Saturday, October 4, 2014

The Home Recycled Rules



I'd love to tell you there aren't any. I'd love to say "Oh, honey just do whatever you want and it will be fabulous!" But if you've seen enough makeover shows then you know that we don't tell women to dress that way. There are some basic rules to follow. If you aren't sure about them, there are a million Pinterest boards to help you.  Then you find your style within those rules. With that said let's talk about how to use our Home Recycled Philosophy within those larger decorating rules.



Look at every single thing and ask yourself "Is there another way to use this?"

Experiment with putting things together in a new way.

Give yourself permission to change a piece in any way you want. The Antiques Roadshow people are going to want you to make sure you don't have a priceless heirloom first, but that ugly dresser your mother in law gave you? Paint on, brave one!

Shop at the thrift store. Use your imagination to imagine what could be done with that hideous but solid 1960s sofa. I'm still grieving over a darling vintage French settee I passed on last year.

Get over old thinking that something someone else is throwing away is trash. You'll be surprised when you start to notice the kinds of things people are willing to set on the curb. The second part of this is to become familiar with where the hazard lights are on your car. You'll be using them a lot!

Get a little help from your friends. Over the years friends and I have had yard sales together to get rid of things we no longer wanted. Part of what happens though is lots of things end up being swapped around in our homes. You can do this with your adult kids too."You don't want that? I've been looking everywhere for one!" Try putting a pic on Facebook and see if anyone you know needs it.

Take a chance and break some rules that you thought were written in decorating stone, but are maybe just the way people have done things for a long time.

Mix things that you wouldn't necessarily think would go together.

Use images from magazines, blogs, and Pinterest to train your eye to see what good design looks like.

 Design your home for the life you actually live and not the one they are selling on the cover of your favorite decorating magazine. We don't entertain a lot, so first we don't need a gigantic house. The house we live in is plenty big enough for a couple of empty nesters and their dogs. Those dogs keep me from having expensive rugs. Most of the year the downstairs gets very little natural light so the walls are white to reflect the most light possible. My house is not architecturally interesting. There are no beautiful moldings so I've chosen to paint the walls and trim the same color. It keeps the space from looking choppy. Do what works in your space.   Be realistic about your life and what you need from your home. Make it work for you and your family. It's not a photo shoot. It's where your life happens.

2 comments:

  1. Excellent article! I love this quote... "Your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love brought together under one roof." Nate Berkus

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    Replies
    1. What a great quote! I love him. His stuff is always stunning and practical. He's very realistic about how someone actually lives in a house and what makes it a home.

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