How to decorate in a *timeless* style
parma42
15 years ago
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newdawn1895
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
How do I decorate a living room with a 2000's style?
Comments (1)Try mixing some of your cool retro pieces with a few simple and sleek modern ones....See MoreHow do I decorate a living room with an 80's style?
Comments (3)If you Google "80's decor" there is wealth of information. A lot will depend on what look you are going for. Pastels, florals, monochromatic, neon are just some of the looks that were popular. And don't forget about the wallpaper borders!...See MoreHow Has Your Decorating Style Evolved Over Your Lifetime?.. and more
Comments (13)I could echo a lot of what everyone wrote. Especially allison's list of things that have remained the same. The only difference is that I'm not as keen on fall colors. I love blue and white in fabrics as well as transferware, yellow (especially for walls), and have been adding more green and red/coral in recent years. My taste has been pretty consistent over the years (I'm in my mid-50s). I started off like shivece, following my parents' style with the comfortable couch, classic chairs, Persian rugs, but ended up going off in a more English country direction. Plus my parents were never interested in antiques, unfortunately. In high school I started buying shelter magazines and tearing out pages which I kept in a binder which I took to college with me lol. I remember swooning over and dreaming about floral Sanderson curtains back then. I've always loved the English country look, well-worn and well-loved full of interesting and meaningful things. Since high school and college, I've pretty much refined and distilled my tastes. I'm much less tempted by decorating "tangents" now that I'm more certain and confident in my tastes. The major change I think has been a change in preference from blowsy, chintz-y florals to more restrained florals and block prints. I have to be careful all the time to remember to vary the size of prints because I'm naturally drawn to smaller prints. In my late 20s, I had first a rental and then a co-op apartment in NYC, where I was born and raised, and a good job and was able to start buying some good furniture to the vintage pieces I'd bought. A few antiques, a good sofa, some nice reproduction pieces from Baker. At the time, Macy's and Altman's had beautiful furniture departments (with antique, new, and reproduction items), and ABC Carpet & Home wasn't trendy and overpriced. Things came to a screeching halt in terms of decorating style a few years later when I married and moved to a farm in rural western Canada. This was before the internet, and the only place to buy furniture that wasn't a six-hour roundtrip was Sears. My husband had bought the farm with a sad little farmhouse just before we met (terrible timing). He had painted everything a cold hospital white (he thought it looked clean), painted the baseboards a cool light grey because he thought it was practical (this was in the early 90s so he was ahead of the curve lol), in the kitchen a horrible white, grey, and mauve-y pink sheet vinyl flooring, and in the rest of the house, cheap grey wall-to-wall carpeting. The only furniture he had was, echoes of czarinalex, a horrible 70s sofa -- orange, mustard, and dark brown acrylic plaid -- and matching swivel/rocking arm chair. The place looked better with my furniture (the sofa got exiled to the basement, and the chair stayed with a sheet over it because it was VERY comfortable and made a great nursing chair for three kids in five years), though I could never get my Persian rug to stop "creeping" in the living room over the wall to wall carpet. We did repaint the walls, but all of the flooring stayed until it wore out and could be replaced; plus we knew we wanted to build a new house and wanted to save our money for that instead of replacing what was, as my grandparents would have said, "serviceable". I did manage to find some gems here and there -- like the large Chinese blue and white fishbowl planters I found at a garage sale (which I keep ferns in). And then the internet arrived, and I was able to read and learn more, including at GardenWeb and blogs (for the love of a home, Ben Pentreath, etc) and find stores and shops online, esp Etsy and Ebay. About nine years ago my parents died and left a NYC apartment full of stuff like oriental rugs and Kindel and Henkel Harris furniture, and a vacation house in the Caribbean with a few things. Through some hard work and creativity, we were able to bring back a number of things, and planned around them for the new house we finished building last year. It's not always easy to hang tight when a favorite all of a sudden becomes trendy. Though living in the back of beyond, sometimes it's helpful when certain things -- like ikat, suzani, block prints, blue and white porcelain/ceramics -- become popular because then they end up at places like Anthropologie, Pottery Barn, and Winners/TJ Maxx where I have access to them : ) . Especially when the trend is truly over and done with, and the markdowns are huge lol. allison, my parents were firm believers in your rule #1 and I've tried to follow it but sometimes it can be hard, especially living here when I'm never sure what I might be able to find/source....See MoreWhat style is our new house, and how should we decorate?
Comments (26)Kaya the thing that turns Farmhouse or Modern Farmhouse into Industrial Farmhouse are components like heavier metals, metal trimmed out furniture with rivets, heavy beams, pulleys or industrial style wheels on furniture factory style light fixtures (your island pendents) etc. The term can be thought of this way. It is basically an old factory that is turned into housing but farm style added. If that makes sense. Exposed brick can be one, but this goes with several decor styles so I wouldnt want you to think , I love exposed brick that means I like industrial. I may not be describing this well so I googled definition and they say what I am but better LOL "Industrial farmhouse style combines comfortable and welcoming farmhouseatmosphere with the edgy, rugged lines of industrial style. Traditional industrial style is based on the concept of living in a factory or warehouse setting—picture a modernloft apartment in a big city." Some photos here rivets on hood, barn door, metal pendents, barstools, weathered island here exposed air ducts, island, lighting, windows and painted brick walls here metal and exposed beams, weathered brick wall, concrete island Here hood, weathered walls, heavy beamed island here weathered beams, metal trimmed weathered island, pendents, weathered flooring Hope this helps...See Morepatricianat
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