick wall colors and hope that they won’t clash with the furniture, but we don’t lose sleep if they do. Having > 10 cats does that to you.
How many cats do you have?
Fourteen. Yes, we’re crazy. We’ve decided that when this group is gone, we’ll live with the memories.