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How to Discover Your Own Style in Home Furnishings | ||||
| Do you have a sense of style? Perhaps it would help if we knew exactly what style is. There are many ingredients which go to make up style, but the most important ones are these. 1. It's a sense of suitability. You have a feeling for what is appropriate for the situation. 2. It's an understanding of how things fit together. This can apply to objects, how their shapes and textures blend, or an appreciation of colors and proportions. 3. It's an awareness of fashion, but not a rigid adherence to the latest ideas. It's the art of taking what's suitable and ignoring the rest. One of the main barriers to developing your sense of home style is to doubt your own ability. Style is one of those qualities which you don't so much learn as cultivate. I have watched people develop an excellent sense of style as they are exposed to the richness and variety of different periods of furnishings. The more they think about their homes and plan for different rooms the more confident they become. They learn from the past and apply it to the future. When looking for objects for their home they begin to know instinctively what will go and what won't. Why do I say you cultivate style rather than learn it? Because your style is intricately bound up with who you are. It's an outward expression of what you like and how you think. You can't learn that from books or audio lessons. If you haven't given expression to your own style, then it may be tentative and underdeveloped. But your style potential is still there, waiting to be nourished. To take a simple illustration, if you're a tidy person, then your home style will probably reflect this. If you love the color yellow, then chances are you've already used it in your home. Your character influences your style. So how can you develop your style? 1. Remember the point made earlier -- do not doubt your own ability. You have as much ability as anyone. When meeting clients for the first time I often listen to them describe their decor style and think it sounds disjointed and haphazard. But on visiting their home and seeing the reality of the scheme, there is invariably a structure and unity which reflect the owner's character. 2. Practice. And then practice some more. Always be on the lookout for new ideas and settings. Watch room setting on TV, in magazines, in books, in showrooms and in friends' homes. Analyze pictures and photos, and ask yourself why you like certain ones, but also what you don't like. Walk around furnishing or antique stores, and ask yourself which items you'd be happy to incorporate in your home. As you decorate more and more your tastes in furnishings and color develop, your sense of proportion improves, and you begin to notice when things don't look right. And that's when you realize that you too have your very own home style! By Eric Collier |
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