Question by zoeskylark: Can Anyone help with Interior Design Advice?
I am a lover of the shabby chic feminine romantic cottage style. My husband prefers masculine, modern, dark furniture, Eames chair look. We live in a large open California style home with marble-like tile and metal windows. Much of our furniture and accessories is to his taste. Any suggestions about how I can bring more of my softer, “shabbier” look into our rooms? Or must I select a few rooms as “mine” and leave the rest to the hard-edge, leather-covered masculine style?
Best answer:
Answer by delyghtful
When we were buying new furniture the last time, I decided to make it more to MR’s liking. We bought dark brown leather furniture but the overstuffed style. Then I bought an area rug that is more colorful and put it at one end of the room. I added more feminine pillows and storage baskets and found some old crochet doilies [some I had made to copy those made by my Grandmother]. I have an older flower vine pattern liner for some of my Longaberger baskets and used artificial ivy vines here and there to fill in [and hide things I store under them in the baskets]. I bought an older writing desk and already had an older ladder back chair for the desk chair. My livingroom is a good mixture of cottage style and traditional man-style. In one area, I have a tall basket. All of my baskets serve a purpose. This one has a collection of walking sticks and umbrellas that we use. Also in the basket are tall artificial flowers that change with the season and add a bit of color among the useful collection of items. Your cottage style furniture can look masculine, too, if you do not insist on too many floral themes. When I want flowers added, I stop in at the flower shop or have a few seasonal artificial arrangements which I use sparingly. Add both of your collections to the decor. We have baskets, bells and antique block planes at different places [and a few teddy bears]. Over my computer area, I have an artificial grape vine. This livingroom is 15 X 22 feet in size so I actually have two separate areas because of the arrangement of the furniture.
Have fun with your decorating. That is my very best advice.
Give your answer to this question below!
eeeks. I am an Interior Decorator and I often have clients like you and your husband who have tastes vastly different from one another.
To make your house a little more cohesive, I would shy away from totally different “his” and “her” style rooms and mix it up a bit.
You can add some Shabby Chic details to bring in your taste in the way of accessories or changing out a piece of furniture here and there. Take a good look at what you already have and want to keep in the room(s). To make this transition successful you have to follow a couple of rules. To meld the two styles, you have to repeat COLOR, PATTERNS, SHAPES and THEMES.
So, it the sofa is on the square side, get a squareish side chair and cover it with a shabby chic fabric. If the sofa is black or brown or tan, copy those colors in your shabby chic fabrics or accessories. Repeat your shabby chic fabric in more than one place in the room to reinforce it’s presence. No color to match what you want to put in the room? Paint one wall and you will see a huge difference in the “acceptance” of what you load into the room.
Are there any collections in the room? Let’s say there is a collection of glass vases. Add a super shabby chic vase in the collection. If there is a bar set up in the room, add some vintage accessories to blend in with the metal edgy ones. You can put a lamp shade on an existing lamp to change the mood of the lamp. Just repeat colors and it will instantly make the room look cohesive. Got some modern wall art? Flank it with shabby chic sconces. Not much color in the room? go and put a vintage rug under the coffee table and you will instantly have something to match all of your shabby chic things to. Just remember to repeat colors and fabrics and shapes or you will have nothing but chaos.
Add things slowly. Your eye will tell you right away if it is not right. Experiment. Take your shabby chic things and place them around the room and see how they look. Or, do what I do and take the trusty credit card and have at it in a big shopping spree. Pick out a bunch of things you think will go in the room. Take them all home and play with their placement. Keep what you like and return all of the rest. Check return policies when shopping in this fashion. Sometimes what you see in the store looks horrible once you get it home and the thing you were not crazy about in the store is a knock out in your home. Bend the rules.
These types of little influences will take the hard edge off of your hard-edge masculine rooms and it will create your own “Urban Chic” look.
The two of you have to go 50-50. Start bringing in the shabby chic items and he will learn to like them. I know a store that sells the shabby chic furniture. Like a little table to sit in a corner of the room. Even a shabby mirror. Then start bringing in more. You will be surprised how he adapts to it. Just try not the change the room over night, do it gradually. Good Luck!