The Rules of Decorating

Hi friends,
How are you? Are you feeling the desire for springtime where you are? We purchased some new pansies (since some of my fall pansies weren't looking so hot) and have had a few windows open lately with degrees in the sixties. I took down the Valentine decorations and am chomping at the bit to put up some Easter decorations (though I am making myself wait a bit longer, well, I did put out three little precious bunnies- a momma bunny and her two little ones).

Sorry for my brief absence on my post. Lots going on in the Brewer household over the last week:

1. I returned home from a week away working.
2. My husband returned home from a month away working on a ship with the Navy.
3. My parents were visiting us.
4. My mother in law was visiting us and caring for the kids.
5. I surprised my husband with a night away.
6. We are all returning to a somewhat normal life.

Okay, I have to share some details.

2. This is the ship that my husband was working on with the Navy. No, he's not in the Navy himself but he was helping them by supporting some software that they were using, I can tell you, my husband has a new found respect for the sacrifices our military men and women make:

5. I surprised my husband with a night away. I gave him a Valentine's Card that read "pack a bag, you have one hour to get ready" and took him to a really nice resort hotel just 20 minutes from our house. We had a great dinner there while listening to live music and were back in our hotel room in bed watching our favorite tv show by 10pm (Parenthood)...yes, we know we live on the wild side! The next morning we had an awesome breakfast in bed and walked around the property's lake.

6. Rollerskating with my daughter:

and family dinner/movie night:

Okay, that's enough of that, but seriously, thanks for reading. I appreciate it and love sharing the blessings of my life.

Now, on to the matters at hand....The Rules of Decorating. You can buy decorating books, magazines, do online searches about the rules of decorating.....you will see guidelines about paying attention to scale, proportion, lighting, color, furniture arrangement, etc. That's great and all but I have four simple rules that I follow and live by in terms of decorating.

1. Only have pieces that you love.
2. Live with your new ideas for a while and see how they feel before making a decision to change it.
3. Enjoy what you have and love.
4. Spice it up!

Now, I have to share, these 4 decorating rules work for me and my personality. They may or may not work for you, depending on your personality and how you like to live. Let me explain. Let's look at my rules again:

1. Only have pieces that you love. By this I mean buy pieces that you really love. Pieces (furniture, artwork, fabrics, accessories) that you adore and you will be able to use them in a variety of ways in a variety of places. I have white slipcovered furniture with two pets and two small children because I LOVE the look of slipcovered pieces- so fresh, comfortable, and easy plus I throw them in the wash every now and then. A bonus of white slipcovered furniture is that you can swap out your pillows whenever you feel the need to. They are a blank canvas for your room. You can add color with your wall paint, curtain fabrics, pillows, and accessories.

Whenever I buy something that I am not crazy about, I regret it. Just this week I bought two new graphic yellow pillows for our front porch. The pillows were great but they didn't work on the porch and the bright yellow color in them didn't work anywhere else in our house so back to the store they went. Return! Don't keep pieces just because you don't have something in that spot. Wait, and get something, sometime, that you really love. Right now, our master bedroom is pretty sparse. I reused some of the artwork in there (two large tin pieces that I love) in our living room. I have lots of ideas of what I want for our master bedroom (new panel curtains, a bench with storage for the end of our bed, artwork that I love) but it takes money and time to find the "just right" I LOVE pieces so we will wait. I often try to find inexpensive prints or cards (sometimes even postcards) while on vacation, especially beach vacations. Then whenever I see the print I am reminded of the trip and the memories we made. I often pick up inexpensive note cards or postcards while on vacation and have many framed around my house. We are about to embark on several small trips this spring and I plan on keeping my eyes keenly on alert for inexpensive pieces of artwork that I love.

Here are some of my favorite pieces that I LOVE (slipcovered furniture, blue/green color combination reminds me of the beach, accessories from nature: beach glass, shells, rocks, woven baskets):

White slipcovered chair and a half:

Nature items:



White slipcovered washable cotton sofas:

Artwork from the beach:

Oyster shell mirror made from oyster shells collected from beach restaurant:

White basket ceiling light with blue and green accents in my home office:

Blue and green beach glass mirror:

Beach artwork purchased while on vacation from local artist:

Blue and green pottery on silver sparkly tray:

More blue pottery I love:

Another homemade shell mirror with Maine pottery lamp and favorite blue and purple pottery pieces bought during various South Carolina beach vacations:

Thanks for joining me today friends. Try to stop back by in the next couple of days and I'll elaborate on my Rules of Decorating for rules 2, 3, and 4. What are your rules for decorating?
Take care all.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com