I imagine this question is going to have many different answers, but I am going to ask it anyway! lol How do you go about deciding what theme is going to travel throughout your home? We built our "standard" two story home 12 years ago.... I STILL do not have any "feel" of decor in my house. Now this is due to several reasons. The first few years, like many others, I didn't want to "put holes in the walls". I know, stupid, huh? Then we had the periods of time where we did and didn't have small children. Then my Mom and Sister were killed tragically in a car accident, so I didn't want to "change anything". The last couple of years, I have watched a fair amount of HGTV and am starting to feel an itch to make my house a home. And it's about time! But there isn't any one theme that I seem to gravitate to. I can see something done in earth tones and love it. Then I could turn around and see something in vibrant pinks and greens and love that just as much. Modern styles, country themes.... There aren't too many that I can say I don't like. I like so many. I just haven't found any ONE that I LOVE! And would like to use throughout my house. I started in my living room a few years ago. (We had/have flat painted walls and my husband couldn't stand it anymore.) We sanded all the trim with a Red Walnut, and painted the walls a very soft pastel pink. Thank God I didn't, like I had planned, stain ALL of the trim throughout the house. Because now I'm not so sure I want it everywhere. Last week, due to an itch, I painted my kitchen. I chose a brick red for the wall that has my cabinets, sink, stove on. And a creamy tan for the remaining walls. It looks nice, now. I kinda think I want to go with the antique/country style for wall hangings. Yet I feel that next to my living room that was fancied up with pink walls and and dark cherry wood (TV center, desk, end tables and trim), that it really clashes. And the two rooms don't have anything in common. I am so afraid to choose a whole house theme and not like it in the end. Or not like it for every room. My MIL says I am ecclectic.... I don't think so, I just can't decide! (and it doesn't help that every house you see on these decorating shows, in no way resembles average homes!!!!) Thanks for reading my book! Starr
If unsure, choose neutral colors for the walls and buy colorful pillows, table cloths and curtains for effect. They are easily replaced. At least, that's what I'm going to do when we get round to redecorating.
I agree with Droopy. Neutral colours are by far the best. If you want a red, blue, green room ( or whichever colour you prefer) then you can add bedding, curtains, pictures and accessories without having to redecorate all the time. The rooms will all tie in together using neurals too so they won't clash with each other. :-D
Where do you live? that has much to do with decorating, here in the south, where it is almost always hot, most of us like soft cool colors in our homes, lot's of cool tile on the floors or pastel berber carpet, up in the NE they go for dark heavy, warm colors, you can tone down your red kitchen with a glaze, to give it a pinkish effect, so it blends more with your pink rooms..
If you like a few different themes, I'd say go for it. You can always change it later if you end up hating it. A good thing is to have a constant "undertheme" throughout, keeping everything tied together. For example, when Robbie and I first moved in together we were at a loss for decor. He had all the main living-room furniture, very dark reds, black and some white accents. Kind of a rock and roll thing. I had accumulated a lot of pastel painted, rustic antiques for my furniture. Mostly due to having very little money, but loved the look and had painted many myself. It was a huge clash that brought on a lot of frustration. We ended up putting a lot of my more feminine nic-nacs in the main room (20's-style beaded lamps, brocade decorative boxes, a cream dressing partisan, etc.) to off-set his furniture and it worked out very well. I put black trim on my pink sewing desk and used a lot of dark lace for accents in that room. All said and done, my 1930's dark wood vanity with white flowered handles ended up fitting right in (the piece I was most concerned about). This is a little extreme, but I hope you get the idea. I feel your pain
I've painted our walls so many times, it could make your head spin! We had all-white wall syndrome in this house when we purchased it, so we painted every room a different color (some rooms actually had 3 colors). The living room was cool colors, but the attached dining area was a warm dark red. The kitchen attached to the dining was still white with black counters. Each room looked nice, but clashed with the adjoining spaces. I finally painted all the adjoining spaces this year with warm earth-tones and we just love it. Kitchen/dining/living/bathroom are all either a terra cotta "ish" color, or a lighter tea color. It all started when we removed our blue/gray carpets to discover hardwood floors underneath it all. After that, all the wall colors had to change of course! LOL
As far as the painting goes, I have used some pretty neutral colors. My kitchen and living room are the only rooms (so far.....I havent gotten to the bedrooms yet....) that have "real" color. The dining room, located between the kitchen and LR is a light beige. It doesn't clash with either room. Then the foyer, stairs, and hallways are all in an antique white. It's not so much the painting as the decor that's problematic. For example, when I did my living room, I went for a classy victorian look. All molding was stained and polyeurethaned, pink walls, cherub and rosy wall hangings, lacey curtains, cherry furniture (but the cheap stuff!) I did my kitchen with the thoughts of a more country feel. Old tins on the tops of my cabinets (have been collecting those for years) and older wooden wall hangings. My foyer has a very old antique mirror with white wood frame that has paint chipping, a corner basket ... same style, with antique walking canes. All items I inherited from my Grandmother. So I feel like when just looking around my first floor, there are too many things that have nothing in common, yet I am not willing to give some of them up. And dont know how to "tie" them together. I want my home to have a personality, but I can't find one to fit....... Thanks to all of you for your ideas!
Hi, i understand your problem for selecting theme for your home. i am a practicing interior designer and architect what i will suggest you is look around things or your wardrobe in the home which you like the most and reflect your personality.such things will help you out in deciding the color for your walls and other furnishings of your home.once you decide with the color, the color will help you in selecting the theme
Reflecting on what you said, I have a question.... (FYI... my wardrobe is just as bad as my different rooms! LOL) What if I chose colors instead of a theme? Can each room be of different decor as long as the colors are consistent? Last week I bought 2 new things, and now I am shocked! They made me realize that I LOVE the colors!! (and I'm quite excited about it!) First, I bought a new throw rug for the foyer. It's got a black border with multi tones of brown and gold in the center. Boy that really jazzed up the foyer. And the floor is white with black diamonds, so it matches well. That same floor travels into the kitchen where I installed my second purchase... a new BLACK dishwasher. I had previously had white appliances. Since painting the kit. the brick red and tan, I didn't really care for the white appliances. Soon it will be time to replace our fridge with BLACK! Then the range! My thoughts were this... With the LR being a pastel pink w/ dark cherry furniture I could very easily tie in the black and browns/golds. Would doing this tone down the ecclectic feeling I feel my home radiates? Or would it only make matters worse? I just don't feel I will ever reach a common theme..... I mean, it has been 10+ years now....
Does your kitchen open up to the livingroom, meaning is it an open floor plan? That could make a big difference in the whole theme thing. I have never felt the need or desire to have one color or theme flow thru the entire house to tie it all together. If you want a different feel for each room go for it. Any interior designer who came into my house would pull their hair out while running, screaming from this house....but that would be their problem because we are happy with the way it looks. My oldest daughter gave me the ultimate compliment on our interior style not long ago. She said she loves to come over and just look at all the elements we have put together, they all make her feel at home. The only thing consistent in our house is the flooring, we replaced the carpet with wood looking tiles in the livingroom, kitchen that includes the eating area (no diningroom in the house) and hallway. Our livingroom theme is rustic country cabin. One wall covered with wallpaper that gives the appearance of a log wall, one has paneling that needs to be replaced some day, we have the wall of shutters on one wall that Randy built last year that hides the entrance to my comfy room, the other wall has the front door and large window that has brown shutters on the bottom half with unbleached muslin curtains on the top half. The walls that can be painted are a cream (leaning to the brown side). The kitchen/eating area has a half wall of wall paper that looks like green ticking stripe, lower half of wall is natural colored beadboard. The general look of that area is gardening but I don't have any of the fru-fru decorations because what little wall space there is, is covered with shelves that hold my herbs and candle/soap making colors and scents. The bathroom is white with purple accents and faeries. My youngest daughters room we do not speak of in public as she has yet to outgrow the messy room stage of her life. Randy's home office/work room is in the process of a re-do but will be utilitarian and not stylish. Our bedroom will be redone hopefully after the first of the year (but I said that last year didn't I? ) will be done in blues with deep purple and red accents, haven't really thought about it much. The room that used to be the garage and had to be rebuilt after the attempted "drive thru" two years ago is my comfy area behind the wall of shutters. No particular theme just comfy. Probably lots more info than you expected or even wanted but just thought I would throw my 2 cents in.
hi sorry for late reply, as you are saying that your wardrobe is also as bad as the room decor than i will suggest you first select color for your walls and big furniture of a particular room and than decide the furnishings. yes you can go with different style in different room, it seems that you like warm color scheme (shades of red, yellow and orange) as u mention about your liking of new rug and earthy tones.You can make your interior warm and cozy by using this color scheme. let me know if you want to know more about this.
