Will you answer some questions about how you decorate your house?

1. Yes, my taste has changed.
2. When I was younger I liked to be surrounded by all kinds of stuff and have lots of things hanging on the walls. Now I like less stuff and only have a single picture and a clock hanging on the walls (they are in different rooms).
3. The color schemes have changed drastically. I used to go with very muted colors, but my husband has introduced me to bright vibrant colors. My dining room is bright orange, the bedroom is purple, the family room is gumball red (that was actually the name of the color) and we are in the process of painting two of the walls in the basement light purple and the other two pink. The walls of the house where I grew up were painted white.
4. I do not own a single piece of furniture I owned ten years ago.
5. I have gotten rid of furniture slowly but surely, but have never cleared the house or even a single room out completely.

When I was growing up, my parents decorated by manufacturer. The house was decorated in a particular style offered by Ethan Allen. They did one room at a time as they could afford it. The theory at the time being to buy good quality the first time, and keep it a lifetime. And they did. When I started buying my own furniture, it was one piece here and there that didn’t match, and I still decorate that way.

I participated in the oak era of decorating; the eighties I think it was. Some new; some antiques. When we bought a larger house with tall ceilings, we bought darker and bigger furniture; mahogany and walnut. The colors in the old house were subtly different, but nearly monotone. In our new house, each room is a different color, and the great room ceiling is painted the same colors as the walls with contrasting crown molding.

As for style, what’s that?! Each piece stands alone, but blends with the others somehow.

When I lived alone, my walls were nearly bare. My wife would love to add on to our house just so she could have more walls to hang artwork. My wife has been consciously considerate by avoiding anything too girlie.

l. Yes, I once wanted everything Japanese like this and this. I had screens and mats and various other decorator items.

My mom gave me some American West style furniture, and I changed out a lot.

When I joined a commune, I gave up all furniture and most belongings. Eventually that came to an end, and I moved into an apartment which was gradually filled with various items of other people’s discards.

After about 5 years, we bought our first house. Over time, I bought several matching pieces of very cheap close-out pressed wood, oak veneer furniture. It was very heavy and broke easily.
When one piece fell on my son, I sold the entire household at a yard sale.

I have replaced much of it with chrome shelving and plastic from Lowes Home Improvement.

I also have several pieces I got when my folks died, and when my mother-in-law moved into an independent living apartment. Right now, my whole house looks like a second hand store.

My house is pretty eclectic. I bought many pieces at auctions before the kids were born. We have also inherited a few pieces from our parents over the years. We bought the living room couch from a big department store, and got the carpet from ABC carpets. But the coffee table is from an antique store somewhere down in the Eastern Shore. The slipper chairs are from various places. The cabinets are from that middle brow oriental furniture importer… Pier 1, I think. But they all kind of fit. It’s a collection, not so much decoration.

I could tell the same story for every room. The only room that has furniture that is mostly from the same place is our bedroom, which has a Thomasville collection—a sort of pseudo shaker style, I think.

Honestly, I can’t imagine decorating any other way. To do a whole house over under the thumb of a designer would be expensive and wouldn’t give us what we wanted.

I would not say we have changed our taste over the years. It may have evolved as we could afford more, but really not so much. In fact, we haven’t bought hardly any furniture at all since the kids have been born. Right now the couch needs reupholstering. That will be a serious endeavor.

Most people think our house looks nice and welcoming. It has good feng shui.

I guess I’m not grown up/rich enough to decorate the way you’re asking about :-p My walls are covered in music posters, newspaper clippings, historical posters, concert tickets/playbills/movie showing posters, and drawings/paintings/photos my friends have done. But I’ve been led to understand that this is OK because I am under the age of 26, haha. I have noticed that red is the predominant color scheme. It’s not my favorite color at all, which surprises me. I think it just means I am happier now. It used to be black!

1. Has your taste changed over time? I am only speaking about your decor preferences as an adult.

Heck, yeah. My first real home was full of pastel colors and assorted 80s ‘glory’. The style was pretty modern, except for some of the hand-me-down furniture pieces we had. I had a light blue living room with these hideous couches that looked paint splattered with pink, pale green, and baby blue drips and scribbles (on purpose!), a light pink dining room with dark colored Danish-modern furniture (which actually looked pretty good, surprisingly), and teal kitchen walls with white everything else (counters, cabinets, floor and appliances). To be fair, I was only 21 when we bought that townhouse…just barely an adult.

2. If they have changed, please describe the evolution. Did you start out liking modern and now are more traditional. Did you previously care a lot about how your place was decorated and now just care about being comfortable?

You’d be hard pressed to find a pastel anything in my home today. I gravitate toward earthy colors (beiges, mossy green, barn red, burnt orange, with black accents). Our style is sort of ‘refined rustic/eclectic’. Comfortable, nothing matchy-matchy, but the individual pieces all seem to work together. A mix of newish stuff, beat up antiques, and old pieces freshened with new paint. You can see a bit of my couch (a mossy green), a throw and a pillow (barn red) in this picture.

3. Have the color schemes in your house changed a lot over time? Are they similar to the colors you grew up with in your parents house?

My own color tastes changed drastically, but after they changed in such a big way it has changed very little since then. Tiny steps to bring in more colors. My colors are nothing like the ones I grew up with (which were stark white, navy, peach, lime green and yellow).

4. Do you have pieces you just can’t get rid of, even though your taste has changed a lot?

I have pieces I adore, but really don’t have the room for. I can’t get rid of them because I love them too much. All the old style stuff is long gone.

5. Did you ever just get rid of your furniture all at once and completely revamp furniture and color schemes?

When my ex and I moved from the initial townhouse to our ‘dream house’, we changed our color scheme completely. We couldn’t afford ALL new furniture, but we did buy a lot of new stuff. We had way more space to fill up! We covered those hideous couches with slipcovers and put them in the playroom, and bought all new furniture for the dining room, family room, and breakfast nook, pretty much all at once. We added some antiques, and still had some of the hand-me-down furniture for years.

6. Men, if you are married to a woman and she decorates with a rather feminine hand, is that comforting to you? Do you dislike it, but just go along to please her? Do you just not care at all about how the place is decorated and it doesn’t really effect you in any way?

Not a guy, but I don’t decorate very ‘girly’. About the most feminine thing I ever added to a house was a dried flower arrangement in a powder room, just to fill empty space on top of a cabinet. It was very muted and not too frilly. That pink dining room from the first home was a mutual decision with my ex. We’d seen it in a model home, and both loved it.

I subscribe to the O.A.K. mode of decor:

Oak
Affordable
Kinda worn out

1. Has your taste changed over time? I am only speaking about your decor preferences as an adult.

Yes. I think your mood affects your decor preferences (along with the style of house). I have gone through phases of liking fairly dark rooms to preferring light, airy and natural tones now.

2. If they have changed, please describe the evolution. Did you start out liking modern and now are more traditional. Did you previously care a lot about how your place was decorated and now just care about being comfortable?

My taste is usually dictated by the style of house I have lived in. I have never liked super modern decor. It wouldn’t have suited the houses I have lived in. I also haven’t lived in a house that would suit heavy use of antiques. I like a blend in this house. I have some antiques in some rooms blended with more modern furniture but my kitchen is very modern.

3. Have the color schemes in your house changed a lot over time? Are they similar to the colors you grew up with in your parents house?

Oh good grief no. My parents liked Axeminster carpets that would still be in perfect condition long after the average human has turned up their toes. Ugh! No. I prefer natural tones for furniture that won’t be changed often and to add colour through accessories, paint and the like. My taste has changed in terms of colour schemes but the philosophy hasn’t.

4. Do you have pieces you just can’t get rid of, even though your taste has changed a lot?

Yes. I have some classic pieces that I love and would keep regardless. If a piece really didn’t fit, I might put it in a room where it was out of the way. I think you can often blend different styles if you are clever.

5. Did you ever just get rid of your furniture all at once and completely revamp furniture and color schemes?

Colour schemes yes. Furniture not so much. I have changed things we bought when we were on a shoe string but the pieces we have replaced them with are classic pieces that won’t date. I do like to add quirky things. Like an antique light fitting in a fairly modern bedroom. I have bought a light fitting from the 1920s to put in my entry. It has a quite contemporary feel while being very old.

6. Men, if you are married to a woman and she decorates with a rather feminine hand, is that comforting to you? Do you dislike it, but just go along to please her? Do you just not care at all about how the place is decorated and it doesn’t really effect you in any way?

Can’t answer this.

Yes my tastes have changed. I like softer colors and simple lines. I have antiques, and modern pieces which seem to go well together. I think with my new zen lifestyle I am wanting to par down. @bookish1 I bet your place looks great. I have a friend who can take an old lampshade off the street and turn it into something quite amazing.

I do l like certain things like a good mattress, nice pillows and fine linen though.

We haven’t changed our taste much at all. We began with Danish modern with lots of teak and clean lines. We still prefer that. Soft colors and interesting textures. And eclectic collection of ceramics. On the walls are a combination of non-representational art, extra sized photographs (some 3’ x 4’) taken by my husband on some of our trips, and paintings by my mother. We had to down-size when we moved from our house to an apartment, but everything still looks like “us.”

If I had the room and the cash, my entire house would probably look like Sherlock Holmes’ haunted library. Dark curtains, books everywhere, half-melted candles, cherry and/or mahogany furniture, and the occasional skull or two.

As it is now, my house has books everywhere, half-melted candles, the occasional skull or two… but the books are stacked on the floor and triple-layered on the shelves, and the furniture is whatever I happen to get my hands on at any moment. I lost my collection of cat skulls in the last move (they were all found in my grandparent’s backyard. I have no idea who lived there before Nanny and Pops).

@Shippy: It does look pretty good. I get compliments on it, even though I’ve put no money at all into decorating.
@Seek_Kolinahr : Books count as decorating? :D I have 6 bookshelves that are double-stacked, books on top of the bookshelf, and books on the floor in front of the book shelf… Books on my coffee table. Books under the coffee table. Books completely covering 1.5 sofas.
Sherlock Holmes’ haunted library sounds badass!

Your place sounds like my place. Five book shelves overflowing. One of them is actually an entertainment center, and it’s got a 4X4Xroughly 40 cube of sci-fi/fantasy paperback novels. The floor in front of that is stacked three feet high with more sci-fi paperbacks. We gave up on having a coffee table. It took away room we needed for another bookshelf. My science/history bookshelf is threatening to crack in half or collapse, not sure which is going to come first. Oh, and that’s not counting the floor-to-ceiling stack of boxes full of books taking up half my bedroom that we have for sale at our sometimes-used-bookstore at the local flea market.