HELP IKEA! I Have a Home Decor Nightmare!

banished1

Anyone want to talk about home decorating????

I have been in this tiny cabin now for 4 years since my dfing and I am starved for space and the ability to decorate. While a JW I was in a 3 bedroom home. When I left, I moved with most of my beloved furniture to a cottage, then I moved in with my bf into his 2bd duplex, then we moved here to the mountain knome's cabin.
We moved here for my emotional health, you know how nature can heal a broken spirit.

I sold about a third of my possessions just to get in the little door here.
Its crazy. I still get my decorating magazines delivered to the cabin!
Country Home and Traditional Home
But up here there are no malls, no estate sales, and I have no space to do anything with.
Literally, you walk in the door, turn left is the living room, turn right is the kitchen, walk twelve steps is the bedroom and then turn left to the bathroom.

Along the walls I have armoires lined up touching each other. I have had to put hutches in front of windows. Couches and wing chairs, dining table and chairs, buffet, big mahogany desk and chair and mansion mirror, dressers and more armoires and a huge 4 poster bed. There is a little path through the middle.
I look like I am living in an antique shop!
When the few visitors do come and are invited to sit at the couch, we must practically touch knees because the opposing chairs are so close!

I am just waiting......waiting for the day when some inspiration comes to me....to either get rid of some of this stuff or move again.

I dream of course of vaulted ceilings and old stone walls and expanses of hardwoods and thick oriental carpets and big windows looking out over the verdant plains......
of green spacious lawns and borders of roses and red geraniums and ........visual perfection!

Do you go through these re-decorating phases?
What is the ANTIDOTE????

Perhaps it was the shopping I did last weekend in the nearby town. They are all getting ready for Christmas and the shops are looking absolutely YUMMY!!!
I come home to the "scary cabin"!
I look like Miss Mouse with a huge shopping problem!

I wish I was one of the new IKEA kids. They have a light and airy way of decorating.

What is your decor like?

BrendaCloutier

We remodeled our condo last year. It went from late 1970s with rust shag carpet and dark pecan closed in U shaped kitchen for barely 1, to a light airy open floor plan.

Wilson Art laminate flooring in liv-din-kit in a golden oak pattern which hides everything, and gives a sense of flow thru the whole upper floor. We took out the soffits above the kit cabinets, and put cabs all the way to the ceiling (requiring a step ladder but that stores nicely in a niche next to the fridge) we put in gray speckled "granit" composit solid surface countertop, and opened the kitchen into an L with a baking cabinet wall. White appliances. White walls and a retextured celing - no more asbestos popcorn!

Furniture in liv is Mission with red saddle blanket upholstry. We have a travel library wall.

Now I'm getting into Fung Shui and rearranging furniture and adding decor items to balance the room. It's helping alot!

A book I got on the Feng Shui that is very easy to understand and implement is FengShui Demystified by Clear Englebert. It doesnt matter what your furniture or decorating style, it helps with energy flow and balance.

And yes, I LOVE IKEA. But I buy very little because austaire and Danish Modern is not my style!

daystar

I've never been too fond of Ikea. I suppose I've got a bit more traditional tastes, cherry-wood, or just deeply dark woods. The best quality, sturdy carpentry, where I am able to.

BrendaCloutier

BTW... Kev is going to sell his sailboat, so now we have a lot of the stuff from the boat at home. The cushons are in the living room corner because I cleaned them and wont' put them back on the boat until I've scotchgarded them AND rainy season is over. Also, our final room to be remodeled (my den/computer/sewing/junk room) is in dire need of remodel as one of our cats has gotten pissed with me and pissed on the ancient green shag carpet in there! SO we need to get a storage unit and have at that room now.

Legolas

Do you go through these re-decorating phases?

LMAO...I'm sure my hubby is about to crack me over the head one of theses days for always repainting, new floors etc...

Here is some pics of my house.

BrendaCloutier

So very pretty Leggy!

jgnat

My house is decorated in Early Salvation Army. I'm an ideas girl, and most of my ideas stay in my head, rarely translated to reality.

Do you go through these re-decorating phases? Yes

What is the ANTIDOTE???? Move the furniture around. Take up knitting and crocheting and cross stitch. Make doilies for every flat surface, plump pillows for the couches, linen towels for the kitchen, and crocheted covers for the toilet paper. Keep those hands busy making pretty little things. That's how the pioneer ladies survived, and I am convinced they were on to something. In the cold, dark evenings I get the itch to create. Now I understand my Aunt, who brought her crocheting on vacation. Hands busy, eyes bright, she was never bored.

daystar

Quite nice Legolas. Very warm.

Billygoat

I used to think I had good taste in decorating. And then I got this part-time job with an interior designer. I look back at my stuff from just six months ago and go "Ewww!". LOL! But one of the cool perks about my job is that I get free design consultations from my boss. She came over a few weeks ago and helped redecorate my living and dining room. It looks so much better now! But I will tell you the first thing I had to do: Get rid of stuff I didn't want. I went through all of my things and anything that didn't have sentimental value to me got put in a box. Anything else that I loved and had some kind of "connection" with, I put in another box. When my boss used my items to decorate with, she only used the things in my sentimental box. The other box is going in our yard sale this weekend. I have to say, getting rid of junk and simplifying my decorating "style" has really made my living space so much more comfortable. I decided to let someone else get enjoyment out of the things I no longer need. So that's the first and sometimes most difficult step. But in that process, I've realized I love the simple, contemporary, Zen style of decorating right now. The less I have the better!

A couple design tenets I learned that have really helped me:

Always have three ambient light sources in a room. If they are three lamps, put them in a triangle in the room. It balances the light through the space. Also, consider mixing and matching the shades. Rarely are the shades that come with a lamp, the best shade to have in your room. If the traded shade is too tall or short, you can always buy a different size harp at the store for a few dollars. It's amazing to me how fun and creative you can get with lamps.
Always try to have something organic in the room. A vase full of fresh flowers or even just fillers. A bowl full of fruit. I love a bowl full of granny smith apples. They're a beautiful color and they last a long time. Oranges and lemons are pretty too, but they don't last as long.
Balance your natural elements: wood, metal, glass. I had a living room full of very heavy oak furniture. It almost weighed the room down, it was so much wood in that space. So my boss helped me by replacing a wooden end table with a metal/glass topped table. My large wooden entertainment center was replaced with a sleek metal/glass center. I removed two book cases into the office. With all that wood gone, my living room seems so much bigger...more space, more breathing room, more balance.
Balance the shapes in your room. My living room had tons of rectangles...sofa, loveseat, pictures on the wall, coffee table...all rectangles. So we got a square coffee table. Added a round end table. Removed a rectangle picture on the wall and added two square pictures in it's place. We also added a large circular platter on the wall for interest.
Balance the colors in the room. I have a tendency to decorate with lots of earth tones. Browns, greens, tans. Earth tones get tiresome after awhile. With color, there is more interest in the room, more balance. My boss has helped me pick out a nice neutral tan to recover my living room set, but we're adding lots of red, orange and yellow pillows to create interest. The good thing about neutral fabric on furniture, is that in 5 years, if I want a new look, all I have to do is get new pillows.
Good design does not need to be expensive. My boss has taught me to shop for bargains at TJ Maxx, Marshall's, flea markets and second hand stores. I just bought a gorgeous hand forged metal bookshelf at a second hand store for $85. It's very industrial and contemporary, but since it's literally a piece of art, it's a steal of a deal. If I would ever want to sell it, I could get close to a $1000 for it. If you have a bigger budget, outlet stores for Neiman Marcus, and Saks have AMAZING stuff for not tooexpensive. (Too expensive for me, but it's since I'm on a terribly tight budget.)

Maybe these will help you?

Love,

Andi

vitty

Hey, legolas, youve got a hellava gap under your kitchen door LOL

No, seriously it looks a lovely homely house, and very tidy too !!!

HELP IKEA! I Have a Home Decor Nightmare!

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