Defining Your Style: Only Love

Sometimes when you’re trying to define your style, you’re tempted to say you’re”contemporary” or”diverse” or”jagged Victorian with a touch of mid-century contemporary with a penchant for greens and golds.” But then you see a really amazing Feng Shui design and you wonder if you should tack that on to the definition of the”style.” Well, I am here to free you from the shackles of defining your own style. You don’t need to label your style, you just have to understand what you love.

Browse home photographs by style | What do you love about your residence?

Jeanette Lunde

So, how on earth do you figure out your style with no traditional tags? It is simple really. Remember the days of ripping out magazine photos and pasting them into scrapbooks and journals? Go back to these days of automatically ripping out pages, just do it sensibly.

I invite you to make an ideabook called”Just Love”and add photographs that you simply adore visit toe. Don’t think. Don’t add everything. Just add what you absolutely adore.

Oh, and one more thing: Don’t look at your publication until there are 10 to 12 photographs in there. Based on how often you browse Houzz (anybody else addicted like me?) , it might take awhile.

When I am searching for photographs for ideabooks, usually a concept will instantly pop out at me from the photographs. By way of example, I will often think,”Ooh, that is an excellent nesting space,” or”Wow, that artwork is a fabulous bold choice for this space,” or”The curve of that seat actually suits the lighting fixture over. This is very good for a design school article.” Once in awhile, a photo comes from nowhere to that I just intrinsically respond and only LOVE. That’s the reason why I throw it in a folder titled”Just Enjoy.” Simple, right? Try it.

Signature Design & Cabinetry LLC

When you’ve created your ideabook and you have 10 to 12 photographs, open it up and see what you’ve posted. You probably will see a couple of themes. Within this novel, you might observe a theme already.

Notice the crisp whites, beadboard cloth and small hints of blue at the first two photographs. The white and black beadboard is no surprise for me, but the blue is. I typically have not been a blue girl.
I’m more a purple girl, sometimes orange, and a reformed reddish lover. Evidently, my style is evolving since, clearly, I’m having a little love affair with gloomy.

Lola Nova

This photo says it all. Clear cut furniture, bright white, pop of crimson, attractively patterned, but mild curtains. THIS is my own style. The accession of these blues makes sense. I’ve been spray-painting bottles and cans at a lighter shade of that turquoise for weeks now.

Baysix Design

This choice shows a variation on the theme. There continue to be straightforward, boxy parts of furniture which have weight but aren’t heavy. There’s still a gorgeous pattern that doesn’t overwhelm the entire space… and a tiny hint of blue.

Michelle Edwards

This photo is another classic which I just love trick to top. Crisp whites paired with rustic wood which gives life with a bright, beautifully patterned red tartan. This is also my style.

Boor Bridges Architecture

When you’re compiling your ideabooks, you might notice the repetition of colours, materials, furniture arrangements, shapes and lines, or just furniture. For me personally, that furniture piece is a grand seat. These past four photographs were chosen based on a visceral response to the design and materials of the seats. I like the rest of the space, but the real attraction is that the line and material of these metal seats.

Woodmeister Master Builders

Again, the seats just scream”Hello! I’m your style!” I really don’t need to understand that they are a Saarinen Arm Chair and that I don’t need to buy this specific seat for nearly $1,500.

I just simply know I love the line, I love the color, I love the feeling that they evoke, and that I love the design of these seats.
When I go looking for furniture, I now know I need to locate a mix of relaxation, sweeping lines and small cutouts for visual interest.

christopher jeffrey architects pllc

Yet again, chairs. Stools this time, but the exact same concept. A mix of two amazing substances, clear cut lines and the horizontal square is a sudden twist on a normal round stool.

Crisp Architects

Ultimately, there is this gorgeous, long row of chairs that are beautiful. I love everything about this distance, but the seats are just beautiful. En masse, they’re even more beautiful, and I’m in love.

So what has this small exercise taught me about my design?

1. Stick with white that is crisp. Don’t try to go ivory or cream. I will hate it.
2. Buy (many) contrasting kinds of seats with exquisite materials and interesting lines.
3. Stick with furniture which has a simple yet interesting line. No intricately carved bits without a tight, dead pieces.
4. Add just a little pattern but not a lot. Pick one gorgeous pattern and use it many times in the space. Then stop. Look at my photographs. None has more than one pattern from the space.
5. Insert a photo of blue. I am clearly craving small bursts of blue, and this little ideabook gives me permission to explore the world of turquoise, teals and powders.

Now it’s YOUR turn! Start an ideabook titled”Just Love” and add those photos that make you lean forward into the computer to find a better look. Insert those photos that make you sigh and swoon. Don’t add photos which you”kinda like.” Only add the ones that force you to say,”I just love that.” Then come back and tell me about it! I would love to see your style.

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