http://www.paloderosa.com Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:20:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 http://www.paloderosa.com/how-to-combine-decorating-styles-with-your-spouse.cfm http://www.paloderosa.com/how-to-combine-decorating-styles-with-your-spouse.cfm#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:11:12 +0000 admin http://www.alipah.co.cc/how-to-combine-decorating-styles-with-your-spouse.html

There are a lot of things you discuss and learn about your spouse in the weeks and months before you get married. You discuss how many kids you each want to have, whether you prefer city or country living, dog person or cat person, vanilla ice cream or chocolate. But one thing that is rarely discussed when you’re planning your wedded bliss is how you’d like to decorate your home.

When you’re first married, most of your furniture and other home decorating items are either given to you by friends and relatives or bought at deep discount sales. Your style is driven more by your budget than your preferences.

Then somewhere along the way, when you’re more secure financially, you start noticing little things start creeping into the house. Maybe your wife has been buying little Victorian accessories, and they’re now adorning every flat surface in your house. You’re starting to panic, wondering how on earth all of those frilly and flowered little tchotchkes are going to fit in with the Asian-inspired design you had envisioned.

Well, don’t panic. It may not seem like it now, but even styles this diverse this can work together. Here’s one way to use your imagination to bring two very different styles together.

Imagine that long ago an Asian furniture merchant traveled to Victorian-era London and opened a furniture store. While living there, he fell in love and married a beautiful and refined young lady. How do you imagine they decorated their house?

Interesting, isn’t it? You’re probably already imagining all sorts of ways to combine these styles in an elegant and charming way. An ornate lacquerware cabinet with a proper Victorian tea set placed on a hand-embroidered cloth. A Victorian chair accessorized with a batik pillow. One room may have slightly more of an Asian feel, than the next a slightly more Victorian feel, but they are all within a comfortable range of each other. Each style within the design reflects a mutual admiration and respect for the other.

There are dozens of ways to combine these or any styles, but how do you keep one style from overburdening the other? You start with a neutral base. Choose your primary pieces of furniture with this in mind. Contemporary furniture is an excellent choice as a neutral starting point between two diverse styles. You can then use accessories and small furniture pieces to bring any two styles together into a contemporary fusion of what may have originally seemed like an impossible mix.

When bringing two design styles together, sit down with your spouse and talk about the different elements that each of you like about your favorite styles. Get a sketchpad and brainstorm some ways that you can combine accessories within your home. Write or sketch out everything that occurs to you.

By having a neutral furniture base and a book of ideas as your common ground, rather than fighting for control over every design decision, you and your spouse will have an overall vision of how your home will come together.

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If the words “country decorating” conjure up unpleasant visions of floral print wallpaper, cross-stitched samplers, kerchief-wearing geese and copper hen statuettes that may have bedecked your grandmother’s kitchen, you need to acquaint yourself with the twenty-first century update of this popular style.

Today’s country decor is rustic, not rusty, with an emphasis on vintage charm and a spring-influenced color palette that is as refreshing as breath of country air.

Like almost every other popular decor style, today’s re-imagined version of country decorating has been heavily influenced by the spare contemporary style that has come to dominate American homes.

Gone are the days of antique accouterments, tools, and utensils plastered over every square inch of wall in a country kitchen—instead, today’s country decor takes a style note from contemporary design and favors a sparer aesthetic in which unique accents, accessories, and pieces of art are highlighted.

The color palette associated with today’s country decor is muted, but not bland, pairing mid-value colors such as slate blue, sage green, and off-white. Distressed finishes that call to mind the look of weathered and aged surfaces are also popular, and it is not uncommon to see accent walls or pieces of furniture highlighted with crackle glaze, milk paint, or another similar technique.

The furniture in country interiors is often inspired by antique designs and silhouettes. An eclectic approach that pairs diverse pieces is favored over an excessively coordinated look, mimicking the appearance of a room put together through years of thrift store acquisitions.

Divergent prints that blend but don’t match are an important part of the country look, as are straight, spare lines influenced by the Amish or Shaker aesthetic. Window treatments are typically light and playful. Unique, primitive accessories and accents that proudly announce their handmade heritage complete the country look.

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Is your living room a place for show, only used when you’re entertaining? Living rooms, as their name suggests, should not only reflect who you are to the outside world, but they should also be lived in. Here are some suggestions for making your living room warm and inviting for guests as well as functional and comfortable for family members.

If your living room is large, divide it into smaller areas through the positioning of furniture. You want the “conversation pit” to be cozy — a couch and loveseat and a couple of chairs around a large cocktail table will seat many people, yet they’ll all be able to hear what the others are saying. A great place for family meetings as well as for entertaining. Make sure all seats are within reach of a table — someplace to set down those drinks and chips!

Face the couch to an architectural focal point, such as a fireplace or a large window that looks out to your garden or the city lights. If you don’t have an architectural element to work with, create one by hanging large pictures or a mural on a wall. This allows people to admire the art and it’s safer than hanging anything heavy right above the seating (especially in areas prone to earthquakes!). Hang cloth wall hangings or small pictures on the wall behind the couch. Don’t, however, hang a mirror where people will see their reflection all the time. Not everyone is thrilled by his or her image.

If you divide your living room in two or three seating and/or dining areas, use rugs to define the conversation grouping, another under the dining table, and another to set off a place to exhibit the Buddha you brought back from Thailand or a wall of bookcases that not only hold your books but also display your collection of antique toys or Bennington pottery. Area rugs work well over waxed hardwood floors or neutral, wall-to-wall Berber-style carpeting.

A decorative room divider, such as Japanese shoji screens, can be used to separate a large room into a living room and a TV room. In a smaller place, face the couch to a wall unit that holds the television — it’s sure to become a favorite gathering spot for the family.

The days of covering the “good” living room furniture with plastic are over! Leather or the new microfiber fabrics are easy to clean, look great, and can survive guests, kids, and pets. If the furniture is in neutral colors, add colorful decorative pillows. Remember to keep a few throw blankets around to stay cozy on cool nights.

If your living room walls are painted in light neutral shades, you’ll be able to change the furniture and decorative touches easily. Other ways to change the look of your living room are by adding tall plants or a silk tree, a permanent flower arrangement in a basket or tall vase, or even a fountain and small pond in a large enough space.

Don’t forget about lighting! Floor lamps, especially in dark corners, can brighten large areas, while table lamps can provide good light for your favorite reading/knitting chair. An arrangement of candles on the mantelpiece or a table adds ambiance to your living room. Now go ahead, live in your living room!

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