Is your home decorated in a particular style....

[Crocus]

.........or do you follow your heart when it comes to decorating. What does your home say about you? :)

[jazzactivist]

Mine is a mix of thousands of books, genuine crafts and some original art, F&B paint on the walls, lots of waxed wood, a few artifacts from Africa and other countries, a few 60s / 70s hippy things, and charity shop treasures. I really love the Arts and Crafts era, and the houses of artists and writers from the interwar years, so I try to recreate a bit of that look and hope that it gives the impression that I am artistic and intellectual (!). I used to think that my style was fairly unique, as most people that I know seem to follow one style or another. However, I subsequently discovered that it is known as "Boho" and there are quite a few decorating books about it! I like a house to be a home, so it isn't immaculately tidy. What about your home, Crocus, and other members?

[sheddie]

That I'm not the norm of course. I have mixed a bright yellow on the walls with old pine everywhere and my carpets old with rugs on, but I like it that way, also I have old pine doors from my architectural days with etched glass saying 'Everthing 1d in this window' and also I have rescued old victorian leaded glass and put it in the top of doors.I have small milk churns, dressers full of all kinds of bits, all of them a memory of some kind. I have a cast iron sign from the railway in my bathroom saying 'Please adjust your dress before leaving' Lots of ribbon plates on the wall saying A present from? Knitted rugs and some tartan, freesias on the pine table in deep yellow and an orchid on the TV next to my lovely mum's photo.Well that's the lounge, but I forgot the fireplace. That's another story I think.Everyone who calls says it is so comfortable, but I'm into recycling and definately not posh!

[Crocus]

I really like the English Country Style very much. It looks and feel relaxed but in a way also classic. That's what I tried to do when we had our house built. There's definitely a distinctive Englishness about our home inside as well as outside. I have quite a bit of English treasures which I bought on our travels to the UK, also quite a lot of books, English magazines. I also like tapestry fabrics. One or two original art works, one being a watercolour painting of the Cape Coon Carnival, dancing in the streets of Cape Town. Further I try to have a relaxed, homely and comfortable atmosphere. I like the medieval and gothic period, but not the Victorian Gothic Revival Style. Hubby had to make me a castle like door which leads from the hallway into the corridar which leads to the bedrooms etc.

[keepersdaughter]

I suppose my house says more about our life and places we've lived than what I would choose to create. We've been married for 20 years and lived here for seven, the longest in any one place. We moved 10 times in thirteen years up to that point and we made do with all my husband's bachelor bits and pieces, added bits as necessary as we went along. My preference is definately 'English country', with French provencial thrown in, though from looking around where we live at present you wouldn't guess that. We have several nice Turkish rugs that my husband got in Turkey and brought back in the bomb bay of his jet before we were married and they have proved pretty indestructable. Also have a substantial butcher's block, again from hubby's batchelor days, also made the trip in his bomb bay - they put a stop to that after someone inadvertently pushed the wrong button and ejected one into the North Sea!!. In Italy I bought a lovely wrought iron and green marble baker's rack and bar. Other than that I have some nice English china; Royal Doulton and Spode, a few nice paintings. The rest of the furnishings are nothing to write home about - many moves took it's toll and we haven't really splurged on anything other than a new dining room table. The house itself is not my style, very open plan, three storey, very typical modern southern US - hard to create warmth and character. Hoping to move in the next year or so (who knows where!), so maybe I'll be able to create a home a little more to my choosing.

[eleanor2]

my house is a terraced town house.you enter a porch with old tiled floor.the ceilings are very high.we like recycled old stuff.hubby worked for a builders yard.the things he bought home and did up.old light fittings etc.most of my furniture is second hand and full of character.i dont like new.my dining room is like a country cottage .my kitchen is boring.i have my lavender room.home made conservatory(use your imagination here)old clocks and candlesticks.medieval cast iron candle chandeliers.most of my doors are odd.very homely.

[Serenity]

My house has a split personality. The rooms that have been renovated are what I would call a contemporary country style - F & B paints, pale oak and quirky objects d'art. The other rooms are somewhat lacking - in plaster, ceilings and floorboards , infact recently someone asked our neighbour who owned the derelict house next door!

[lily]

They all sound lovely, real homes.Funny I was thinking today how if I get one bit looking good, something else goes to pot. Never quite manage to get the house + garden all sorted at the same time. Lots of our furniture we've had for years- a now battered chesterfield, dark ercol dining stuff old iron + brass bed from a junk shop and a hanging kitchen lamp from my grandfather's home. Definitely not posh but lots of the things have memories or meaning.

[Oola]

My house is a distinct style called 'tumbledown' - peeling wallpaper, wobbly walls, threadbare carpets and half finished kitchens.

[dinger]

We live in a bungalow .Large patio doors looking out onto garden .I love pictures and have'nt got enough room to put any more up on walls also lots of family photo's around .From the front door [which is actually at the side ] bathroom and toilet on opposite sides dining room, kitchen opposite sides,bedroom 1 bedroom 2 lounge,kitchen leading out to garden ,We have mainly pastel colour walls .Well lived in cosy and comfortable.

[Katelb]

We live in an 'end of terrace house/converted shop! when we bought the house 21 years ago,all it had going for it was thick walls,and a sound structure,but my OH has turned it into a palace compared with how it was,and 11 years back,we added an extension out from the kitchen and so we have a downstairs shower room/cloak room,and a huge bathroom upstairs because it used to be a bedroom years ago.We like to have pictures and numerous photographs all of which reflect the sea or the air and are of family past and present,the pictures were painted by a great friend of my mum's and are quite unique really,other than that,there is a the chaos of books,and computer stuff,a playroom for OH for his photo's etc,lounge/dining-room knocked into one large room which has three windows,two of which were the shop windows and therefore larger than normal( new frames though!!!)and my OH's pride and joy is his workshop/garage attatched to the extension and is a two story building in which the cows and pigs were kept when the house was built in 1886!! presumably they kept the animal feed in the upstairs part. Like you Oola,our kitchen was half finished for ages because then we were both at work but we got there slowly and none of our walls are straight either,a nightmare if your papering a room but as my OH says'it all adds to the charm'

[Crocus]

Morning all, at last we've got the ISP working again - what a battle. I was actually going to ask all of you to put in the old earplugs because I wanted to SCREAM! Anyway, things seems to be fine now.

I love all of your homes! It sounds nice and comfortable, lived in and loved which to me is quite important.

[gothfairy]

Like Jazz, ours is a mix of thousands of books, handmade one-off craft items (mine), Farrow and Ball paints on the walls (love the chalkiness and depth of colour, latest is CHINESE BLUE in the newly decorated bathroom), lots of recycled old pine furniture, colourful ceramics on shelves in the kitchen, quirky things like a few strange fairies, including my favourite GOTHFAIRY (layered grey and black net dress, large black sparkly wings, elbow length black gloves, black beads in tiara, black legs and boots, long black hair and a big silver wand!), New Age and hippy stuff, Victorian prints, family photos. There are strong colours on the walls in every room bar the bedroom which is a relaxing cool colour, a pale jade sort of green, to contrast with the old, dark furniture which I love in there. Handmade/bear artist teddy bears, lots of side lamps (preferred to main central light), hanging crystals on doors of dresser, the two iron candleabra like central lights in sitting room and dining room. The house is a 1930s detached 'villa' as they used to call them, and we have the original fireplace in the dining room, plus all the original doors, picture rails, deep skirting boards, and have a stained glass window on the landing.
Everyone who comes here says it is just 'US'... think it's meant as a compliment! Everyone makes themselves at home, shoes off, feet curled under them as they sit in the big old leather armchairs, or squidgy old sofa in the conservatory.
It's cosy, comfortable, colourful and whenever I leave, even if it's just for an hour or two, I am so glad to get home.

[Healing Hands]

My home is very cosy and a sort of country living feel about it. I love F&B paint. I have lots of photo's on the walls that I took whilst in the Antarctic with my hubby and also the Amazon. I like having photo's around the house. I also like flowers in the home too. I was only thinking before the end of the summer that I should of decorated the lounge as after last winter the walls get a bit sooty with the fire, but I never got around to doing it. I do not mind decorating, but I have to work up too it. My dining room is a bit of a mixture as I had to bring my computer into here and it has not left me with much space. I am looking for a table that will fit in and not look so much of a office area, but I do not want an expensive one and it cannot be to big.

My third bedroom which was my youngest daughter bedroom, then it was my hubbys office and now it is my treatment room. My client said this morning how lovely a peaceful it feels as the sun was just trickling through.

[sunflower]

I have a country style kitchen with a large range and white dresser. On the dresser are two Hazel Atlas glass tea sets from the 1930's. The green set I inherited from my Gran, andthe pink set was bought on e.bay this year. I also collect Carlton plates as well. The living room is cosy as well with a utility desk and piano. Last year Hubby did a grand job of creating a fireplace feature out of Victorian tiles and wood 200 years old. On the surfaces of the furniture we have ornaments bought for us by our children. My latest pride and joys are a wooden Gerrard the Giraffe and a wooden Ellie the Elephant (my names for them) brought back from Africa. Everything is worn and thoroughly 'lived in' which gives it a cosy laid back feeling. Because I knit and sew, there is always some evidence of this in the living room.At the moment I am knitting satin ribbon purses for family and friends......so ribbons and lace everywhere!!!

[Pippa]

I have a range in the kitchen and a dresser, some pine that has gone dark and needs painting now, in fact the whole house needs decorating, I no longer like the 'terracotta' in the sitting room , it looks pink at night. The conservatory is great for sewing in, lovely natural light. Cream carpets, squashy blue sofas, woodburner, quilts (mine) and books.

[SheepyJames]

They all sound lovely, real reflections of you and your lives. I hate it when a house is too tidy with no hint of what the owners' interest are etc - no soul. Our old cottage is warm and comfy, quiet and comforting. Old furniture, rugs, hubby's bits and pieces, my spinning wheel, wool everywhere (no, not just for the party!), dog's special chair, cat's special cushion, woodburner's comforting glow. It casts a spell - everyone says so. It seems to heal the weary and anxious. Who cares about the decor!!

[lily]

I think CL should use our homes for their features, they're surely missing a trick here.
I think the enjoyment of your own home is in letting it develop slowly, that way it has real personality. Smiled at Oola's kitchen, ours didn't have running water or a sink when we bought it.

[Crocus]

Morning all, we've got sofas in the living room, walls are a very soft pale yellow, a dresser in the kitchen with my English plates, milk jugs, a Harrods(!)(?) tin for my coffee bags, a Belfast sink, pictures of our boys and all their sporting certificates on the walls of the living room, a beautiful enlarged photo that I've taken with our camera of the Yorkshire Dales and framed on the wall, beams in the living room, dining room, as well as in the kitchen and our bedroom, a castle door that poor hubby had to make for me (in the hallway into the corridor that leads to the bedrooms etc.) Old furniture, fairly new furniture, pillows on sofas, tapestry wall hanging, candle holders, 3 smallish gothic styl windows, all in all quite English type of home. I love your country to much you see!!!

[Sparrow]

Here goes - see if you ladies can come up with a name for our style: rugs bought in the Middle East, a William the 4th Secretaire, solid iron bookshelves from a funky interiors shop in Dubai, ottomans and tables from my Great Grandma's farm, three second hand sofas and a 1930s leather chair. Cats draped on the sofas and husband reading a book on Churchill lying on a turkish bed sofa (not Churchill, the hubby!).

[Crocus]

Well, what about an "international friendly, well loved and comfy" home?

[eleanor2]

pick n mix (including turkish delight)

[Sparrow]

Turkish Delight! Love it!

[Crocus]

Or "All sorts"!

[lily]

eclectic chic?