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Does your outside match the inside?

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oobiecoo

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I was wondering... does the inside of your home "match" the outside of the home as far as style and formality? I see pictures of these beautiful french apartments with guilded mirrors and velvet and stuff and I''m sure the outside is just as grand. Do you think fancy interiors look ridiculous inside a brick ranch style house? Just curious as to everyone''s thoughts...
 

DebShine

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Lol... I thought this was going to be a thread about if you outside looks match the inside feelings! So, I guess I will change my answer... :)

Do what you want on the inside - it''s YOUR place, go CrAzY!!!!!! I always find it fun to enter a house and see what the folks that own it like to live in. Makes absolutely NO difference if you own an igloo and do a Switzerland castle motif or own a castle and do Southwestern motif.

Just make it you!
 

Tacori E-ring

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No...our outside is french formal (not sure if that is what it is REALLY called) but we like modern. Our inside isn''t super modern or anything but I do think it is a different style. Doesn''t bother me since I refuse to decorate for anyone but myself. Can''t be too off though b/c I get lots of compliments. I would love to make the outside more modern but that would require LOTS of money!
 

Lauren8211

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I actually love it when the outside doesn''t match the inside.

I tend to like older houses. Not so cookie-cutter. They have lots of character, and are generally in areas with lots of trees in older neighborhoods (at least in michigan). There is nothing I love better than walking into those older outer-style homes and seeing gorgeous wood floors, granite, stainless steel appliances, and really contemporary furniture and artwork. It just looks awesome.
 

somethingshiny

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Our inside and outside match. Very traditional with little eccentric touches. I remember I was so excited about seeing inside of this very formal Victorian home built in the mid 1800''s. I walked inside and it looked like a lazy-boy graveyard. It was awful! I thought "you have such a prize and this is what you do with it??" I helped restore another old Victorian home and it was immaculately reconstructed to look as if the last hundred years never happened. We had handmade velvet drapes with tassels, Italian marble fireplaces, plank wood floors, amazing chandeliers. It was beautiful and definitely matched inside and outside, and gardens and smoke-house too.

I do have a sis who like modern stuff and lives in a traditional home. I think it looks okay because she does incorporate small traditional elements. I guess what strikes me as odd, is Why would you get a house that is not your style in the first place. Like, if you like modern, why would you buy a grand old Victorian house. Or why would you buy a sleek contemporary home and fill it with Louis XIV?
 

movie zombie

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Date: 2/6/2009 10:13:27 AM
Author: DebShine
Lol... I thought this was going to be a thread about if you outside looks match the inside feelings! So, I guess I will change my answer... :)

ditto!

the answer to your question: sort of.


i''m reminded that in europe people live in buildings hundreds of years old with ikea insides.......

mz
 

April20

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Yes, actually. Our house was built in 1940 and is bungalo(ish). It has the arched doorways, some of the old doors and one surviving glass door knob that you would expect to see. We are still renovating (about 95% complete), but I have been very diliberate in my choices, making sure that they match what you would expect to find in a home that is almost 70 years old. We did hex tile on the bathroom floors, subway tile in the showers, wainscot in a couple of rooms, vintage style light fixtures and I ordered reproduction glass door knobs for all the doors except the one that still has the original. My furnishings aren't "vintage" with the exception of my guest room furniture- antiques from the 30s I bought from a woman on Craigslist. My style is more what I call comfortable contemporary. I like clean lines, but rich color and texture.

I have this whole theory that you have to go one way or the other when you have an older home and/or a specific style of home. Either you really make the inside look completely appropriate for the age/style OR you go 180 degrees different- ie older exterior architecture, sleek modern interior architecture/furnishings.
 

Tacori E-ring

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We bought our house b/c we got an AMAZING deal, loved the location, lay-out and neighborhood. It is not a house I would have chose based on the outside appearance alone. It is my least favorite look (well maybe not least but far from my favorite). But home buying for us is not an emotional decision but a logical one.
 

Elmorton

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Sortof?

Our house is a 1920''s bungalow. Inside, it has a lot of mission style elements.

Our furniture is pretty traditional, with some victorian stuff mixed in (and then a bunch of modern in our bedroom). More than half of our stuff is hand-me-downs (which I love!) - and we''re not really that design-conscious, but our stuff seems to tie in to the space pretty well.
 

lyra

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Well, we''re aspiring to a much better looking interior! We''re under constant neverending renovations. So for us, the outside looks neat tidy and fresh, but the inside has yet to catch up. Probably the day it does is the day we finally put up the for sale sign!!!

In the generic sense though, people in our city do renovate interiors toward very modern and contemporary finishes. I live in an old city with really old homes with lots of period details as well as all manner of mass produced cookie cutter neighbourhoods of all era''s up to present. Unfortunately, we are in a very cookie cutter neighbourhood. Blech! I actually *prefer* character over ultra-modern, but I''m in the minority.
 

purrfectpear

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Nope. My condo is in a historic 1922 hi-rise with wide mahogany trim and floors. The building''s lobby floor is marble, has ornate ceiling moldings, an original batchelder fireplace and is of the Renaissance Revival period.

My interior decor is very mid century modern (mies van der rohe, saarinen, noguchi).
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Hudson_Hawk

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I don''t think ours does. We''re in a circa 1965 raised ranch and our interior is slowly being updated to a more up-to-date traditional style (think chair rails, wainscotting, and subway tile/slate). I think our house looks really big on the outside, but the inside seems smaller. It''s probably because it doesn''t have the most open of floor plans.
 

Miranda

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For the most part. I love the style of the outside and knew I wanted the inside to reflect its mood.
 

HollyS

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IMO, I think the outside and inside should be compatible. Victorian furnishings look ridiculous in a ranch house; as minimalist industrial decor would seem really out of place in the Queen Anne. There are overlapping designs/furnishings that can be used effectively in many types of homes. But you don''t want a jaring difference in styles.

(Speaking as a frustrated intereior designer, and HGTV wannabe.
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AmberGretchen

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Ours mostly matches, I think. We''re in a new apartment building, but they built it with some classic styling inside - we have granite and SS appliances, but also crown molding and detailed doors. Our decorations are similar for the most part - sort of a combo of more classic and more modern, and I think it all goes together pretty well...

I agree with Holly that some amount of continuity is good, although I almost think its more important to have a strong sense of personal style and to try to stick with it throughout your decorating - I''ve seen styles from very classical to very modern that I''ve loved and I think the key is really taking a look and running with it to make it your own.
 

bebe

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Yes, mine does. My exterior elevation is New Orleans French Colonial. Old antique brick, columns and balconies. H and I did a lot of research on the design, made a few trips and designed the house with our architect.

The interior certainly goes with the exterior, but I still throw in a few surprises here and there.
 

Hera

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I do think that guilded mirrors and Rococo details would look odd in a ranch style house. I think there is incredible harmony when there is an honoring of the architecture so I would aim to find a balance. So, a touch of glamour such as a gilded mirror could be present in most any interior (including a ranch) with a mix of other, less fussy items. That's when you can call it "eclectic".
 

Itgirl76

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Well the outside of mine is a townhouse so I didn''t have much choice...so NO. The outside of my house is so countryfied....the inside is modern...strong modern lines...everythign is glass, steel, leather or very dark wood. I think your house should be as you like it esp. if your paying the mortagage. :)
 

fisherofmengirly

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I like it when houses don''t match. It''s always so much fun to go into a house and see what the owner''s have created inside. I think our house looks pretty country outside (front porch, red shutters and red door), but the inside has nothing country going on. I don''t think a person has to be inhibited by the look of the outside matching the inside. The outside is about the era the home was built in; the inside is about the way the homeowners live.
 
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