Wednesday, May 28, 2008

design

Learn how to:
  • make biscotti
  • create a blogger header
  • get my cats to not scratch the furniture
  • decorate my new apartment
Since picking out my new apartment, I have been driving myself crazy trying to come up with a design plan. I guess I've been watching too much HGTV and TLC lately. Too many people moving into new places that already have a design plan and get to work on it before they even fully unpack. I'm so jealous. :)

Right now I have mostly hand-me-down furniture. Faded hunter green couch and love seat with faded purple piping. All light wood living room and office furniture. And my bedroom furniture is more of a cherry wood look.

I try to picture places I've been to before that gave me a good, warm, comfortable feeling. Of course, I always think of cute, hole-in-the-wall coffee shops with all eclectic, thrift store furniture. But that is the one design that scares the crap out of me. The idea of buying old, vintage, thrift store furniture creeps me out a little. I always wonder who sat on it and if it's really dirty and etc. :)

I'm not a huge modern design gal either. I'm not big on the sterile, stiff look that gives you the feeling you might break something. I like decor and furniture that makes you just want to walk in, kick off your shoes, and lay down. I'm the kind of girl that likes to kick her feet up on the furniture, sit on the coffee table or sit cross legged on the floor.

So I have been busy, spending hours on design blogs, trying to find inspiration for a partially fresh start. I'll still have most of the same furniture, but I will have to eliminate some because I am downsizing, and I'll have to buy several new things to accommodate the new place.

I wish I had photos of the layout of the new apartment. I could show you a floor plan, but that still doesn't give you a good idea of what I'm facing. In the living room, I basically have 1 wall for furniture, since 1 wall is mainly for the fireplace and the other for the balcony doors. So that's tricky. Since I've been given permission to paint, I'm trying to decide if I want to paint the main wall in the living room that my couch will go against, or the small wall with the fireplace on it. Any ideas?

I'm trying to pick one design style that is most me, but I can't figure it out. All these shows ask stuff like;
  • Favorite piece of clothing? I'm always drawn to black or white pieces.
  • Favorite vacation spot? The beach
  • Interest? Art and design
And somehow through all of this I'm supposed to find my design style? It's not happening! I took some kind of design taste test on HGTV.com and it says I'm more traditional...which only made me feel boring and uninspired. :) So I feel like giving up.

Here's an old picture of the sofa set I currently own. It's not pretty, but it sure is comfy. Most people see this photo and tell me to ditch the purple pillows, and I would love to, but they match the purple piping you can't see in the photo. I mean, what would you do? Would you really put turquoise pillows on a green/purple couch???

If I can't buy new couches, maybe I should add to my list of "learn how to:"
  • reupholster furniture
:)

P.S. All design advice more than welcome!

3 comments:

Colleen said...

If new sofas aren't in the budget, I would start by picking up slipcovers for those couches. You can often get them on CL for less than in stores. Go for a more neutral color, or maybe a rich brown. Green and purple is a really hard combo to work with. Do you have more pictures of the pieces you want to work with? A floorplan (even if it is a rought sketch) would defiinitely help. Throw it out there- we love these games!

Me said...

What we've been doing is going online to realty web sites and looking at pictures of the houses and the photos of the rooms to get some ideas. OH and BTW I love the header you did a smashing job!!!

Rosanne said...

Hi, I agree with Colleen about the slip covers. If not you could always use what you have and spray paint your tables a lighter/darker or funky color to give them new life. You could also do that with vases or other items to fit your décor. Maybe do the mirror frame the same color as the table. Put some items on your coffee table….candles or what not. If you have photo shop you could test paint for the various items in your room. I did it with shades of your plum colors on the walls. Add a large plant on the table and up light it to break up the mirror and art. Another idea is to put some shelves on the wall and lean photos, candles ….items on them. The lamp scale is too small. We can't see the whole space so maybe there is another table to accommodate a larger lamp? Also make your fireplace a focal point....can’t see that either. Good luck!