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What is your decorating “style”?

Many people, when they find out that I am a decorator and redesigner, ask me how I come up with the ideas for my clients’ homes and tell me that they wish they had someone like me to come in and tell them what to do with their rooms.

But, believe it or not, it isn’t up to me to decide how to decorate your room; it has to come from you! A good decorator isn’t going to take an empty room and put all of his/her ideas and tastes into that space. It isn’t about what ‘we’ like; it’s about what ‘you’ like!!

So, how do you get started and determine which decorating style is yours? Start, the way decorators do, develop a “style file”. Before I work with my decorating clients, I have them do some “homework”. Then, when I go into their home, we can take a look at what they have in their rooms and develop a plan to take them where they want to go!

Do some research:
1. Take a trip to the drug store, bookstore, library, and/or online decorating sites.
2. Find magazines that appeal to you and collect pictures of things that catch your eye...like a particular piece of furniture, a really cool lamp, a wall color, window treatments, a fabric, accessories or a picture of a whole room because of the feeling that it gives you.
3. Tear out the pages and make notes on post-its right on the pages so you remember why you saved them.
4. Also, go to decorating websites and print pages
5. Go to paint stores or the paint section of your hardware store and pull paint swatches. Many of the bigger cards show examples of colors on walls in rooms. And, two of the top names in paint have websites that you can upload a picture of your room and try different colors out.
6. You will also want to find examples of what you DON’T like, especially if you’re going to be working with a decorator. This will help you clarify what you want to stay away from!

Take inventory of your room:
1. Start collecting samples of existing fabrics or colors that are going to stay in the room
2. If you’re not changing the carpeting, clip a small square of the carpeting from the left-over remnants or out of a closet
3. If you want to keep your grandmother’s side chair, use paint chips from your local paint store to match it as closely as possible and have those with you
4. Take photos of the room and any of the pieces you will be keeping
5. You will also want to take measurements of the rooms and the furniture
6. Collect all of your pictures and samples and organize them in a way that makes sense to you. You can do it by room or by idea (such as furniture ideas, lighting, colors, fabrics, or window treatments).
7. Keep all of your samples in an accordion file to help you stay organized.
8. Keep it in your car so when you are out shopping, you won’t have to make another trip back home to see if it's the right color, size, or if it will "go".

As you start to collect a fair amount of items you will start to see a pattern and similarities. The style that you didn’t think you had, will suddenly emerge. Have fun!

I will be doing articles like this in the future and if you have questions that you’d like answered or topic ideas…comment below and I will be happy to address your concerns!

Decorate away!

Love,
Sue