Help

I'm reading all these wonderful posts about decorating and while they are all very helpful, I am at a loss. Unfortunately, we don't have a house yet (living in a co-op). My question is how do I begin to 'learn' how to decorate my home properly? I honestly don't even know where to begin, as I'm not artistic or detail-oriented when it comes to that. Can anyone give me some tips or advice as to how they learned. Thanks

Go through magazines...clip 'inspirations'...see if you can work with what you have. Paint and color go a long way...as do artwork and mirrors.

But I would start with collecting 'inspirations' - you'll probably notice a pattern and from there you can find what style your taste is and go from there.

Be daring and have fun. I love it!

I'm not that creative either, but got a lot of ideas from home magazines- just go any bookstore- there are tons! I would just flag or tear out things I liked.

Also, catalogs like Pottery Barn ,Restoration Hardware and Crate & Barrel gave me lots of ideas.

catalogs
magazines

HGTV!!!!

Thanks, guys! One small problem is that everything I seem to see in those mags or on hgtv that I like is SOOOOOOO expensive!! At those prices, it'll take me forever just to decorate one room! Ahh!

I am not the decorating type or so I thought - all my apartments since college always had bare white walls. But now since I own a home DH and I have fun with the decorating. We spend a lot of time looking in mags, seeing what other people do on this site and our friends and get ideas. Also roaming home sections of stores for ideas...things just come to us. We kind of pick a color and furniture and go from there.

Also, you would be surprised how you can create some of those styles in the fancy mags at a cheaper price. Although I spend my share of time in C&B and Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware and others...you can find good stuff at Home Goods, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory and JP Penneys at half the price...I love finding little touches at Walmart and Target and those stores!

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Posted by minniebride14

Thanks, guys! One small problem is that everything I seem to see in those mags or on hgtv that I like is SOOOOOOO expensive!! At those prices, it'll take me forever just to decorate one room! Ahh!

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thats why I like to watch sensible chic...they tell you how to do designer rooms...for SO much less

What channel is Sensible Chic on??

HGTV...

Sensible Chic

they have an inspiration room that is like $50-100K...and replicate it usually for under $3K

Thanks, Erica!!

Two basic tricks to help you get started:

1) Pick the rug first or an area rug first, then you pull from the colors in the rug for the walls, furniture and accessories
or
2) Pick a pillow/cusion with a design and colors you like, and do the same as above.

You need a center point to start from, and them work outward from there.
If you are unsure of using too many colors, then use diffent shades or intensities of the the same color.

Hope this helps.....

pick an inspiration piece- ie. a candle holder, a bowl a tapestry an area rug - just about anything that you love and build off of it.

OR--- pick a theme or style of decor- these can be found in books or on hgtv shows and match furniture and accesories accoring to the style.

examples:
modern
asian
french
country
traditional
tropical

GET A COLOR WHEEL- to help you out with color choices, gather paint chips, magazine articles.

The magazine furniture is very expensive- but you dont have to buy the stuff shown. you can find many places that carry similar items for much much much cheaper.

thanks for all the tips!