What's your decorating "style"

Do you like "shabby chic", "early American", "French country", "just regular country", "minimalist", "knick-knack crazy", or a mixture?

I often wonder about my virtual friends .... this is the only forum I ever visit, so I'm not used to not really KNOWING my friends and their tastes? I often wonder if my mental image is even kind of right.

[Meenah]

A mixture here. We were both divorced with kids, and when we got married we combined what we each had. We like "antiques", so I gues that makes us shabby chic!!!
Luanne

[Rapunzel]

I like classic things in very neutral colors - kahkis and ivories and browns. And, I like little punches of color - mostly cherry reds and pale spring greens lately but I've been known to do bright yellow, rust, and royal blue details. I hate clutter and despise knick-knacks for the sake of "decorating". I like to be surrounded by things that have sentimental value to me so I'd rather have an empty wall than have some meaningless piece of art or something hanging on it. If I'm going to go for a stained wood it's going to be a mahogany or a walnut - I don't like lighter or yellowish woods for some reason. If given the choice between a black or white painted wooden piece I'd choose the black every time. I like the stylistic approach to nature inspired by people like Frank Lloyd Wright. I prefer smooth lines where possible, no frilly stuff, and prefer substantial fabrics. And, the easier to clean - the better!

I'd say I'm a casual classic mildly-modern minimalist.

Jennifer

[PrincessFiona]

I have no "style"...it's really quite frustrating. I don't think anything matches in our house.

kris

[SuzySunshine]

I second the hand me down style. Most of our furniture is hand me down or IKEA. We just bought a new couch, oversized chair and ottoman for our family room, it looks great but I feel like the rest of the room now needs some help. Decorating has never ever been my strong point!

[Phoebe]

I don't know if I have a style. It is probably more traditional and casual. I have been told that I decorate like Pottery Barn, but the only thing I have from their store is a rug. We have greens, khaki and red throughout our first floor. I have mostly pictures for decorations and a few things I found along the way usually on clearance at Target.

Jennifer

[Vishenka69]

Realistically our style is IKEA, ideally it would be a mix between West Elm (funkier sister company of Pottery Barn) and ABC Carpet & Home. I love espresso stained wood pieces and earth tones, which you'd never guess by looking at our current set up. I like when everything in the room is mix and match and didn't come in one set. I can't wait to own a place and start painting and decorating (that wouldn't involve any trips to IKEA).

I think that Pottery Barn, fall or winter catalog, would best describe our style. Wood with darker stains, dark leather, chocolate brown velvet drapes, browns and earthy greens and reds. There is a bright blue painting on one wall that I like. Our kitchen could be described as asian-influence because of the colors, but that isn't really what I was aiming for. I like clean and uncluttered styles (and my house is not too cluttered thanks to DH ). This probably sounds nicer than it really is.

One thing I don't like about our more ranch style home is that it is harder to pull off the Bungalow 1920s-1940s sort of style.

[DCJenn]

I tend to decorate based on the style of the time in which my house was built because I think it's silly to try to get modern stuff to go into a Victorian, etc. Right now we have a townhouse built in 1960 so I'm tending toward more modern versions of the styles and colors of the late 50's/early 60's. The house in Texas was completely Arts and Crafts so I did knock off versions of that style.

I think it's kind of fun to match the stuff to the house and not make the stuff match the house. I dump so much stuff every time we move and moving itself does enough damage...

That said, I have several very nice pieces of furniture that match nothing- but are so well built and/or funky that I will never, ever get rid of them.

Jenn

I think it's kind of fun to match the stuff to the house and not make the stuff match the house.

I know what you mean. Most of our stuff was more Arts and Crafts. My consolation is knowing that if we decide to stay in this city and in this house, I have a short list of things to knock this house back a decade (change/replace trim and doors and windows and put in crown molding) and then we will be ok.

When I indulge my obession of looking at real estate listings and see more modern homes that I like, I know it means ditching most of the furniture. And that means shopping for more furniture which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Rumor is that we are getting an Ikea sometime soon. Woohoo!

Midcentury Modern. At least I aspire to it. In reality, its low rent Ikea copycat of MM.

Oh, I checked out this house but the furniture was gone If only we wern't in Med school, we could have done so much with it. I think I freaked the realtor a little when I squealed when I saw the architectural drawings and blueprints sitting on the counter.
http://www.firstweber.com/vp/ListingSer ... MLS=477813

[Sheherezade]

We've got a 1910 house with nice moldings and some leaded windows here and there. It hasn't been decorated since 1970 ... so the wall coverings and upstairs carpets were hideous. We've redone some and now have 2 major rooms gutted to the studs awaiting renovation. (Construction-chic? ) The other rooms are filled with family antiques in cherry and mahogony. My mom collected and then discarded all of them for a modern oceanfront condo. We've recently done our family room in a more casual/modern way with stuff from World Market. Our kitchen is more turn of the century but redone. It's decent sized with wood counters and white cabinets/porc. sink. I think the feel I'm going for in my head is British Empire....you know, lots of antiques and tradition, with knick knack from our travels in India and Africa. Actually, I'm doing most of our details Art Nouveau - because that is the home's era - so I guess I agree with Jenn. As long as I get to keep all my family stuff.

[Auspicious]

We like Ikea, too. I would describe our current style as "temporary apartment/utilitarian" but when we own a place I expect it will be decorated with clean lines and neutral colors.

Current place, in the summertime:

Living room/"Great Room"

Different angle, you can see a little of the bedroom

Kitchen

More kitchen

Marriage-saving office. Husband feet not included.

I think our style is medical-student-family-living-on-loans. All hand-me-down furniture in a rental where we can't paint the walls, that about sums it up. I'm curious to see what my 'style' is once we can afford to have one.

I forgot our bedroom -- it is Ikea-rescued-from-donation style with a "DH takes a quick trip to the hardware store upgade." Considering the stuff has held up for 3 multi-state moves, it doesn't look too bad.