interior design

[lovelylulu]

i thought that i''d start a new thread rather than add a comment to the christmas present thread...

this past summer''s experience of planning our wedding really made me realize just how much i love design. i had so much fun looking at, deciding on and putting together all the paper, graphics, textures, colors, flowers, ribbons, etc. now that''s over and i had a bit of a design withdrawal. we are currently renters, but have been talking more seriosuly about buying a place. all this talk of having our own place, our first place, well i''ve been doing a lot of research on interior design. i just cannot wait to have a place that we decorate. ourselves. that reflects. us.

fortunately, our landlady is supremely nice and lax. she has let us paint our apartment. even footed the bill for our supplies. we''ve also acquired some non-disposable furniture

over the last year. this was a huge advancement because previously we''d been students getting by with pretty pitiful provisions.

mmm: i love those lamps. very much.

and i think the dresser is lovely. you''ve mentioned that you''ve leaned more towards the traditional and maybe you''ve just got to embrace it.

i''m still trying to define our style. luckily, my DH and i gravitate towards a fairly similar aestetic. DH tends to be a bit more modern, but overall we share similar tastes.

i love the beach, nature, clean lines, fit somewhere along the modern --- traditional continuum, sometimes bold graphics...

how would everyone else explain their style?
does anyone have any good resources to recommend?
and every good thread is made great with pictures...

 

[jcrow]

i''ve been thinking of starting a similar thread. i love seeing pser''s homes and how they''ve decorated them. like the xmas spirit thread. love that. seeing how people decorate for the holidays. or just decorate in general. i''m a visual person so i really love seeing what people do with their spaces.

we''re looking into buying a home too right now. i find myself gravitating towards warm colors. dark woods. very cozy.

 

[KimberlyH]

I tend to gravitate towards warm colors, dark woods (cherry is my favorite), mixed with neutrals but am not good at selecting things myself. Our house''s primary colors are extremely neutral, we have mostly tan walls and light marble floors with light stained oak in the kitchen and bar and darker granite countertops, our bathrooms have marble countertops. We didn''t choose any of it, it was built the way it looks now. I am terrified of decorating so I end up choosing lots of neutral beiges, etc. I am hoping as we progress in decorating this house (we have a long way to go before it looks finished) that I can move away from my fear and incorporate lots of beautiful color into our home. I want to do blues and bronzes in our bedroom and bring some red into our family room. Our living room and dining room are finished and I love it but it''s very formal (antiques) and I want the rest of the house to be more cozy.

 

[lovelylulu]

I put together a sort of collage.

at the top are some colors and patterns that i love, believe me there are many more. i''m somwhat obsessed with lovely fabrics and wallpapers. the bed, couch, ottoman (though not leather) are all pieces that we''ve acquired this year. and all from craigslist

we''ve saved so much and gotten stellar quality furniture. we just bought the leather chair pictured and we''re both quite excited. too bad there''s only room for one. the rest are just inspirations.



i can''t wait to own a house/apartment.

 

[lovelylulu]

wow. sorry. i had no idea the collage was that enormous.

 

[ljmorgan]

lulu, that image doesn''t work for me, it looks like it''s poiting to a file called interiordesign in your "My Documents" folder. Maybe try attaching it again?

 

[lovelylulu]

thanks lindsay. on my computer, the image is gigantic.

i''ll try to attach it differently and maybe i''ll work.

 

[moremoremore]

FUN! Love it all!

How does one make a colage??? I''d love to do one!

 

[lovelylulu]

thanks mmm. i have heaps more photos saved on my hard drive

.

i''m sure one of our more tech-savvy members can offer a simplified solution, but here is how i made the collage:

1) saved all my pictures as jpegs.
2) dragged any open jpeg file into a word document.
3) repeat
4) while in word you can shrink, enlarge, rearrange the pictures as you''d like
5) converted word file to and adobe pdf
6) converted pdf into a jpeg


like i said, there has to be a better way -- but, my computer doesn''t really have any good photo programs only paint which isn''t too helpful. sometimes, i just use my limited knowledge and take the long way around

 

[Mara]

i love interior design but i am not always the best at it, haha. as a result it takes me forever to actually make a decision on buying something. we''ve been in our house 3 years and it finally feels like it''s ''mostly'' done. there are still some areas i want to improve on, some things to buy, a few walls that need an accent.

i love using neutrals as the background, aka paint and walls and then spicing things up with color in prints or paintings, and pillows and things that go on shelves, room decor etc. but i also like one or two rooms with a splash of color on the walls then using neutrals to balance out the walls. most of our house is a soft taupe and then i use colors to accent. but our bedroom is a pale blue and then all the furniture is super dark chocolate mahogany and the accents, frames and lamps are white and silver. i want to paint our office a sage green and the furniture in there is reddish brownish mahogany.

in terms of what type of style i am, i have no idea what it''s called!! but i shop at PB, restoration and crate and barrel a lot. i like zgallerie and also small boutique kind of shops and stores with unique accents. west elm is a bit too modern for me for the most part though i like a few things. and i love ballard designs for their prints and some of their accents and furniture, but a lot of it is too country cottage for me. i like using some of their pieces to accent my more modern pieces though to make them a bit more cozy.

 

[Tybee]

Oh this is fun!
As a new home owner, I''ve been trying to decide what our style will be. We bought an older house, so I decided to let the house dictate our style. We are slowly (oh so very painfully slowly) trying to fill our little bungalo with classic pieces. I too LOVE dark woods (we had our wood floors refinished... so pretty.)
Since the house was built in 1930, I don''t want to put anything too modern into it. Luckily for us, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, etc. all pretty much cater to basic classic tastes. We''re also lucky because we can go to several antique fairs each month.
Our house is still kind of empty (especially the walls) but I''m happy to follow Mara''s lead and slowly let the pieces fall into place.
I should post some pics, though, of places where I just couldn''t be patient.
Our kitchen, for example, had a big EMPTY wall that was just killing me. I wanted to put something big up there, but couldn''t bear to wait until we found something, so I bought four large frames from Target (black frames with white matte... love that look.) I then walked around the house and took close up photographs of simple items. I printed them out on our photo printer, and taaaadaaaa! Instant art! It works for the short term anyhow, lol! Friends get ticked every time they look, though. They''re like, ''wait... isn''t that a picture of your teac pot?"

 

[Rock Candy]

Lovelylulu,

The style you describe is called "transitional" - this combines both traditional and modern elements. Google it and you''ll find a ton of info and pictures that may help you.

 

[moremoremore]

OK. Question. One of my lamps has a teeny tiny little air bubble in it....not horribly big but visible when looking...I''m almost too ashamed to bring it back to the store for an exchange...BUT, should I? Also, there are none in the store right now....so do I go through the hassle? Maybe the new lamp will have one in a worse bubble? It was a store order so I don''t pay shipping...It''s kind of like the smallest little Si1 that you can see even though you love the stone LOL...It''s a natural imperfection where glass can''t ever be 100% perfect (e/t my other lamp is)....

 

[Dee*Jay]

The part that would matter most to me is where the bubble is located. It if was in the front of the lamp smack in the middle of the fattest part, well, it''d have to go back. But if it was near the bottom or toward the back, then maybe not.

 

[moremoremore]

It's smack on the side....really no one would see it....I'm a psycho LOL...And it's about the size of the head of two pins LOL
Right on that top edge...

 

[Dee*Jay]

THAT''s the lamp you put behind the couch! The one you really have to stretch to even turn on. (

)

 

[Miranda]

I love decorating, too. We bought a new house last Sept., but, didn''t move in until July (new construction) so I had about 9 mos. to obsess about it...And I mean obsess. Literally, up all night planning and thinking, shopping endlessly. I could work entire weekends on paint color and fabrics for one room. I had all of the furniture and paint picked out and ordered. Then as soon as we moved I felt totally shocked and was afraid to do anything to my house. I second guessed every design decision I made. I also didn''t have much time for decorating between moving (and unpacking) and helping the kids to adjust to living someplace new. That included shuttling them to and from Surf Camp and Ocean Institute Camp AND frequent beach and pool trips. Anyway, I''ve gotten back into things now. The exterior elevation of my house is called Coastal Colonial so I''ve tried to decorate following that theme. Not old fashioned, just very classic and traditional. I''ll try a collage tomorrow. Maybe I''ll start a new thread because I am having some trouble with one side of the Living room. I can pick out furniture and fabrics, but, I have trouble with accessories. *sigh*

 

[moremoremore]

LOL Dee Jay! Well, I actually went to the store....I was told that e/t I received my second lamp (the first was in stock- last one) by mail in days, they are actually back ordered until June ...but another girl said discontinued! Yikes! So I love my lamp now...

And I totally know Miranda- It probably took me 2 weeks to pick the right blue gray for the den....although tonight I got down with my bad self and bought Atmosphere Blue from Resto. Hardware for the bedroom...We''ll be here for a few years at most so i''m not too worried about quality....

 

[moremoremore]

Sorry....I have to shot-gun post....I can''t master the colage....

 

[moremoremore]

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[moremoremore]

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[moremoremore]

! I heart Martha Stewart Bernhardt furniture

 

[moremoremore]

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[moremoremore]

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[moremoremore]

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[moremoremore]

I get my goove on to windows! I love them!

 

[Dee*Jay]

MMM - can I come and live with you? Your place looks FABULOUS!!!

 

[moremoremore]

! Starts at a MERE $7400 at WaterWorks!

 

[moremoremore]

LOL....I would too! These are just random design photos...not my place....I WISH!!!

This is where I really live (hahaha...KIDDING...still want to come live? ) The funny thing is, I just got this off of realtor.com and picked a crappy neighborhood in Queens, NY and it's STILL $300,000 for the ghetto! LOL
EDITED $510,000.00

 

[diamondfan]

I love clean lines, and some stylized contemporary stuff, but I really am very traditional...I love gilding, and beidermeier, and I love pale blues, greens, golds, darker wood only (in floors and furnishings), I love painted pieces...