Jen, methinks you may be in for a life-shift! I'm guessing it's fueled in part by your trip, by your age/hormone shifts/ and the simple fact that sometimes it's fun to shake things up and try on a different style. Not unlike buying clothes that are very different from what you've 'always' worn. If you're a blazer gal, throwing on a poncho can feel downright dangerous and visa-versa. So you're gravitating towards cooler, cleaner and more overtly feminine design - run with it!

Aunt Jen, it isn't just you! The painter at my house has finished 4 rooms--aqua, silver, marina blue and butter yellow. Beautiful, soft colors that are transforming my home!

Your pictures are lovely, but your dramatic home is too!

Jen, it must be in the air...we're currently doing
a spruce up in the LR, DR. and Den...
We painted every room on the first floor, and making new
window treatments (drapes and shades) for the LR, DR, and Den. We re-upholstered the Dr chairs, and I bought more
needlepoints on ebay to make new pillows.
Once we get started, it's hard to stop.

Everyone of your pics looks more French to me than English!
The Brits seem to me to be trading in their tradtional styling for more modern multi functional furnishings. I think much of it has to do with the high price flats are going for these days. You don't get much square footage for the price so you really have to have items in your home that are multi functional and easy to haul up several flights of stairs.
The French on the other hand seem to have forgotten that time goes on. They'd just as soon decorate their homes as they have always done with what is available, handed down or re-purposed.
I had the wonderful experience of visiting a vineyard in France that had been in a family 11 generations. The house had been added on to and modernized as needed for plumbing BUT the furnishings were a collection of things from the first generation on. Moved and used thru the years with a patina that only time can deliver. The only truly modern item in the entire house was a new stove and that was bought by the 90 yr old head of the house because she wanted a bigger stove so she could cook larger meals on for all of her many guess.
Even the dog house was a re-purposed item.....a old wine barrel laid on it's side cushion added for comfort.

Yep it is in the air...I am doing the porch thing with the blues and the tablecloth thing..all pale yellows and lavender. And I already told DH I want to possibly go a lighter direction in the house...who knew ??? What is in the air ? The bathroom pics you posted and that sweet kitchen with the flowered floor and the precious white wardrobe with the pink flowered curtains...be still my heart. Thanks for posting these pics...as you find more please add them. Maybe they need to go in the Gallery side that Oceanna has contributed so much to. c

I want that shower curtain! I love the cottage look and am lightening things up but still using my blues, reds and tan/gold (not yellow). Have accented with some aqua in our mb and have added a few painted pieces of furniture.

tina

Oh, yes, definitely run with it....

Do I remember correctly that you are looking for new bedding for you master bedroom? Maybe do that one room in this style? Might satisfy your cravings for now without redoing the whole house. Or, at least, tell you for sure if it's a style you love enough to slowly do throughout the house.

And, if the MB doesn't match the rest of the house style-wise, it doesn't matter anyway.

...the style I'm gravitating towards now certainly would translate well to my house.

Yes it would!

I know you recently played with the wall color in your living room and ordered new drapes. Maybe a total color change would be a better idea. Something softer ... something that goes with that new outlook.

I know some people love dramatic black painted walls, but for me that would set the stage for depression. There's too much darkness in the world today, I wouldn't want it in my home.

French, you say? Interesting! I believe you're right, now that I think about it! Many of the decor shops we went into while in England had a very definite French air about them. It's kind of a shabby farmhouse mixed with sweet, soft touches feel.

Dlm2000, you've really started me thinking about what's prompting my longing. The mention of age/hormones may actually play into it! Lately I have noticed how I am becoming more and more averse to loud music, when just a very short time ago one of my favorite things to do for entertainment was go from one raucous live rock venue to another and listen to bands. I rather prided myself on being more "hip" to the music scene than a lot of my contemporaries, but all of a sudden not only have I stopped caring, but I am actually turned off by a lot of what I hear. OMG, I'm drawn to vintage jazz ... what's happening to me?

A friend told me just a couple of days ago: "Face it, kid - we're getting old." Really and truly, I don't mind the shift. I find I'm gaining more of an appreciation for quietude. I sometimes even crave it.

Anyway - it's fun to hear that others are feeling the pull to something a bit gentler these days. I will definitely add more pics as I find them to share. Please, you all do the same. ;-)

I've been feeling the same yearning for cottage decor for two or three years now. I tried sublimating my desire by dreaming over cottage blogs, magazines and decor books, but I finally gave in and moved in the cottage direction in my bedroom. I had lighter, less formal drapes made and accumulated a bedding wardrobe of mix and match items through eBay. I even added a painted cabinet to hold the television. Those changes have satisfied my desires for now since I know I can't change out the whole house.

Someday, I'd like to trade this house for a small cottage adapted to my style of living. Of course, by then I might be yearning for the clean lines of modernism...who know? LOL!

Luke, I mean Jen, come to the Dark Side. :) By that I mean not many people decorate in pastel colors.

"I'm so drawn to a feminine, cottage style..." Welcome to my world except I have rustic added to my style also which makes men feel at home.

The reason you're drawn to the pastel green is because "beautiful" is an understatement to describe the color. That green is the ONLY green I will use, and I have spray painted accessories pastel green. Except I do use my dark green depression glass along with my pastel & many other colored depression glass. Perfect fit!

I don't feel "the pull" because I've always lived with those colors, with red thrown in for good measure.

And I know for a fact (even if I were wealthy), I'd never go to other colors for my home.

You like it because the only way to describe it is "homey and welcoming" and also peaceful, plus uplifting, IMO. That's how I see your personality as being.

Natal's right, the darker colors, and even the bold primary colors you have can be depressing. Those colors do have a high energy vibe and it seems to me you want a more calming color combo to match your personality.

My LR is on the dark side but because of its style along with the rest of the house I can add florals, stripes and checks, along with silver, brass, bronze, and gold colored accessories. It flows perfectly to my farm/vintage style kitchen and dining room, with a Victorian look room inbetween the two!

Sorry for rambling but I do think it's in your blood now. lol. And I think the reason I love those colors is because I'm a fellow Anglophile, always have been, and I cannot get enough of those colors which we rarely see here in the U.S.A.

Come to the Dark Side, Luke. :)

Shoe's you ask? lol. Kind of on topic because I talked about personalites of people liking the cottage look.

Yesterday I bought canvass tennis shoes that have small, "delicate" flowers all over them with a beige background. VERY cottagey, you'd like them! lol

I can relate to this in that I'm longing for *light*. The PNW is finally getting to me...I want to chop down a few big trees around our house and get some SUN in here! That's heresy, but there it is.

But light colors are drawing me too. For me, they're balanced by earth tones...

A question for beachlily: when you say "silver", what color do you mean specifically? Is there a paint name you could share? TIA.

It is SO in the air... I don't know about you but we had a long, cold winter.
I'm so drawn to the cottagey look, lots of florals, spring, flowers etc!
I just bought some fun, cheerful lampshades. A small thing perhaps but it helped!

Can't wait to see what you do, Jen!

It's not spring fever....it's post vacation la-la land!! You had a great vacation, loved the sights, and are still floating on a pink cloud.

That said, I'd give you the same advice I'd give someone who just moved to an old house and wants to gut it on day 1...do nothing for at least 6 months. Wait and see how you feel about your current furnishings then. Could some of your mood also be post-grandparents grieving as well?

If you decide them to make a change, may I suggest that you start in your bathroom, with one of the Kohler Artist Edition sinks....

That's what we did after a previous trip to Scotland. My aunt called me to tell me about a sink she'd seen in a hotel bathroom and that she'd found a similar one with Kohler. She got the Peonies and Ivy and I fell in lust with the English Trellis. Both my aunt and I built our bathrooms around the sinks! DH and I ended up also using the English Trellis bullnose tile in as the cap to white tiled walls.

I'd let the vacation buzz wear off, give it some time. You can always redecorate!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kohler Artists Edition

What gorgeous sinks, Lesterd! Just what I needed. Another obsession. ;-)

Love that lampshade, Loribee! It's so fresh and pretty!

Last night I fell asleep dreaming of waking up this morning and heading to the paint store. I dreamt of transforming my living and dining rooms with a soft, clear green on the walls. When I got up this morning and padded into the front room with my coffee, even though I was still bleary-eyed from sleep, I had to admit my dreams were only that ... dreams. What I have going on now just works, all the way around. The wall color goes with the new drapes (which reminds me, I need to post pics of the new drapes!), plays well with the rug, blends nicely with the throw pillows and artwork and other accessories. I have made some very minor additions to the living room that seem to soften and feminize it a bit. New lace panels on the fireplace-flanking windows, a little old English teapot that I picked up for fifty cents at a yard sale last week, an old (1950s) metal tray from England with a floral design, vintage orange(!) gingham pillows on the sofa. This morning it dawned on me that it's starting to feel like a very eclectic space, and I like that.

I'm focusing on adding more soft touches to our guest room. Just bought a duvet from an Etsy seller (white with sweet, scattered hibiscus on one side, reversing to cabana stripes in sherbet shades on the other), and am going to be replacing a couple of prints with vintage botanicals. I also feel like decluttering in there a bit, as there's just too much going on at the moment. I originally decorated that room with sort of a beachy/tropical theme - and I still like the tropical thing but want to take it in more of a floral direction and less of a beachy one.

One last indication that my "old tastes" are still ever-present: This morning I stopped by a neighbor's yard sale and couldn't walk away without buying the antique framed painting of a Native American man. There's part of me that's still very much drawn to the images of the southwest U.S. and Mexico - and the darker and/or more intense colors that are attendant to that style. I'm becoming more and more convinced that what I have is a split personality. But I'm choosing to call that eclectic.

Oakley, I want to see those shoes! :-)

{{!gwi}}

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