Thursday, February 21, 2013

Mistakes I have made in decorating

This is going to be embarrassing...gulp.
This post is not so much about my taste or not being trendy but more general mistakes I have made in decorating choices.

Mistake #1. Fighting your space, aka trying to shove Downton Abbey into a cottage


While there are elements of this former living room that I love, I took it too far, too heavy and too Granny.


I was going for an English country house look but  in a Cape Cod, with a tight budget and this gawd awful wood burner that I nicknamed, Bubba.


I so hated the 1960s orange oak trim and that fireplace trim that I ignored it. I did not have the budget to remove Bubba, fix the flooring and add a fireplace. Although,one January morning (actually 21 of them) I was glad to have Bubba when our furnace died.
I digress, my point is don't try to make a palace out of a cottage. I could have much more successfully ignored the elements I did not like, had I kept the decor more relaxed and casual. Lighter and brighter would have worked better.


Mistake #2. Not visually connecting items


Those antique frames and photo would not have looked too high had I placed a normal chair underneath but they appear to be floating away from the low lying bench. Now I could not add pillows to that bench as it was used for hats and gloves and needed to be opened by young children daily.
I could have extended the grouping on the wall, gallery wall style farther down the wall visually connecting the items.


Ahhh! That is enough embarrassing photos of my life for one day. I am cringing right now. I don't even want to think about the tragic paint color I chose for a kitchen and this was when I was a working designer!
What mistakes have you made? Fess up people.

12 comments:

Kim said...

Oh Kerry ... I had to laugh ... I did the same curtains when I first got married a million years ago. I thought they were so grown up!! Little did I know ... still making mistakes and learning however!! xo

Linda {Calling it Home} said...

My list would be too long. Probably the biggest mistake, is being influenced by outside forces and not my gut. My most recent one, that you will know, is painting the backs of my bookcases coral in my master bedroom. They are too loud for me.

Patty Day @Pattys Epiphanies said...

This is so funny, but so real!
I think I live in an imaginary world where I see things that don't exist! I put together a room, in my mind it looks like what I saw in a movie or magazine, and THEN....I see the reality when I take a picture of my "new" room.
I have gone through every trend over the last 53 years you can imagine. My WORST...The RL, floral fabrics! The idea was to continually add different prints to the same room. My bed was filled with every print the company put out...and I thought it was Fabulous!
I love your reference to your Downton Abbey room!!! I wonder how many will begin to appear in our mags? My all time favorite...the SH home in Something Gotta Give!

Kim@Chattafabulous said...

I think I would have a very long comment if I had to list all my decorating mistakes. It's kind of fun to experiment and push things a little in your home own, and let's just say not every idea is a homerun. Thanks for sharing, Kerry!

www.chattafabulous.blogspot.com

jackie jade said...

great post! it's hard to see our mistakes until we look back and have some perspective. our styles evolve so much over time, so as long as we learn from our "mistakes" it's not so bad! and love that you can admit your mistakes and laugh at yourself - that's important too!
-- jackiejade.blogspot.com

Lenny Lianne said...

My decorating mistake: having my husband
hang up pictures and paintings. He tends to
hang them high, if you will.
It doesn't look outrageously
awful but it could be better.

ArchitectDesign™ said...

it's all part of the learning curve! my first apartment that I did anything to was in Squirrel Hill while in grad school and it was huge - lots of rooms. I painted each room a totally different color -there was no flow! It was so awful looking back -like living in a rainbow. Tan hallway, green living room, bright red dining room, bright yellow kitchen, deep blue bedroom, bright green bathroom - YIKES! flow is important and I remember that ever since.

Windlost said...

So very funny Kerry.

I really must dig out photos of my old apartents...

Terri xo

An Urban Cottage said...

Wow, those were some RED WALLS!

Pura Vida said...

Even to this very day after all this experience, I look at photos and think..."what????". My biggest mistake ..too many little trinkets that stop the eye. You are funny and fun to read

The Pink Pagoda said...

You are so right about visually connecting things. I see people hanging art far too high all the time. And I believe if you aren't making mistakes you aren't taking enough risks and you aren't learning.

Vel Criste said...

Too many Kerry, but I guess the most common one I made was following trends too much!