What is your favorite decorating style?

[heartofmine]

I really love primitive/country style...and of course on a budget.

[ladykemma2]

my style is relaxed georgian/ english country manor/williamsburg. very 1700-1820. i like jewel colors for paint colors. i like to buy "used" "salvation army traditional"-- for a shabby gentile look , like upper class homes in England. you can put your feet on the furniture and i don't flip out.


here is an old story i have told a few times.
i was lucky to spend the day in an english noble lord (hereditary lord) and lady's home when i lived there for halliburton. the lord of the manor worked for halliburton as an engineer and so invited my ex and I to a day at their home and lunch. this is where i learned to relax in the "matchy matchy everything has to be new" american thing that we do.

the home originally was a medieval timberframe - as you entered to the right, there was a BIG, huge, saggy, off center, classic medieval hall with the little rooms (buttery, bedroom, etc) off the end. Imagine the fire in the middle of the hall floor. Imagine a lady in a warm woolen houpeland and hennin hat telling her servants instructions for the day. Imagine everyone asleep in the hall. this room was used as a library.

then got added tudor/elizabethan addition with linen fold wooden paneling, flagstone floor, enormous fireplace, and the stairs which went up, which was presently the entry hall area. Then was a georgian addition to the rear, which was technically and for photographic purposes the front of the house. there was an upstairs to the georgian addition. It was long and one room led into the other, in the late baroque/early georgian style. To the left, a modern 1960 era addition with a real kitchen, heat, and plumbing trailing off the end.

all the plumbing was in that end of the house so if you wanted a toilet, radiator heat, or a shower you had to put on a robe and go to that end of the house. I'm sure there was heat elsewhere, i just didn't see it. in england there are these fancy white painted radiator covers you can get that look like furniture.

we weren't allowed upstairs. both the lord and lady worked for a living and i don't think they had time to clean up the upstairs. it was also private space. it wasn't that big, big enough for a normal (upper class) family. I am sure the former servants lived somewhere in the home.

i can't begin to imagine what the taxes were on that place or trying to comply with english heritage. there were miles of land associated with the estate and I'm sure that brought in an income.

what i learned was that everything doesn't have to match. that rich people use washable slipcovers in chintz and damask, and keep furniture for generations. it was interesting that 1960s furniture was in the medieval hall, that modern, jacobean, georgian, victorian and medieval furniture existed comfortably in the same room. It was ok that the paint was peeling, and that the walls weren't straight. All of these things would drive an american batty.

so learned to relax and paint my front door royal blue.

[josantoro]

eclectic/folk art/early salvation army/shabby chic.

[Contrary Housewife]

It's a sordid love triangle between cottage, traditional, and minimalist. I like charming, quirky, yet tidy and fresh/clean looking. Stuff doesn't have to match, but I don't do "shabby".

[heartofmine]

LadyK that is a very interesting story. I'm picturing it all in my mind as I read along.

[peanut]

I have no idea! I'm guessing it's eclectic... Lots of crafts, wood (oak, cherry, ash), brick...a real mishmash...and that's just the living room... Our house was built in 1928, so we kind of go with a country/Mission look. But we are no where near as spartan as people were in 1928!

[Syn D]

Eclectic..

[BlissMommy]

I like black wrought iron and dark woods. Lots of pinks and girlie stuff in my office space and my youngest daughter's room. I like the tuscan decorating style, but more livable.

[Ramona]

I'd say casual and comfy, there's no gingham in my kitchen but I do admit to having vegetable print fabric curtains and tablecloth.




A long time ago I saw an article about covering furniture with sheets. That worked well but then I decided to use matching comforters on top. They look something like this:

[heartofmine]

Ramona that is a really neat idea with the comforters. I really like that.

[Ramona]

Ramona that is a really neat idea with the comforters. I really like that.

It's a terrific idea, they go into the huge machine at the laundromat and come out looking brand new. The living room set they cover is over 20 years old .

[donnawatts]

I feel my taste is a bit casual and funky. I like colorful curtains, chandeliers and wall art. But my hubby's taste is more formal and classic. So my home decor is in between these two.

[Starlight9803]

my house is mostly eclectic, but leans a bit more towards primitive/native american/hunting lodge in style. No camo or anything lol, but my dream catchers, medicine shields, wolf, horse, nature, and wildcrafted items lend that look. Also my interior colors are more toward natural colors, mainly burgundy and green with tan and navy blue accents and lots of natural wood furniture.

[nuisance26]

~Know the set of the Dick Van Dyke Show? That. I like mid-century modern and stuff from the 30's to 50's as long as it doesn't come across as too retro/tacky. I like a room of mostly neutrals with just a couple splashes of color. And very minimal decor. I prefer to let the shape and style of the furniture pieces, the arrangement and the finish on the walls/floors/ceiling be the decor.~

[oheoh's momma]

well i buy stuff because I like it..don't really what to call it...

my up lr is a very big room with a large chocolate brown sectional and a glass and bronze coffee table....there is a cowboy lamp in a cornor on an old oak end table..( it is very cute hubs loves it) there is a entertainment cabinet withan 46' flat screen a fire place with a large bronze candle opera in it... I have a rocking chair with foot rest beside the coffe table I switch blue and red in the winter to perk me up and to leopard print in summer. also have about 30 crosses in here and tons of family pics. 2 cherry picture cabinets chest high also wind chimes hung in several places up stairs....angels, elephants, light houses, glass....

also have green chaise loungs and a victorian love seat with a high glass round table on it..with 2 pretty tea cups and saucers. a mohagany (handmade by hubby) blanket chest in fornt of one of the windows.

bedroom is oak traditional with curtains and an old fashioned white wedding ring quilt with pink and green flower print very shabby chic. a Bible verse in a gold frame. a Thomas kinkaid painting, family pics and pictures of white lillies. my dolls on top of my dresser (they were my mommy's and my daughters) There is a Buddah, guardian angels, crossses and a huge bronze candle opera. also scattered about.

The bathroom is turquioze and chocolate brown. I have a white wicker shelve with assorted towels.a bronze wrought iron stool for folded towels. a wine rack for extra wash clothes/ shampoo/ soap. a huge chocolate brown basket on the sink with tolieteries and 2 Thomas Kincaid paintings all are light houses ( My mommys) and a glass vase full of seashells from our trips to the beach...with a blueish green shower curtain and no curtain hung yet..( we have lived her 1 1/2)

The kitchen is beige with white cabinets my applainces don't match white and black..with an oak table and bench (antique) 2 oak chairs with 2 high backer wicker chairs in brown my Lord's supper is on a doily with 2 crystal tea light candles... an oak buffet with a large painting of an arbor with flowers galore..in a heavy gold frame over it... my crosses again and a large collection of roosters..

my counters are orange and I have an orange red apple canister set .
my breakfast bar has 3 grey bar stools with a rooster napkin holder with orange red apple salt and pepper shakers

dwn bath is pepto bismol pink so everything in there is rasberry and white wicker.
now decorating the laundry room. this is my part of our home so what style is it?