On home decorating

Hi, my name is Alina, and I am a slow decorator. A really slow decorator, to be precise. Between budget constraints and my uncanny ability to become gridlocked in indecision, home decorating is generally a long process. Now if you also throw in my high standards and deep desire to have a nicely decorated home, well now you have a really big mess on your hands. Actually, that would be me having a big, crying, foot-stomping, stuck-in-a-quandary mess. For me, home decorating is both yucky and exciting all at the same time.

My family and I recently moved into our first purchased (!) home last fall. We love it, and feel it meets so many of our standards. It is a small but well-sized brick home built in 1940 with all the charm of an older home (i.e. mudroom, arched doorways, wood floors, sunroom, built-ins, etc.) The price and location were right, on top of it all, and so we sprung. And, as is the case with all moves, I've landed in a vacuum of decorating decisions ranging from furniture placement, color choices, style preferences, and wall hangings, just to name a few. To complicate things a bit more, we sold most of our furniture when moving cross country two years ago, so we've also been slowly building back up our furniture collection.

I can and do tell myself I've come along way from that time two years when I stared into the moving truck containing only a 1/4 of the stuff I used to own or even since a mere 4 months ago when we first started to renovate this home. Floors refinished-check. Walls painted-check. Large furniture items (sofa and chairs) purchased-check. Clearly progress made, right? Yes. I totally agree. And yet I'm still struggling with indecision. If I'm completely honest, I think I'm feeling a little pressure to get things right the first time. Without getting too psychoanalytic on the topic, let me explain. In the past, when I rented a home, I would decorate rather quickly. I'd easily make decisions regarding walls, colors, furniture, etc. I knew that the home was somewhat temporary, and so no mistake was too great that I couldn't walk away from it at the expiration of the lease. But with this being a "permanent" home, I am feeling a little bit like a lover with a history of bad relationships...slow to commit.

My plan thus far has been this: keep it neutral. Our walls are varying shades of khaki. Furniture is white, cream, black, or dark leather. The curtains are a similar shade as the walls. Where I've been wild with colors in the past in my rental homes, my fear and the knowledge that I change my design preferences often have led me to keep the big items neutral. My plan is to bring in splashes of color with the smaller, less expensive, and more easily replaced items (i.e. pillows, vases, pictures, etc).

My only problem now is that I've grown used to the bare walls, the bland palette, and sparse decor. Perhaps it lacks warmth and coziness, as my patient husband kindly insinuates every time he asks, When are you going to hang pictures on the walls? And, without fail, I respond, Soon, Honey. Truth is, I'm just not ready yet. I'm percolating, toasting, and processing slowly, much to my husband's dismay.

I went shopping this week and popped in a few stores for ideas. I visited a fantastic store near my home called NestLiving. Karis was the first to point out the store, giggling excitedly over this Eames Elephant sitting in the storefront window. Apparently her tastes lean towards mid-century modern, and I can't blame her. Along the same lines, I popped into West Elm yesterday and was awed by their collection of kitchen chairs and lamps and color palette. On the other hand (and literally across the street) Ballard Designs and Potterybarn have updated cottage and classic elements that really appeal to me as well. And let's not forget about Anthropologie with it's (seemingly) effortless, vintage charm. Ok, that list I just typed is enough to make me drool.

Maybe you've spotted the problem in all of this store love I just mentioned. Here it is: I like a lot of styles and very differing styles. My sister-in-law (and yesterday's shopping buddy) says the same thing, but unlike indecisive me, she follows it up with, I just know what I can live with. I've yet to figure that part out.

Clearly my tastes are varied. I like a lot of different styles, and I don't seem to mind them all co-existing together. Fortunately, I've found homeowners that share a love for mixing up the styles as well. The following pictures are taken of their home which exemplifies that hodgepodge, eclectic mix of styles I'm talking about. These pictures are from Beloved Homes!, a coffee table book purchased at IKEA and featuring nine homes in Sweden. While IKEA has, of course, had an influence in the style and design of the homes, this is not an IKEA catalog. The pages I'm going to show come from an 18th century mansion, and I'm in awe of how the owners' seamlessly blend the old and new. Flea market meets modern style and doesn't bat an eye lash. I love that, and, to date, the way they have decorated stands in my mind as my ideal. This is what I'm working towards, for better or for worse.

So, now that I've rambled on about such things longer than I care to admit, I'm curious, do you have a magazine or store or design book that you try to emulate? Is there an ideal room sitting somewhere in somebody else's home or on the pages of a magazine or online that you drool over? Care to share a link or picture?

Happy staring, everyone.