Thursday, April 30, 2009

Interior Design - what do you prefer?

I want to know what makes an ideal home interior to you? Do you want the aesthetics to have a calming, peaceful effect? Or a warm comfy effect? What about a more eclectic & artsy take? ...Simple & minimal or cozy and filled with memorable items?  As you get into styles, do you want absolute classic; and if so, do you want a more simple classic or a more ornate classic?  What about rustic?  Do you want modern, (or are you intrigued by it, but feel you can't pull it off or that it would be trendy)? Forget about cost or exactly what you think you CAN do; what overall feel do you want to your home?
How much do you think the feel of your home affects you and your family? Is it something worth a lot of effort to you? -(and yes over time, some of the money will add up some, but there are less expensive ways to keep it beautiful!)
I want to know what you want out of your home! Even if you feel it's full of hand-me-downs with no room for spending at this moment, I want to know what you envision as your happy interior.



This living room combines a sense of calmness with accents of warmth and artistic touches, but overall, gives an unassuming yet well designed comfort and ease on the eye.  Some of the good things working for this living space include: good use of peaceful muted colors for the large color items (walls, couches) combined with small accents of bright colors (pillows, accessories), nice display clusters (vases, accessories off center complementing their supporting furniture instead of competing with it), radial variation (ie. round table -child friendly!- & circular pillow pattern to soften up all of the squared off lines), and last for now; good area rug use (ie. throwing a rug down on hard floors as opposed to carpet, as well as overlapping furniture on it; it is always good to overlap furniture legs or at least a coffee table on an area rug - otherwise, it feels a bit empty and awkward).  
The main thing I would possibly change is the oversized pictures on the tv wall; I think the homeowners might be trying to make that wall the focal point wall instead of the fireplace wall (which I think could have been a great focal point wall, '70s era and all); they still could have achieved this with slightly smaller picture frames or a different decor arrangement.
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I truly do want to help friends and family decorate their homes when they want my help - I'm not just saying that; I really want the experience because it is something I love and want to become more experienced at.  This does not mean I will try to push my personal taste of modern on you or that you need to spend a lot of money on buying furniture or accessories (I actually like the challenge of taking what furniture and accessories you have & rearranging it all for the most comfortable flow and feel in the home - this is especially important if your home is listed in the real estate market).  So if you're up for my interior opinions and ideas, let me know!  This can be done long distance as well with pictures/descriptions.

10 comments:

Bianca said...

That was the first thing I noticed about the pictures, "wow, those are big". Funny.
Then I saw a little kid in it, and my next thought was, "dang, someone actually lives there?"
I like stuff that is classy and clean. Most of our stuff is still hand me down type furniture and others were bought because we got a great deal on it.
I can't wait to one day have my home the way I really want it. For now it's just doing the little things here and there to make it better. But I don't necessarily love anything about it, except the windows which we paid and arm and leg for and will be paid off next month, yay!!!

Annabelle said...

So cute! I thought of officedesigns.com's children's barecelona chair! I love how classic kids furniture is getting these days. Great site that one!

Breanne said...

Being timid are you? This is no trick question, just wondering what you all typicallly want from your home ....
humor me :)

Janalee said...

alright I'll go. I don't know what contemporary, eclectic, rustic, or ornate mean.

I like cozy simple with things all over that have meaning or history. I don't care about being in style too much, though if it happens, it's a bonus.

I don't feel I have the right home layout to do anything good in though. And it's not a priority right now. But if someone were to swoop in and do it all for me, that'd be fine.

Denise said...

I'm still learning what my style is but I am definite need of some designer help. I have my great grandma's double rocker love seat chair thing. I love it. I remember it from being little but I cannot use it until it's recovered. My mom has had it for a while and recovered it in a country blue plaid about 10 years ago. It's awful. So I went to look for fabric today at Home Fabrics and I found quite a few that i like but I don't know what I want or what would be most practical (and yes practical is important to me.) So here's my offer, you come up or I come down if there's a Home Fabrics Store down there, I'll take you to lunch and you help me figure out what I want. I haven't found an upohlsterer yet but I want to get the fabric while I have an extra little bit of money and its all on such a good sale. Ok I'm done. That's my plea for help!

Jessica said...

Ahh, well I too am still figuring out what I like, I mostly just don't like worrying about it too much. I would love for somebody who knows me,(hint hint) to give me some ideas. I like cozy, I like it to look like kids really do live here, I like some bright happy colors but not too much. I am starting to like things worth more meaning/history...hopefully if I have any leftover money after the move you can help me. I just found an area rug I would like at Target. I don't want it to look like you just walked into store, I want it to look homey and livable. Okay I am done..

paula said...

I like my home to be inviting, so that when someone comes thru the door they feel comfortable. Not sloppy comfortable but warm and welcoming. I am trying for contemporary country. I have been minimizing the amount of stuff to the things I really like and shipping the rest to DI. I think I dwell too much sometimes on what my home looks like. It doesn't have to be perfect and every thing match, but I feel better in a space that is more cohesive, where it all looks like it belongs, but doesn't necessarily match. I will be honest and say I wish my home were cleaner. On the surface it appears clean usually, but with 3 dogs and living in dusty AZ, it is hard to keep up. Over all though, I really love my home. We got the rest of our new carpet and if I could get new tile, I'd be a happy girl. We got new bedroom furniture for our 25th anniversary and I have to say I LOVE it. I avoided the pull to get something country and went with a more classic set and I'm so happy with it. I'm always open for any suggestions.

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Jordan said...

Breanne! You were the winner of my Sew Apropos giveaway. Please email me your info soon!

You have a great blog here.

Anonymous said...

You're so talented! I know nothing of what looks good what doesn't. We have one thing in our living room that is actually brand new, everything else is hand me down and I'm okay with that. I would love for someone to tell me what looks good and then I can say yeah or nay and as long as my home is clean, I love it. But if I had the money I would let you come and do your thang, just as long its fuctional with kids and I wouldn't want to kill them if they spilt something or broke something, pooped or peed on it!