Interior Design/Decorating Musings
Jan. 11th, 2011 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeshyrI've wanted to move to the Mitcham/Nunawading area for a few years now - I'm on the appropriate Ministry of Housing waiting lists but they're verrrry long ... like, in the order of many years long. Just before Christmas I got a match on the "swap list" of a couple who lived around there who wanted to move to around here, which would have circumvented the waiting list. I didn't tell anybody because I was afraid I'd jinx it or something ... unfortunately my anti-jinx-fu isn't strong enough because it fell through as they decided this place wasn't big enough for them (without seeing it). I just found out a few days ago :(.
But as brains are wont to do when new possibilities pop up, mine went "ohh, interior decorating time at new house!" and has been very much with the figuring out what I want and what styles suit me.
Luckily I know somebody who's been writing a series about interior decorating and how to figure out what you like!
I suspect you'll eventually be able to see the whole How To Decorate series here.
Anyway, I went through what she said with pictures and all and very quickly found words coming up over and over. A lot of the words seem related, which isn't really surprising. Here's the whole list of things I love about spaces, in a completely unsorted and unsifted way:
I know some of those are very specific and others are very general - as I said, the list is currently unsorted and unsifted! Indeed, the next step in the instructions is "narrow down your words" but I have not managed this at all because I don't know words that cover large sections of this. Because there are specific areas (words about spaces, words about colours, words about light, etc.) I think I'll make it into a mind-map showing which bits are subsets of each other and perhaps it'll be clearer then. I'll post it here if anybody's interested.
So that's where I've got to. I'm feeling very "nesty" and interested in doing what I can within budget and rules to make this house into a space that's closer to what I want - not that it's terribly bad now! I'm very lucky :). Happy to get feedback and suggetions from people...
Cheers,
r
PS
Oops, almost forgot. Things on my "Definitely don't like" list were:
Unfortunately all the wonderful furniture I've inherited from my grandparents is a very dark walnut colour, deep deep chocolate brown. It also has many positive memories attached to it - it's been in Nana and Pa's house all my life. It's gorgeous and beautiful but I wouldn't choose it myself.
But as brains are wont to do when new possibilities pop up, mine went "ohh, interior decorating time at new house!" and has been very much with the figuring out what I want and what styles suit me.
Luckily I know somebody who's been writing a series about interior decorating and how to figure out what you like!
- How to Decorate: Everything I've Learned from an Interior Designer Mom
- How to Decorate: Phase Two, i.e., What Do I Have, What Do I Need
- How to Decorate: Phase Three, i.e., What Do I Like?
I suspect you'll eventually be able to see the whole How To Decorate series here.
Anyway, I went through what she said with pictures and all and very quickly found words coming up over and over. A lot of the words seem related, which isn't really surprising. Here's the whole list of things I love about spaces, in a completely unsorted and unsifted way:
- Glass-fronted cabinets and cupboards, especially for storing books.
- Irregularly shaped spaces.
- Spaces which have elements of both "indoor" and "outdoor" about them, or can't easily be classified as "inside" or "outside" (Rosanne: Interstitial spaces!)
- Hard floors with rugs, rather than carpet.
- Open plan spaces divided by movable things like bookshelves, sofas, and dividing curtains.
- Cozy nooks.
- Mirrors.
- Corner sofas.
- Mirrored cupboards/cabinets.
- LOTS OF STORAGE SPACE.
- Natural light. Windows. Skylights.
- Interior windows between rooms.
- Space - no clutter.
- Greenery. Plants inside and visible through windows.
- Imperfect things: handcrafted, loved, personal.
- Things which are in sets but don't precisely match (eg chairs).
- Light coloured woods, but without too much yellow or red undertone in them.
- Metal fixtures.
- Natural fibres.
- White or cream coloured paint.
I know some of those are very specific and others are very general - as I said, the list is currently unsorted and unsifted! Indeed, the next step in the instructions is "narrow down your words" but I have not managed this at all because I don't know words that cover large sections of this. Because there are specific areas (words about spaces, words about colours, words about light, etc.) I think I'll make it into a mind-map showing which bits are subsets of each other and perhaps it'll be clearer then. I'll post it here if anybody's interested.
So that's where I've got to. I'm feeling very "nesty" and interested in doing what I can within budget and rules to make this house into a space that's closer to what I want - not that it's terribly bad now! I'm very lucky :). Happy to get feedback and suggetions from people...
Cheers,
r
PS
Oops, almost forgot. Things on my "Definitely don't like" list were:
- Dark colours predominating
- Dark spaces, spaces without natural light
- Very symmetrical or "perfect" looking spaces
- Clutter or mess
Unfortunately all the wonderful furniture I've inherited from my grandparents is a very dark walnut colour, deep deep chocolate brown. It also has many positive memories attached to it - it's been in Nana and Pa's house all my life. It's gorgeous and beautiful but I wouldn't choose it myself.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 01:22 pm (UTC)i like open-plan layouts and oddly-shaped spaces and structures... and i'd love to have enough storage space!... but i could care less about plants :-(
in all the years i've been living as a grownup, i've never had complete freedom to "decorate" my living spaces exactly as i want, either because of lack of money, or consideration for the other people who share the space, or because there's only so much you're allowed to do to a flat. but i still look at the IKEA catalog every year.
...and it occurs to me that, since i moved out of my parents' house, i have never had a room that's specifically mine...
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 04:46 am (UTC)Even if I can't do much, just knowing my preferences in this more-explicit way will help me to make sure the little bits that I can do is actually stuff that's all in the direction of one hopefully-coherent style.
If you're interested, Apartment Therapy have a lot of posts under the category of "stuff renters can do" which I've found helpful!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 01:54 pm (UTC)Apartment Therapy does have some interesting ideas...
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 10:26 am (UTC)Stained-glass is awesome in small quantities, I would quite like one of those arch-shaped stained glass panels over a front door one day!
Is "Scandinavian Modern" a tounge-in-cheek name for Ikea stuff? I quite like Ikea actually, or a subset of it anyway... but I do like having more mis-matched stuff than that too.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 02:24 pm (UTC)there's a relatively easy way to make fake stained glass, involving a sheet of Perspex, transparent paints, and metallic compounds that simulate leading. i've made a few myself, going back to the first apartment i ever lived in, where the bedroom window was inconveniently located at ground level. it can be very attractive, but "real" stained glass is unquestionably better.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 02:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 04:56 am (UTC)I am so very well trained in "you must not paint nice wood" that this had honestly never crossed my mind!
I am ... not sure?
You can see some of the pieces on flickr: Gorgeous dark bureau, bookshelf, standard lamp and footstool (also showing the edge of the dark-wood-and-brown-leather sofa which is comfy but not my favourite colour), chest of drawers and chair that matches the sofa, humungous desk and one of the bedside tables. That's almost all of it, actually... there's a matching bedside table and smallish table and some other tiny things.
I'll be replacing the standard lamp when I can - it falls over at the drop of a hat and has done so for as long as I can remember. There's also a tiny table which I have no great attachment to and don't like the overall style of at all which I'll be getting rid of. The shelves don't show much actually so they don't bother me greatly, but they'l also look fine painted now that I think about it ... and the brown sofa and chair could be mostly fixed with a few throw-rugs to hide them. I think it's the bureau and the large chest of drawers I'm most "iffy" about... what do you think?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 05:14 am (UTC)What I'd do there, actually, would be to put a runner over top of the bureau to brighten it up -- that might work to change the 'feel' of the piece! Or, if you're really feeling ambitious, sand down the pieces and re-stain them. You can probably lighten the wood a lot just by using a different stain.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 10:28 am (UTC)In the mean time I'll experiment with runners and such. I have some bits of fabric on top of the chest of drawers now but never put anything on the bureau. Stay tuned for further pictures.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 04:41 am (UTC);)
I like those blogs, thanks for linking.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 04:48 am (UTC)You may also enjoy Apartment Therapy and one
I may have possibly borrowed a lot of books with pictures from the library ...
I may even have possibly perhaps ordered my two non-library-available faves from The Book Depository
(don't tell, OK? :))
no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 11:30 am (UTC)Tonight has been more looking-at-pictures because now people seem to know that I'm doing this and keep telling me new places to look and it's so INTERESTING to look at house pictures and pick out what I love and hate. I may become addicted to this!
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 02:20 am (UTC)Hugs,
r