Friday, February 10, 2012

Style Envy

I don't know about all of you, but sometimes I get a really bad case of house envy from looking at others' blogs. Perfectly put-together homes with consistent styles get me every time. Those homes also tend to be the polar opposite of what mine looks like - a carefully curated museum exhibit, rather than the museum storage room! Makes me want to sell everything on ebay and start fresh!

My house is such a hodge-podge of styles, sometimes I fell like it's everything and nothing all at the same time. I'm not sure if I could even limit myself to one particular style of decorating. But if I could, I would have a whole house of mid century modern decor. Or maybe vintage industrial. Or maybe cottage chic.... I guess that's the problem, really, I love it all!

Literally, I have all these styles and more in various rooms of my 1800 square foot house:

Shabby chic/cottage style:


Rustic Adirondack:

Mid Century Modern:


50's Atomic

40's cute

Art Deco:


At this point I think I'm too set in my ways and too much in love with all my stuff to ditch everything and start over. A lifetime of collecting vintage items will do that, I suppose. But it still doesn't deter me from dreaming about owning and furnishing a 1950s Eichler, or a 30s Frank Lloyd Wright, or an industrial loft, or....

What about you? Can you stick to one style or is it a mishmash?


14 comments:

  1. Don't feel bad if your place is not fit for a full page spread in a home decorating magazine. After all, we have lives to live and can't spend all day rearranging our homes and shopping for furniture! I for one love the collection of styles you presented in your pictures, but if you really want a change, perhaps you put together larger clusters of pieces from a single style for a more homogenous look.

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  2. I want a room of White Charles MacIntosh furniture, Eames, Stickley and Art Deco. The place can only hold so much. Cool kitchen!

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  3. John- Me too! Now we know it's genetic!

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  4. Must be, hope your kids have it too. The dresser looks familiar-grandmother's?

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  5. Bless you, i think a house should be filled with everything you love because that makes it a home. It doesn't matter if its a mixture of styles its an extension of you and who you are and your taste. Its nice i think to have varity. Although my first love is the 1950's i love the 60's to and the art deco period. I have a collection of it all. And also a tad of shabby chic if im honest seems to be creeping in ;-)) You have some lovely pieces love that 50's stool, have a nice weekend,dee x

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  6. John- No, from the other side of the fam :). I have a whole matching Art Deco bedroom set- bed, nightstand, hiboy, vanity and bench in burl walnut and bakelite. It is incredible, if I do say so myself. I will do a post on that sometime soon.

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  7. I think the important thing is that our homes be filled with things we love that make us smile...things we like to see when we return home at the end of the day. Everything in my house is mid-century, but my house is only 1200 sf, so I can't hang onto things. As a result, I've had to weed down to the things I love most and sell the rest on Craigslist.

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  8. Don't sweat the small stuff, I'm the same way, my house is more like yours, each room has it's own time period. I'll be posting pix soon for the one year anniversary of our new home.

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  9. I agree with you. I like to call my house eclectic. Every piece has a little story or meaning. I couldn't just get rid of it.

    Your thoughts and what inspire you are what counts, and that's what you do.

    Christy
    Lil Bit Brit

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  10. I love your house and yes, I too wish for several locations...to indulge my Art Deco, Shabby chic, etc..Well, it's home, and although I can look at some other blogs and wish I could "coordinate" more, I still keep changing things around and being eclectic in my little bungalow.

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  11. I can stick to one style, but it takes practice! Haha every room in the Casablanca has taken at least 5 years to get right (and that includes overhauling the den/bedroom and Lounge TWICE!) You have a lot of nice pieces and you cna make them work. Its all abotu collecting what you love in moderation. (ironic sounding I know) Althought the Casablanca flirts on the Boundries of "Midcentury Modern" its really more "midcentury traditional" I like Mahogany, Almost all the wood in the house is that. and being uniform with colors sometimes helps. Trust me I have purchased many a piece of furniature or knick-nack only to discover ti really doesnt work. so I put it up for a while and see how the life of the room changes. Often peices I buy make a comeback in a diffrent room or a diffrent setting in the same room! My advice to you is dont feel bismal about it play with your furnishings and whenit feels right to you, your there! :)

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  12. I like the mish mash. Granted most of our things are contemporary, but my decor tends to lean arts and crafts or 40s cute. I'd love mid century modern though.

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  13. So glad you visited my blog because now I've found yours! Our home is mostly mid-century modern, but love art deco, danish modern and some kitschy older styles too. Eclectic is my choice for our mix of styles. We have a small ranch style house, so understand all too well the small space problems! Going to sign up to follow you now.

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