I have a very traditional style; my favorite architectural styles are Georgian and Federal. I like raised panel cabinetry and wide plank wood floors, and I like deep cobalt and dark red for paint. Luckily, my husband just goes along with whatever I like, and doesn't care at all what the house looks like!

My dh and I are pretty much in sync, although he will tend to take fewer risks. I could describe my style as warm European modern. DH tends to a slightly sleeker more minimalist look, but I usually win and I tone down the edge and warm up his minimalist modern. We both love MCM, but aren't too purist about it.

That said, I also really like the modern/farmhouse look. I love exposed beams, wide-planked floors too. I love the steam-punk Victoria look too.

Ultimately I like good design, whether it be uber-traditional or ultra sleek Italian modern. As long as it is done well and isn't dull, I'll like it.

Modern, modern, modern! Slab doors, frameless cabinets, sleek appliances. But I also like warm, natural materials - walnut, stone, slate floors. My dream kitchen is clean (visually), quiet, simple, and efficient. No extras, just what is needed. My dream house would be an Eichler original. I even have a favorite model picked out! Too bad I live on the wrong coast and make way too little to ever afford a real one.

Like Adrienne, my husband doesn't care one whit about what the house looks like! He gives me free reign and always likes the outcome. It is a fantastic arrangement.

I definitely worked from the part to the whole. Starting 3 years ahead of time I found pieces, appliances, stools, things that I loved and made me happy. So I guess my style is vintage, industrial, West Indies, contemporary. We need a new category like Mutt for me.

My style is simple, clean lines, casual. I want my house to be comfortable and casual. All the cabinets in my house are either shaker or shaker with a simple bead. My light fixtures are all pretty simple. My furniture, which nice, has little frill, ruffle, or ornamentation. I guess I'm really kind of pottery barn-ish.

French manor style (could you have guessed that lavender?) I love blues and creams and yellows. Elegant yet formal yet casual and cozy. Lots and lots of big, comfy furniture in every room and a great place to cozy up, but with little formal details.

DF I think just goes along w/ me. He doesn't seem to really care too much, but does give input about colors.

Of course, although our whole house is going to be french manner, we went really "zen" in most of the bathrooms, including a zen sink that just arrived last week and is waiting for the house to be installed.

I could not for the life of me get DF to agree to a claw foot tub or anything that looked "old" and this was the one thing he really wanted and thought was cool, so the bathrooms took off from there. Now, they don't match the rest of the house :( But I think it will be OK:

I love vintage and interesting pieces. My style is streamlined, neat, very retro modern, pre-MCM with a touch of deco. I love funky touches and architectural salvage (and getting both in one makes my day). I have to add in modest and straightforward (nothing fancy). Chrome is our unifying element.
My goal is to have our house be welcoming, pleasant and functional, in all equal portions.
My dh is is gung ho about chrome items and some key elements. He has become a lot more interested in design than I would have suspected when I first met him ages ago. It is really fun when we both get psyched about the same things, although he still does not sweat the little details like I do, lol ;)

I love a lot of different styles. It would be great to have 3 or 4 different houses to explore them all!

Generally I like warm colors and wood with lots of natural light. I've always been drawn to Craftsmen homes (even though they often don't have a ton of light) Many of the decorating choices were inspired by artwork that we own or have done as well as many of the treasures DH acquired during his childhood abroad in SE Asia. That man came with quite the dowry! We have lots of buttery neutral yellows, leaf greens, oxblood leather and wood.

Our master bedroom is much more modern than the rest of the house with low slung furniture, edgier colors and a funky pose-able armed chandelier. Again this was determined by some of my husband's prints that were too bold a palette and abstract for our common areas.

For the most part DH and I agree on styles. He has a great sense of color and scale and he's drawn to classic pieces. He has a harder time imagining the finished product than I do.

So many wonderful styles!

Beagles- That's a stunning sink. If your DF loves the more modern styles in the bathrooms...what about the powder room? Maybe something more french manor home, in there?

In my farmhouse, the hall bath (which would normally be the powder room) actually has the claw foot tub, since it fits the style of that bathroom the best. The master bath is more modern, too, and a walk-in shower was a much better fit :)

Here's a few of my inspiration pictures for my 'frou frou' hall bathroom. (LOL)

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I would only have one light fixture (not three) probably something like this.

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Single vanity, but love the style.

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And the armoire in the center (smaller version) for linen storage.

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We have a v. elegant, "classic" white cab / marble kitchen but 2.5 years later I do kinda wish I'd been willing to be edgier, spicier. I love bright color and had dreamt of a pink kitchen. Not my husband's dream (fair). While doing it we had two little children (baby and a 2 year-old) and were also redoing nearly the whole house. I think I was overwhelmed, felt under the gun and also was concerned about the incredible amount of money we were spending. I guess I made some safe choices which now, a few years later, I wish had been otherwise. Like, instead of our beautiful polished nickel bin pulls / cut glass knobs, I wish I'd done something edgier, modern, to be the yin to the yang of the "traditional" kitchen. Maybe instead of the black island I wish we'd done a more vibrant color, like citron.

I think a lot of us make some "safe" choices when undertaking such a large, expensive project. But I still love and appreciate how much personality does make it through -- that's my favorite part about being a looky-loo, catching a glimpse of who lives there.

Definitely eclectic. From modern to more traditional. Our home is a early '90's suburban home that doesn't really dictate any certain style. DH generally goes along with whatever I choose. :) Our LR and DR are somewhat more traditional, while the rest of the rooms are geared more toward casual comfort.

I'm a whole bunch of styles, the different houses I would have if I were rich, lol.
But since I can only afford one, my style is transitional. A little contemporary with traditional thrown in. I'm at picking my lighting stage right now for our home and most will fit the contemporary style to please my hubby but I am insisting on a tradtional chandelier in the power room and one over the master bath. They are so pretty I'm tempted to put them everywhere, lol

Lavender_lass love the photos, they are simply stunning and I am looking forward to your home.

Beaglesdoitbetter, that zen sink is amazing, wow!!

Thanks xc60 :)

Lavender, your dream bathroom sounds perfect! That sink pictured is in the powder room... I know- it doesn't go! But I thought it was cool and wanted DF to have something he picked out, so I wasn't going to veto it. Our master bath is the only "french manor" bathroom in the house. Funnily enough, that vanity you found is the one our cabinet maker is basing our vanity off of. The exact one!

The upstairs bathrooms, one is going to have a concrete wave sink and the other is all in white marble w/ a stained glass mural. They are going to be cool, but they don't go!

Well, we live in a mid-19th c farmhouse with most of its original details intact, so I am somewhat constrained by that.

I want a plain, workman-like space for the kitchen essentials, with nothing pretending to be something it isn't. (No faux wear marks or fly-specking details on my cabs for instance - at least none applied at the factory; we're not talking about what will happen naturally if someone leaves the doggone screen door open again! For those I've got my Spic 'n Span bucket ready.)

I know this sounds drab and dull, but that's not the case since I have details like 14" tall skirting boards with deeply curved moldings; an open staircase with a second-floor gallery and the underlying (also rigid) balance and symmetry of a full-on Greek Revival building. With such strong elements never out of the picture, I have just had to learn to get out of the way.

Since almost all our stuff is passed down from our families, (some period antiques and but mostly just old pieces, approaching legal antique status of their own, but not period, IYKWIM) my "style" of decorating is pretty much "what we found in the attic", combined, now, with what we've inherited from our parents. I can't really imagine what it is like to choose to decorate in a defined "style" or go out intending to purchase stuff to go with a particular style. When I read or see pictures here of what people are working on, I often wonder how you ever decided which one to choose. Seems like a lot of energy is expended working out those details.

I just concentrate on 1) What do I need to make this room work for how we want to use it? 2) What do I have that will do the job? 3)(If I have more than one option for #2) Which piece looks best (mostly scale) with the other stuff in the room? 4) What can I/do I have to do with it (or to it) to spiff it up enough so make it presentable, if necessary? (If I can't find a suitable piece for some use, then we usually do without until a solution appears.)

In general I find that my old stuff tends to look well with my other old stuff, providing the scale of the piece is right, particularly in the context of it all being old stuff, in an old house. And to some degree, after attending to comfort and practicality/feasability and cleanliness (which can include cleaning up a wood finish or redoing upholstery), I really don't care to do more.

The only place where I can fall in with the forum's decorating mania, is color. That really lights my fire! I can spend weeks and months thinking about, testing and generally feeding the decorating part of my brain while contemplating which color to put on my walls.

L

My style is probably french manor more than anything else. But I tend to use deeper colors, mid to dark wood tones, and lots of moulding trim.

My living room is lavender and cream. I hung lavender sheers over cream lace curtains all framed in navy panels. The dining table is dark, ornate, and huge (half for clutter half for eating).

The living room is painted dark red with an off-white couch, expresso wood blinds, and accents in brass and brown. You could call the couch modern, but it comes across as simple. It's not angular. I hate sharp angular edges. My home is soft and pouffy, comfortable classic.

The rooms are united by wrought iron and tan moulding trim.

When I think of visual impact, I think more like a painter - do the colors and shapes echo and balance? I don't worry too much about "styles." Then I check for machine wash tumble dry, and think what it will look like with accents of mail, dust, dog hair, and a project or two. And some finish worn away. Will it look classic or trashy in twenty years?

DH is an ikea man. We compromise ...

Simple but rendered in unusual and beautiful materials. Old wood, white ceramic, zinc, terra cotta etc etc Patinaed, but never faux. Farmhouse, because it was one. Lots of natural light and not too much junk. A fruit bowl, hydrangeas.

Re below: I don't have enough restraint to pull this off, and our house has lots of stone terracing and patios but it is clapboard, not stone. Just the same, this is my inspiration house. When I am choosing something I sort of ask myself what these h/o's would have done ...

Here is a link that might be useful: one of my favorite home tours

I'm pretty sure I want to live in liriodendron's house. That sounds exactly like my dream home. :)

I guess my style would be traditional/warm/comfy/country/cottage. I like soft (not exactly pastel) colors, old quilts, handmade and hand-me-down pieces. Some antiques (not a total room though). I like natural things, wood, stone.

As much as I would LOVE a 19th century farmhouse, I have a 1920's craftsmand style bunglow and the more I research that type of house the more I realize how much it fits me.

Interesting question. I don't know what my style is called. I like all the photos shown by the posters above. There is beauty in each of them that I can appreciate.

When I look around my home, every piece of furniture that I have picked out has curves to it. Almost all of my furniture has some sort of distressed look to the wood. For instance, my coffee table, which is Milling Road by Baker, came with dings in it. I can't do high gloss or perfect surfaces too well. If it is distressed, it saves me the distress of the first ding.

Everything has shades and tones of color. If it is a squared surface, there has to unique patterning in it. I've got scabos travertine in the master bathroom (and I love the passion inherent in that stone), copper slate in the guest room, chisled edge travertine in the kitchen, and saltillo tile in the basement. So, I'm not a very uniform type decorator.

My favorite furniture pieces are the handmade ones. Our entertainment center was built by a local woodworker (not many of those left these days). He also built a lovely wine cabinet for us. Our kitchen table & dining table were built by Antique Tables Made Daily. Both have hand planed surfaces. Everytime I pass by, I have to run my hands over the undulating surfaces. I like to mix different wood species and stains, which is why my kitchen ended up two toned. I couldn't stand to plan something with one single wood tone in it.

I love Oriental rugs with the intricate patterns. I don't have anything that is high contrast or highly feminine. Although I do love touches of sparkly crystals! All of my rooms are different colors and I don't predict that ever changing. No white walls for me!

DH goes along with every thing I pick out. He's colorblind, so I think that works to my advantage;) I had free rein on my renovations, but I was very excited sharing the process with him.

Very very eclectic. We moved into this 1890 Victorian from a regular suburban 70's house. I already had hand made furniture that I loved. I added to that with family antiques that my Mom brought with her when she came to live with us.

When we started renovating I wanted Zen bathrooms so that is what I got. But I love the touches of Victorian too so we have the original wood floors refinished and the moldings and doors and hardware. We added to that as we competed rooms that didn't retain their original trims.

When I got ready to do the kitchen I collected vintage/salvage from a place in NH. They would send me pics of things and I would purchase the things I wanted and they held it all for months till I was ready for it. All was shipped in a Rodeway container to me.

I then designed the kitchen around the salvage and also what we found as the walls were removed . It was a daily process of DH and I with graph paper and our GC being very flexible.

I am so fortunate that DH is the definition of " easy going" so he offered support and opinions and then applauded everything we did and gives me all the credit.

Collected is what we have ended up with. Added lots of Oriental carpets to the mix and already had a huge collection of Native American Art. Family antiques and handmade furniture which we have added to. It all works though...at least we think so. c

Hazzardous, esthetically driven, and outside the box.

No, seriously, I think "of a piece" with the house. Not necessarily a facsimile of the period the house was built, (I have a modernist kitchen in an 1838 building), but something that respects the rest of the architecture and fits in its place whether it be a full-on kitchen that really asserts its presence or a small discreet stealthy kitchen tucked into a corner.

casually elegant. clean, pared down style without a lot of superfluous nonsense. fem without the flouncy.