Since I’ve been in the design industry (the past 10 years) I have never started with an empty house. I’ve always had ‘something’ to work around, which of course, is much easier.
Many of my clients call me because they are starting fresh. An empty house is intimidating for new designers (it was for me in the beginning) and I have become very good at defining a new palette which is important because otherwise it’s very hard to begin and mistakes get made.
Anyway, back to my point. On the one hand it’s really great because I have had almost two years of blogging to truly define what my look is, and I’m loving that, but on the other side, I’m very impatient. I cannot stand walking around my house right now because the only cute space is my office (so I’ve been spending a lot of time in there).
Early this afternoon I went out, determined to find a chest for my entry (along with an area rug) lamp, etc so that at least I could walk into my house and feel good. I found one at the very end of my day that I’m thrilled with so it’s a start. I also have a niche going up the stairs that needs something (and I think a vase with sticks is too contrived) so I found a tall, simple urn and a green boxwood ball for the inside. It’s cream and needs to be painted but that will have to wait on the area rug for the entry (which I still haven’t found). But it’s just the right scale for the niche and I’m loving how clean it looks. At least I can be happy walking down my stairs.
I was surprised to discover a part of myself that I wasn’t really aware of and it is this; I am so highly affected by my surroundings, I am a bit difficult to live with right now. And I KNOW what to do (it’s just that it takes time that I don’t have a lot of at the moment) plus if I custom order something, I have to wait!
So here’s my tip if you are in the same decorating dilemma. Start with the smallest room and work from there. Along with getting my office painted turquoise right when I moved in, I painted 2 bathrooms as well, this way they look finished so I can feel good when I’m in there. It’s not enough instant gratification for the rest of my house but it’s a start. Some new white towels, seashells, and it’s done.
Of course your living room palette needs to be defined before you can do the little rooms because of flow but not every room in the house needs to be varying colours of the living room—that would be boring. However you do need to consider clean vs. dirty and how to make all that work with different colours in the same house!
If you would like your home to fill you with happiness every time you walk in, contact me for on-line or in-person decorating and colour.
Related posts:
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Victoria Webster’s Renegade Regency + Top Trends for 2010
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