From the Archive: Advice from Holly of Decor8
I really appreciated what Holly had to say at Decor 8 about taking some time to decorate your house:
"It seems like so many of us are buying things we see on blogs or that our friends like, that we're forgetting to cherish what we already have and just mix stuff in. Some homes are starting to look like people had no real history in them, like they just gutted and did a fresh slate makeover.
You can look at their pad and pick out everything you see, crediting it to this or that store, or as something you've spotted a hundred times already in blogsville. Unless you are 18, you shouldn't feel like you have to start from scratch. Look at Domino magazine as a perfect example. What makes the homes featured in their pages so envied? They feature real homes that were built over time. It's a good lesson for us, decorating shouldn't be an overnight process."
The post then referred to a house that was a good example of designed-over-time — a house tour on Apartment Therapy of a lovely home in Portland belonging to someone named Alicia. You can see the house tour photos here. Or see them as a slideshow here.
Originally posted on February 23, 2007.
Labels: home
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Wednesday, July 09, 2008
12 Comments:
What a lovely post. I feel the same way and have a hard time explaining to my family (who like to decorate a house in a day) why my walls still don't all have something on them four years after moving into the house. Thanks for the vindication.
Having the things that you love around you is what really makes it home...Alicia's home reflects her creativity and heart. Check out her blog too; it's one of my favorite places to visit.
http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/
Great post. Thanks for the reminder. There's more creativity in building a home than just decorating a house. This was timely for me. Thanks again!
what a darling little house. just darling. good reminder too. I love that.
I totally agree. I love it when everything in my house has a story or is a treasured hand-me-down. It makes it so much more cozy to be homw.
this made me smile:
"someone named Alicia..."
How a couple of years changes things: both of you with names now instantly recognizable to me.
That is so true! I just re-did our master bath for $50 because I "borrowed" the rest from other rooms in my house. It feels wonderful!
When we did our nursery for our 1 year old daughter we took pieces of furniture that meant something to us; furniture that carried the souls of those who owned them. Her "changing table" is an old buffet like table from a close friend of ours, Mamaw Mary, who passed away in 2004. Her chest is from my great Aunt, her crib was mine and my bro's crib, her armoire is Steve's grandfather's and her rocking chair is another Great Aunt's. I love that although most of these people are gone, they are still fully part of her life.
I've been stressing over the fact that my house is still so bare. My mom and my MIL both so want us to have every inch covered in our house... but for the Better Half and I, well, we prefer to collect pieces we're absolutely in love with... so ours will of course be an over time collection.
I love the advice. I move often, and it takes me about a year to really make each new home work for me. On a different note, although the photos are pretty, my husband would leave me if I decorated anything like the featured apartment (fussy and girly).
i so agree with this statement. sometimes homes where everything was decorated at once remind me of las vegas- a big facade, no real depth. i love the idea of gathering things along the way.
Thanks for this inspiring post. I consider home to be an ever evolving work of art that would be boring if just a reflection of the latest trends. We also still have a lot of bare walls after a few years of living in our house. I like this piece of advice from William Morris-“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful”
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