What's your interior decorating style?

[shelivesthedream]

Just for fun, I'm wondering how my fellow mustachians like to decorate their homes. I'd say ours is:

Monastic chic meets Sun King decadence meets peasant farmhouse.

What's yours?

[StarBright]

love this!

Mine is beach cottage meets eclectic travel influences while still trying to respect historic and regional accuracy of structure while using mostly hand me downs and ikea.

[TheThirstyStag]

Really cool idea.

I definitely have a rustic, farmhouse style.  SO has a transitional/clean lines style and sometimes they form neat compromises, sometimes they're at odds.  I also like keeping things original to the era in which an older home has been constructed (restore your wood windows folks!  resist the vinyl!)

[bobechs]

Let It Be

Inspired by John Lennon and those four other guys (1970)

[Frankies Girl]

Antique/classic lines with unusual arty touches and pops of color. Every room in our house is painted a different color; yellow kitchen/living room, blue bedroom, double green craft room, coffee hallway and extra bedroom/library is getting repainted soon (gray? teal? purple? still not sure). Lots of stuff on the walls and shelves that have deep meaning for us. And lots of artwork - very old/classic movie posters, framed prints, some of my artwork, papercutwork and other interesting things.

[ketchup]

I, uh, painted the walls before we moved in.

[ariapluscat]

Just for fun, I'm wondering how my fellow mustachians like to decorate their homes. I'd say ours is:

Monastic chic meets Sun King decadence meets peasant farmhouse.

What's yours?

How does that work?

[ariapluscat]

contemporary glam + cat trees + anime nerd

Having nice decor really helps in finding roommates, especially in neutral or calming colors. I can't wait until I have enough salary to justify living alone

[PencilThinStash]

I'm a big fan of painting rooms in obnoxiously loud, bold colors that sane people shy away from. One apartment had the whole living room in a color called "Mayan Gold" - If you ever go with that one, be warned that the first coat looks like you just smeared a dirty diaper against the wall. Second coat is what really pulls it together.

Later went with a solid red bedroom. Former roommates nicknamed it "PencilThinStash's Sex Palace" because of how intense they thought it looked. I actually found it weirdly calming. Still miss that bedroom, will absolutely use that color again someday.

Settled down a little since then and currently just have a navy blue living room. A little tame compared to some of my former choices, but just bold enough, and guests usually compliment it.

As for decor - I lean toward classic movie posters (Casablanca and To Catch a Thief are hanging framed right now) and the whole sword/map aesthetic.

I'm pretty stereotypical in that I like dark wood/leather furniture, but I haven't seen it as important enough to actually purchase anything in that vein. Still working with some mismatched hand-me-down furniture from my parents and grandparents.

I figure I'll get married at some point, and future wife will probably hate my overall decorating style. I'm fairly minimalist to begin with, trying not to be particularly attached to anything, so don't really see the point of dropping a bunch of money on furniture that I may have to sell in a few years.

[MudDuck]

Midcentury clusterfuck?

Or 50's Crackerbox/2000's Hipster Junkshop Fusion?

[pbkmaine]

IKEA + cabin-in-the-woods + color

[StarBright]

Just for fun, I'm wondering how my fellow mustachians like to decorate their homes. I'd say ours is:

Monastic chic meets Sun King decadence meets peasant farmhouse.

What's yours?

How does that work?

Yes! - Pictures please :)

[NV Teacher]

Combination family pieces, thrift/scratch and dent store, or found on the side of the road chic.

[geekette]

Serene, with retro wood trim and cat fur.

[irishbear99]

contemporary + Ikea chic

[iris lily]

Traditional with bright colors.. DH made the built-in cabinetry, the fireplace mantel, the crown molding. He also made all window surrounds including panels under the windows and all woodwork in oUr house. Ours is a gut rehab Victorian.

The window treatments are new for me, our windows were bare for 25 years. These are vintage saris, just draped over rods.

[Spiffy]

20th century garage sale. People always comment that my house is so homey and cozy (they probably mean small) and ask how I do it. The answer is "Never by anything new" Family hand me downs and estate sales are the best!

[Rubic]

Minimalist modern, bordering on monastic:

 * Living room: 9 items, no clutter
 * Dining room: 3 items
 * Second bedroom "sun room": 4 items (if you include the floor covered with tatami mats as a single item)
 * Master bedroom: 5 items (if combined computer desk, laptop, router into a single item)

The net effect is that I have a lot of negative space, so my condo never feels crowded.  However I'm in the process of selling it so I can soon begin a more nomadic (and of necessity, an even more minimalist lifestyle).

[rocketpj]

Weak minimalist (as in not very good at it).

A random collection of furniture that we've been given, that I've made, and that we've found/salvaged from thrift stores, Craigslist and the side of the road.

Overall it works for us - when the kids jump on the couch I don't care as it was free to us, and yet when people who care come over they compliment us on it (a neighbour spent $3800 on it, then 3 years later gave it to us as she didn't like the color anymore or something).

Mostly I like fun carpentry projects, which means I can't do the same thing twice, so our shelves and tables tend to be a random assortment of styles (though usually made with maple because it's gorgeous).

[crispy]

Clean, eclectic with a touch of rustic farmhouse.

[cj25]

The Pottery Barn catalog is my decorating bible.  LOL! 

[coffeelover]

All I know is I like my house to feel warm, cozy and comfortable. So I have no clue what my 'style' is.


I hate how my living room is laid out though. Its rough to try and arrange it properly because the tv is essentially across the room. Although it leaves a very large floor space where the kids like to jump, dance and do gymnastics. (not that I want them to, sigh)

I have 3 walkways into my living room. The only huge wall is the big windows. It makes setting up the living room hard. I rearrange all the time.

I hope my pics work this time, if not I hope to edit them.



edit: took out bad photo links

[shelivesthedream]

Just for fun, I'm wondering how my fellow mustachians like to decorate their homes. I'd say ours is:

Monastic chic meets Sun King decadence meets peasant farmhouse.

What's yours?

How does that work?

Yes! - Pictures please :)

No pics at the moment because we're living in a part-furnished rental whose dark-green speckled carpet crushes my soul daily. But the way it's supposed to work is...

Monastic chic = dark wood or plain tile or stone slab floors. Jute-type rugs. Plain warm white/cream walls. Dark wood furniture. Chiaroscuro. Linen curtains or wooden shutters. No trinkets. As much as possible lives 'away' (in cupboards or drawers, not on surfaces). We have a small collection of religious icons. We're not particularly minimalist, I just don't like looking at lots of little things - one cupboard door is more calming to my eye.

Sun King decadence = the odd epically awesome item. We have a chaise longue in the sitting room currently upholstered in blue damask but we want to reupholster when we move as it's a bit ratty - thinking of a gold and blue striped silk. I have learned to gild and it is awesome. Baroque silver candlesticks on our plain dark wood table. I'm a fan of ostentiously-framed mirrors.

Peasant farmhouse = this sort of goes along with monastic chic but it is a bit different - softer in colour and texture. Baskets. We have some blankets, one of which I crocheted myself in a nubbly camel wool. I've got a trompe l'oeuil thing going in the bedroom. I like fresh flowers and greenery. Again with the natural materials, but with colours like sage green and lavender.

I also love a bit of Art Deco, but I think that probably spans monastic chic (chiaroscuro and clean lines) and Sun King decadence (I love a statement Art Deco piece) sufficiently not to be counted separately. We go in for Art Deco-type prints, though, mainly fashion drawings.

Most of our furniture and decor is second hand, apart from a few things we got when we got married. I'm an avid eBayer with a will of iron when it comes to bidding. We're moving in a year and I'm looking forward to finally being able to decorate properly! My husband likes a bit more colour on the walls than I do, but I'm hoping we can compromise on colour on the lower half of the walls and warm white on the top.

[Cranky]

Stuff that I like + cat fur.

[shelivesthedream]

Antique/classic lines with unusual arty touches and pops of color. Every room in our house is painted a different color; yellow kitchen/living room, blue bedroom, double green craft room, coffee hallway and extra bedroom/library is getting repainted soon (gray? teal? purple? still not sure). Lots of stuff on the walls and shelves that have deep meaning for us. And lots of artwork - very old/classic movie posters, framed prints, some of my artwork, papercutwork and other interesting things.

?!?

[Bracken_Joy]

Transitional Pacific Northwestern Nature, basically. Lots of raw or lightly stained wood, natural fibers- blankets/baskets, plenty of plants and candles with plants in them. Basically a cleaner and more minimal rustic farmhouse look- more "old botany textbook" than "shabby chic" side of things.

Made difficult in actual practice because the only furniture we have ever bought are 2 ikea bookshelves and 2 bedside tables, and everything else is hand-me-downs, "I'm storing for family indefinitely", or Buy Nothing Project freebies. Oh, or "college apartment building people are moving out and leaving things".

Antique/classic lines with unusual arty touches and pops of color. Every room in our house is painted a different color; yellow kitchen/living room, blue bedroom, double green craft room, coffee hallway and extra bedroom/library is getting repainted soon (gray? teal? purple? still not sure). Lots of stuff on the walls and shelves that have deep meaning for us. And lots of artwork - very old/classic movie posters, framed prints, some of my artwork, papercutwork and other interesting things.

?!?

I took that to mean "coffee color"

[mm1970]

"late college/ early Navy with a dabbling of hand built, garage sale, and craigslist finds".

[Thinkum]

Main living room is Modern Mid-Century and very minimalist, 4 pieces of furniture. The rest of the place is modern warm minimalism. We also have a lot rooms painted different colors, all with white painted molding. The only running theme is minimalism and modern.

[Lunasol]

Minimalist modern, bordering on monastic:

 * Living room: 9 items, no clutter
 * Dining room: 3 items
 * Second bedroom "sun room": 4 items (if you include the floor covered with tatami mats as a single item)
 * Master bedroom: 5 items (if combined computer desk, laptop, router into a single item)

The net effect is that I have a lot of negative space, so my condo never feels crowded.  However I'm in the process of selling it so I can soon begin a more nomadic (and of necessity, an even more minimalist lifestyle).

who else would like to see this?

Me!!

[Bracken_Joy]

Minimalist modern, bordering on monastic:

 * Living room: 9 items, no clutter
 * Dining room: 3 items
 * Second bedroom "sun room": 4 items (if you include the floor covered with tatami mats as a single item)
 * Master bedroom: 5 items (if combined computer desk, laptop, router into a single item)

The net effect is that I have a lot of negative space, so my condo never feels crowded.  However I'm in the process of selling it so I can soon begin a more nomadic (and of necessity, an even more minimalist lifestyle).

who else would like to see this?

Me!!

Yeah, especially if he/she is listing it, there should be pics already! That would be cool to see =)

[Inaya]

If it fits, it sits. Refers both to cramming furniture and belongings into a 500 ft apartment as well as the cat's willingness to sit on anything.

Also a bit of cardboard chic thrown in because I'm a box hoarder.

[dignam]

In one word: Spartan.  I despise clutter.

Living room: I have a sectional, one plant (a pretty tall indoor tree), a few pictures, TV, and a computer desk.

[stoaX]

What's my interior decorating style?  Whatever my wife wants it to be. 

[Miss Piggy]

Suburbia log home rustic wannabe.

As in, I wish I lived in a log home, but I don't. so I make do.

[Wilson Hall]

Traditional with bright colors.. DH made the built-in cabinetry, the fireplace mantel, the crown molding. He also made all window surrounds including panels under the windows and all woodwork i. Our house. Ours is a gut rehab Victorian.

The window treatments are new for me, our windows were bare for 25 years. These are vintage saris, just draped over rods.

iris lily, I love this room!

Our home has lots of earth tones: beiges, browns, green on the walls, and more shades of brown in the flooring. Part of this is to minimize dirt and pet tracks, part of it is for a calming effect.  We both dislike clutter and the only knick-knacks we have on display are things like carvings, small boxes, and vases we've collected as gifts or from our travels.

[Miss Piggy]

Midcentury clusterfuck?

Am I the only one who needs to see an example of this? I think I'm gonna like it.

[shelivesthedream]

Antique/classic lines with unusual arty touches and pops of color. Every room in our house is painted a different color; yellow kitchen/living room, blue bedroom, double green craft room, coffee hallway and extra bedroom/library is getting repainted soon (gray? teal? purple? still not sure). Lots of stuff on the walls and shelves that have deep meaning for us. And lots of artwork - very old/classic movie posters, framed prints, some of my artwork, papercutwork and other interesting things.

?!?

I took that to mean "coffee color"

Oh, I got SO excited for a second! Evidence for the necessity of the Oxford comma.

Midcentury clusterfuck?

Am I the only one who needs to see an example of this? I think I'm gonna like it.

This is one of my favourite descriptions so far.

[partgypsy]

wabi sabi

[MrsDinero]

ours is bachelor + bachelorette + second hand

We are still trying to figure out our style.  Right now there is a clear line between what I came with and what he came with and very little of it matches.  We are having fun merging our styles :)

[Zikoris]

Utilitarian, but cozy. Most of our furniture is Ikea, or secondhand. We have a number of things that either fold up or can be wheeled around, which is awesome in a bachelor suite.

Sometimes I think it would be nice to have some sort of aesthetic going on, but we're in camp "ditch everything and go travel post-FIRE", so I'm hesitant to make any big investments.

Here's an album we did of our place a couple of years ago - it looks pretty similar still: http://imgur.com/a/jyu0B

[FIREdancer]

I, uh, painted the walls before we moved in.

Hey you're way ahead of me...I've been in my house 2 years and have not painted any walls.

In fact, I have done exactly zero decorating of any kind.  I think the only things hanging on my walls are a calendar and a bulletin board in my office.  As for furniture, nothing fancy, just a mishmash of furniture from my old apartment, most of which was inherited from family.

[Cassie]

IL: I love that room! We have some oak antiques mixed in with comfy couch etc.  Our house is painted cream but every room has 1 or 2 accent color walls. The LR, kitchen, guest bathroom and DR accent is green, the rest is maroon accent.  Our house is 1950 so we tried to keep in line with that with pedestal sink in bathroom, etc. It is a Tuscany look, wine theme and it feels very homey and comfortable and good to be here.

[Basenji]

Dog hair covered couch and oriental rugs, two tours in Japan tansus and art, secondhand real wood midcentury, and did I mention the dog hair?

[Bracken_Joy]

Dog hair covered couch and oriental rugs, two tours in Japan tansus and art, secondhand real wood midcentury, and did I mention the dog hair?

[iris lily]

IL: I love that room! We have some oak antiques mixed in with comfy couch etc.  Our house is painted cream but every room has 1 or 2 accent color walls. The LR, kitchen, guest bathroom and DR accent is green, the rest is maroon accent.  Our house is 1950 so we tried to keep in line with that with pedestal sink in bathroom, etc. It is a Tuscany look, wine theme and it feels very homey and comfortable and good to be here.

yours sound very nice.

[Basenji]

Dog hair covered couch and oriental rugs, two tours in Japan tansus and art, secondhand real wood midcentury, and did I mention the dog hair?

Nice!

[Noodle]

Colorful and contemporary. I like bright colors, so I have a lot of them. (Probably should narrow the palette a little bit...) All the furniture is light wood and I try to pick the simplest lines I can.

[StarBright]

Coffeelover- thanks for sharing your pics. We're moving into a place with a similarly awkward living room - doors and windows on all walls, plus a fireplace and a stairway - and looking at your set up is helping my conceptualize my new space.

Iris Lilly - that room is delightful, the colors are marvelous and the heavy/dark antique pieces balance them perfectly. I love that room!

Also- MidCentury Clusterfuck - so hot now!

[A Definite Beta Guy]

No-nonsense neutrals and a big love of different materials and textures.

Wife says wicker is a no-go :(

Still remodeling as we have time and income and budget-friendly options. Last year we tore up the carpet and had a professional refinish floors in a semi-gloss English Chestnut. Clashes like hell with the golden oak/honey oak/whatever cabinets, but I'll be damned if I am springing money for new cabinets. Considering whether I want to strip down the cabinets wholesale or do a rustoleoum paint over kit.

[Rubic]

Some years ago my buddy and I were invited to a Southern lady's home.  Her ambition far exceeded her taste.  The first words out of my friend's mouth: "Early American Cracker Barrel".

Nailed it.