ON DECORATING

I’ve been in the house decorating mood lately. I’m not generally that inspired and creative when it comes to home decor…the mood comes and goes. I have some friends and family (like this one!) who can take a room or an entire house and make it look absolutely gorgeous without even thinking about it. Me? I labor and agonize and look for photo ideas and second-guess myself a million times before I even start to try to put something together. And even then I have a hard time putting it all together.

We recently repainted our study/computer room and contrary to the last paint job we did, I love it on the first try! Ben and I had a little lesson in honest communication when we were working on painting the master bedroom before we got married. We sampled a few different colors and decided to go with a Mediterranean gold color, and then thought we were really brilliant because we decided to attempt to mix up our own color (never a good idea) by combining two different shades (one was too bright, one was too dark) to create what we were looking for. It turned out badly, unless you like school-bus yellow. We both thought the other was good with the color, so neither of us said how awful we actually felt it was. Eventually after a few days, the truth came out: we both hated it. So we repainted it, and it turned out much better. I’m still not completely satisfied with it, to be honest, but we are leaving it for now.

It is almost impossible for me to envision how a color or style will look until it is actually there, which is frustrating. Especially with paint, considering both the time and cost it takes to get it on the walls. I suppose this is something you learn more as you go. Thankfully, my color tastes run very simple so I don’t really have to worry about trying to coordinate a lot of colors. I could do my whole house in whites and browns and blacks and be perfectly happy. I like to decorate with contrast, so having a neutral wall is perfect for that.

Now that I have the study painted, I have a big empty wall to fill up. I would like to do a photo collage with black and white photos in black, brown, and white frames, along with posters with quotes and words. Similar to this. I’ve been trying to find a good (and frugal) source for frames, and have managed to collect a few from yard sales and thrift stores. Hopefully my decorating inspiration will last long enough this time to get the wall set up before months go by!

What about you: what is your decorating style? And what tips do you have for selecting paint colors and style for a room? What are your favorite places for inspiration?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!