Red...I have never been talked into anything or bought anything that I didn't think was a good idea in the first place. However, I have been talked out of things that I had intended to buy such as the Negro art. After getting so many opinions pro and con I knew that I didn't want it. It lost it's appeal for me and saved me quite a lot.

....Jane

Most of the decisions I've made for our remodel have been based on something I've seen, learned, or received suggestions or encouragement about, on GW Home Dec and Building forums. From my ORB Baldwin hardware to my Baby Turtle walls, Versailles travertine and Carlisle wood floors, and hammered copper vessel sink, I've probably seen it here first!

I usually research everything to death before I make a decision, and I'm a very visual person, so GW is a good place to start. The only downside is I've probably spent a zillion more dollars than I would have otherwise because it's opened my eyes to a whole other world, but I'm also making decisions that I'm less likely to regret later.

Like newdawn and juddgirl2 I have never bought into something I didn't like, and research the heck out of things before taking the plunge. This forum has helped me to expand my knowledge and creativity with different idea's and products that are available. It's also helped me to define my style in regards to what I do like and what I don't. But everything thing we've done as a direct result of the folks here, we have been extremely happy with. I just wish I would have discovered this amazing forum sooner!

Sadly, yes. I loved everyone's neutral colors and chose one to go in my office. The wainscotting and trim are painted colors I love, but for the upper part, I went with a color that I (ultimately) just can't stand. It LOOKS nice, just not me, at all. So I'm waiting on the free Glidden paint to shake it up and go back to being true to myself. And I'll continue to admire the beautiful, muted colors I see on GW, just knowing they're not for me.

What an interesting question. :)

I let myself be influenced by the court of public opinion when I was new but only bought one thing I didn't care for, as a result, and DH likes and wanted it, so...

What I like now is that there are a few people here who *get* the look I'm after, and answer accordingly. I'm all about mixing colors, shapes, patterns, textures and styles.

Funky, bella and some others can work well with me. Speaking of bella, yes, she cost me quite a few $$$. I was posting a variety of DR chairs and wasn't in love with any of them. Votes were taken and I still wasn't feeling the love, lol. Then she came up with the winner.

When I saw these, the search was over and I wasn't about to let myself be swayed by any naysayers. No more voting, just a big "pretty please" to my DH. They were delivered a few months later and I'm still in love.

My experience: I had 25 memebers of the "Rose Society" over to my home for our monthly meeting. One lady told me my home was too modern for my dinningrooms antique mahogany table & shield back chairs. The real alabaster light fixture didn't go with the rest of the house either. So I've been looking at ultra-modern dinningroom sets ever since......until I saw all of your antique dinningrooms. Now I can rest happy. I'm just one of "ya all"! I'm adding an antique torchier lamp!!!!

You did good Parma and the chairs are lovely. I think most of us know are style pretty good and can't be talked into something that isn't us.

...Jane

Note: Most of us are mature women and know what we like we just need confirmation, no?

I mostly come here to try to keep myself from doing something crazy...like putting a pair of red bookcases in my breakfast room. Sometimes, you guys help me put the brakes on. Most times not! ;-)

Happy to say that I love the red bookcases and they even showed up in House Beautiful this month. Really!

{{!gwi}}

I agree with others who say that they have developed a clearer sense of their own style being here. I haven't made any "mistakes" in a long time.

Amy, I think of your bookcases so often. :)

I remember being one who voted against the red and couldn't have been more wrong! As often as I like to mix things up, I'm hesitant to steer others in that direction, for some reason. They are perfect!

If I knew your address, I'd probably break in and steal that painting. It is something you could design a room around. I can't tell you how fortunate you are to have a talented DH.

Your spaces are some of my very favorite.

You guys are helping me sort though and discover my likes and dislikes. My house is finally starting to come together in a good way, it's from your help. You've saved me from a lot more decorating mistakes that would've cost me. DH thanks you too. :)

"Have you ever wondered why Garden-webbers seem to have so much more influence on your decorating choices and style, than your friends and family? (Whoa! Wait--is that just me, or does it happen to you too?)"
Me too!!

This is an interesting topic! No, no one has persuaded me into buying/changing or doing something I wasn't sure of.

I've received excellent help in choosing paint colors which I'm lousy at doing.

I mostly come here for ideas, which is better than asking a friend IRL, because this way we can get sooo many ideas in one topic!

I'd have to answer no to all the questions except the last. Not really amazing but I do really like my air switch in my kitchen. I had never heard of one until I started hanging out on the kitchen forum when we were remodeling two years ago. And someone on there helped me find my faucet. Spent way more than I ever thought I would for a faucet but no regrets, whatsoever. Oh, and that's how I found my soapstone installer. I'm thankful for that poster's help everyday!

If anything I find my tastes are influenced negatively here, not in a bad way really, just differently. I love funky bohemian combined with traditional and modern but don't feel that love from most posters so sometimes I second guess myself.
There are some canvas prints at Pier One I am crazy about yet they are cheap. Will I hate them because they look cheap?
($30 each btw) Will they make my decor seem too wild? Cheap?
As an artist, most other artists abhor this kind of thing and usually are quite snobbish about having only originals in their house. They would not buy a cheap print from Pier One!
So, can I over come this pressure and the pressure here (subtle however) and actually get what I love?

I do not like the vast majority of art people choose for their home so I would never ask anyone here "what do you think of this print?"

I'm rambling but I guess it's all about keeping myself true to me.

I can't say I have been pushed into anything I don't like either. I generally come with an idea in mind, and if others see my vision, then it's confirmation for me to go with it.

Even though I come here in spurts, which I hope is ok with you all, I love this forum and am so grateful to all of you who make it up! Thanks!

"I think most of us know are style pretty good and can't be talked into something that isn't us." Ditto! That's me exactly. I know what I like and most times picture something in my head. The trouble comes with trying to find items to make the picture come to life. LOL

Here I will more often ask where to find something, how to do something (like my3dogs lamps recently), etc. rather than to get a yay or nay on a decorating project. I also think there is alot of inspiration to be found here.

tina

I don't think you folks have really pushed me into anything, but the bathroom forum sure got me into a LOT of trouble. Somehow a modest ~$5,000 bathroom remodel (acrylic tub-shower unit, vinyl flooring, no $500 toilet!) to turn a nonfunctioning Bathroom From Hell into something usable morphed into a ~$17,000 monstrosity. An extremely pretty monstrosity, of course, but still! I swore up and down I hated tile floors - grout is evil, ice-cold surface and hardness on the feet/legs - and what did I end up with? TILE! And not just regular tile, but mosaic tile with its 513 million grout lines, and a floor warming system. No, no, couldn't have Swanstone shower panels with a clawfoot tub, that would look cheap, so we ended up with a cu$tom tile $hower (at least I could get away with wicked cheap tile). I let people talk me into Hudson Reed for a towel warmer/radiator when I really should have bruised the Visa card for a Burnham Classic radiator - my plumber got rich on that dang thing, it leaked constantly. And of course nothing but the spendy Toto toilet would do! (Until the day we moved out I regretted letting people talk me into that so-called "comfort height".)

I can't remember whether it was you folks or the TBOs who talked me into doing everything in the bathroom brushed nickel (I'm not terribly fond of the cool-toned metals) because of the console sink's brushed nickel base. I ended up hating the console sink and so then I was stuck with a roomful of brushed nickel I couldn't afford to replace.

"comfort height"

AARGH! I let someone in the builder's office talk me into that one. POS, if you'll pardon the pun!

parma - what a gorgeous room (and the chairs are pretty swell too)!

I found the forum when I was building and it was VERY helpful in my kitchen design and planning. I think it helped me solidify ideas I already had. After moving in I moved over here to the decorating side and so far I think I've kept my head. I owe many GOOD things to you guys. Everytime I look at my bowl of blue balls I have to smile...lol. I did decide to not replace my mantel for a chunkier design I had fallen in love with because of negative comments here. About a year later I saw the mantel again at a home show and did it anyway despite mixed opinions here again. Once it was done and I posted before/after most of you guys loved it. I think I knew it was right for me and my room all along. Sometimes it's hard with pictures to get the whole feel. I also bought a bedspread/quilt from LL Bean that many didn't care for but got positive feedback afterwards. I think sometimes I have my mind made up and come for reassurance. When I don't get it it slows me down a little bit which is probably a good thing :-) Oh and I give tons of credit to this board and squirrel's photoshop talents for my foyer which was a huge stumbling block for me but turned out great. Love this place and all of your help though!!

"Everytime I look at my bowl of blue balls I have to smile...lol."

Mimi, you naughty, naughty girl...

;-)

I've never been pushed off a cliff, but I've received lots of opinions which helped me to solidify my own ideas and also gave me new ideas, such as my redo of the master bedroom which now looks so much better, and I didn't spend a dime. When I considered painting two of my living room walls gray you gave the the courage to do it and also helped me to refine the remainder of the decor in the living room. I can't really be swayed into doing something I don't like so the whole experience on this forum has been overwhelmingly positive. And, I get to see a lot of beautiful rooms here!

I also haven't been pushed into anything I don't like, but I've definitely had my eyes opened to things I didn't *think* I would like, but do!

No doubt I could inspire a drinking game talking about painting my walls Silver Sage ("hey, she did it again-cheers!") but that is my best example. I had plain white walls for years, um decades actually. I finally cut loose and painted them (gasp) pale blue. Got scared and went back to white. I know, pitiful. Then I kept seeing these gorgeous SS walls and everybody was raving about it and finally I decided to take the plunge. So, so glad I did.

I also appreciate being able to ask advice. I've gotten so much great feedback here.

Ann

I've never been persuaded to do something I came to regret, but I have been persuaded NOT to do some things.

What I appreciate here is that, whenever I post a question, people who reply try to understand what I want, the style I intend, and so forth, and don't just tell me (for example) to rip off all the paneling, or paint it all raspberry red, or cover it over with mirrors, or whatever was fashionable that week.

We almost did granite counters in our kitchen remodel, I think mostly because I saw so much of it on the kitchen board and everyone there seemed to think it was a "must have". It's certainly pretty, but I'm too frugal and practical to want or need such luxury in a budget remodel. My husband wanted to buy it for me and I had the templates all scheduled, but I just couldn't rest at night. No other kitchen element had been so fraught with indecision and anxiety. I thought it was because I couldn't chose which granite company or which stone or which edge, but in the end it was the whole granite idea I wasn't happy with. We installed Formica instead with edge and backsplash upgrades and I couldn't be happier!

But, on the other hand, I would probably have never found the Blanco Cafe sink, tried BM Nantucket Gray, or done my own glass door inserts without GW!

Great topic.

This has been one of the absolute best forums for me for many things.

The only thing I've done, that cost a few dollars, was suggested here for me is buy a bench for my foyer. I asked and you guys answered. It never occurred to me to put a bench there because of its size. It's almost finished and I should have pictures this month. My redo included the foyer/LR/DR areas.

I am a person that know what I like and am not easily influenced by others. However, I have learned so much on the GW sites and found many unusual items in online stores that I would never have known about if not for GWebbers.

I am much better, as are my decorating ideas, after coming here. I will admit though, I think I'm a bit addicted to this area :)).

Thanks to all of the contributors.

Peachie.

No cliff, no free fall. (the fact that I'm a technological idjit and have yet to post a picture is probably part of that -- I don't give you guys enough to work with!) The kitchen forum, like many others, was transformative for me: my sink came from advice I got there, my electric range from a poster there who directed me to the Appliance forum, the travertine-look porcelain tile in the kitchen and DR emerged from a discussion in Flooring.. you get the idea.

This particular forum has given me other, less specific but perhaps more valuable gifts. First, I have begun to develop my own sense of style -- prob. somewhat close to Bella's, wish it were also close to amysrq but it will take me another decade or so to amass such a fabulous art collection... Anyway, I am enjoying the mix of antiques and modern/transitional pieces we have going right now, and also enjoying my white walls and deep-toned accessories, without second-guessing myself the way I did before.

The second gift is that I am increasingly aware of trying to appreciate other people's unique taste. I try to post with empathy and humor rather than telling people to decorate the same way I do. I'm far from alone in that -- lots of people here demonstrate that kindness all the time -- I am just more aware of it, and trying harder to exemplify it, now.

"If anything I find my tastes are influenced negatively here, not in a bad way really, just differently. I love funky bohemian combined with traditional and modern but don't feel that love from most posters so sometimes I second guess myself.
There are some canvas prints at Pier One I am crazy about yet they are cheap. Will I hate them because they look cheap?
($30 each btw) Will they make my decor seem too wild? Cheap?
As an artist, most other artists abhor this kind of thing and usually are quite snobbish about having only originals in their house. They would not buy a cheap print from Pier One!
So, can I over come this pressure and the pressure here (subtle however) and actually get what I love?
I do not like the vast majority of art people choose for their home so I would never ask anyone here "what do you think of this print?"

I'm rambling but I guess it's all about keeping myself true to me."

Bumblebeez, I feel your pain, really I do. :)

Something that would truly *speak* to me, would be a gliclee of Monet's Sunrise. It was a work that was derided by critics in its time and I had the opportunity to see it in the Monet Museum in Paris. It would have much more meaning to me, and to my husband, than something I bought off of Etsy or Ebay. At least you, as an artist, have the pedigree be able to get away with buying what you want (not that you should have to make excuses).

It's the same way about furniture. If it's not heirloom or CL, there will always be detractors.

I just try to suck it up and decorate to the best of my abilities.

No free fall for me either but like others have said, I have opened my eyes to a lot of different styles and have also realized that my "style" is fairly plain and simple.

While my first post for advice was fairly negative and I vowed never to come back, I did, and though I mainly read - that is when I learned why some of the things in my house bothered me, and have started changing things around.