A record of Style Evolution: From Color Crazy To Cohesive & Halfway Back
Let us talk about the Benjamin Button-ization of our style. Perhaps it was a comment one of you made lately or simply a quiet moment of looking around our house, but lately we have been noticing that our style is getting younger. Perhaps it is a mid-life design crisis? We will simply call it the latest stage in our constantly evolving sensibility (read: indecisiveness), but we could not assist but share this observation to see if anyone else has noticed it in our house – or in your own.
STAGE 1: “Wait, you mean I can paint these walls whatever color I want???”
In all likelihood, Sherry or I in fact said something like this when we made that giant leap from renters to homeowners. After years of white walls and temporary furnishings, that pent up frustration unleashed itself within hours of closing on this house back in 2006. The result was a kaleidoscope color scheme throughout the house and plenty of meager apartment decor trying desperately to fill up an whole house. Case in point:
STAGE 2: “Okay, let us be serious now. We are homeowners. That means we are, like, adults.”
Our transition into this stage happened right after we began blogging (and if you’ve read our archives, you can spot it occurring in posts like this, this and more lately this). Somewhere along the line we chose that our house needed to “grow up” and look like a real home that real adult people lived in. In reality, this journal is mostly a documentation of that growing up process. You know, an attempt to bring some sophistication to our design choices, acquire real furniture, and renovate rooms so they function better for the way we live. And that is how we got to the room designs that you folks are likely most familiar with.
STAGE 3: “Wait a second – why are we in a rush to turn into stodgy neutral-loving ‘grown ups’?”
Here is where the aging backwards a la Benjamin Button comes into play (aka: design regression). Thanks to the addition of Clara, Sherry and I realized – only subconsciously at first – that we could have more lively with our style. Our house could cheerfully boast more color, take itself less seriously, and even delve into the playful category. The catalyst for this being Clara’s nursery, of course (although last year’s citrus themed Christmas decor – instead of our usual silver scheme – was an even earlier pointer off that this phase was coming).
We consistently intended for her nursery to be a lively kids room, but we never expected that whimsy would trickle into other spaces as well. I guess in realizing that we want Clara to enjoy her surroundings as much as we do and that we no longer need to prove our adulthood (we have a baby for pete’s sake) we became open to letting some more lively and color find its way around our home. Like the pig hooks hanging in our office…
…and this banner we made for a BabyCenter post that ended up cheering up our living room fireplace.
Even the bold pattern of the Clara rug in our den is a big step for us.
It does not mean we will be converting the master bedroom into a moonbounce or painting the kitchen ceiling hot pink, but we are kind of excited by the freedom to loosen up and pepper some more lively, color, and pattern into our next house. Heck, it is not like we are getting any younger…
Anyone else noticing that they are moving into a new “phase” of decorating? Has your style flipped or flopped due to getting your own place, getting married, having a baby, getting hired (or fired) or any other stage-of-life occurrence?
