How important is having a gorgeous house (interior design) to you?

[Anonymous]

Both DH and I work from home and live in a small condo. Having a nicely decorated, well organized and pleasant to be in home is important to both of us, since it is where we spend most of our day.

It's also important to me that DH feel like he has a say in the decor of our home. So many wives I know have all of this frou frou flowered stuff and their husband gets a corner of the basement for a "man cave"...if he's lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am really into interior design - it is almost like a hobby to me. I have always placed a lot of importance and attention on my home surroundings, so even when I moved into my first dorm room, I was carefully considering my color schemes, purchasing "art" and accessories, etc. Now that I own (or rather, mortgage) a home, I consider interior design my splurge. I don't drive a fancy car or buy expensive clothes, jewelry or purses, but I just dropped $5k on cosmetic improvements to my house to fix things that probably bothered no one but myself. I never put interior design ahead of prudent saving for retirement, college, etc., but since it's something that is important to me, I will spend some $$$ to have my house look the way I want. That said, I don't think I have over-the-top expensive taste. I don't have the time for all the Craigslist bargains and DIY that a pp mentioned (although I love the idea of it), but I can't imagine paying $10k for a couch from Baker's either. I wouldn't hire a decorator because I enjoy doing it myself. And I don't like that "decorated" look. Like a pp said, it's not welcoming. On the other hand, I also don't like it when people's rooms look like a catalogue and you can virtually identify every piece of furniture as coming from Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel.

Yes, this is me! Even as a child I decorated my room, then dorm. No training but I love decorating. I am also an introvert and homebody by nature so my surroundings are very important to me. Also, I think kids can be taught ( and should) to live with nice things. I let my kids make forts and such with the furniture but at the end of the day we pick up, etc.

People tell me all the time that I should do it as a business but I think it works for me & my family because it is our taste. Not sure I could implement someone else's vision. I have helped friends just for fun and people often ask me to stop by to give an opinion so I do think people want to decorate but sometimes are afraid to start.

With one friend, and it sounds like some here, she was too busy, had small kids, felt like she had to keep everything. The first thing.
I did was tell her to get rid of some things (and helped her), then we moved stuff around she already had. Finally gave her a list of mirror, few pillows, small table ottoman, nothing expensive. It was like a whole new house when you walked in. The point of the story
is you DON'T need a lot of money to have a beautiful or simply inviting home. Also, so many women say " oh my husband would nevr go for that color, patten, design, etc.". When we entertain, the men are the first people to say how much they like our house. The words we hear most are warm, inviting, cozy, could stay here! I think that is what most people want and not formal interior design.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in our house for 13 years, yet we've not yet painted or recarpeted the top floor. Does that give you a hint?

Are you poor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our house looks great AND our 401ks do too. You do not need a lot of money or to hire an expensive decorator to have a house that's well put together.

Not to mention you live in your home now, and while it's important to save for the future, you might also die and never use that retirement money.

Balance in everything.

We hired an interior decorator when we moved in to our new place. We can't afford to do 80% of what she recommended right now, but we at least have a concept and a plan for what we want to do -- a big picture, if you will, so we don't 1) do things haphardly and 2) start living with things we really don't want (and a lot of people do this).

She also helped pick out things like paint color -- a scheme for the whole house, and new light fixtures (we had awful builders grade circa 1983 throughout the house)

I think all in all it's a good choice. We'll have understated beauty befitting the house itself, but nothing cookie cutter or over-the-top

How much did this type of consultation cost?

Thanks!

I think all in all about $2,000. Maybe 15 hours at $100 and change per hour.

We got some of that "back" by paying wholesale prices for light fixtures. That's the one tangible benefit decorators can bring -- they get huge discounts on furniture/fixtures etc... They do their own markup but you still pay less than retail. Also, in this decorator's case, she doesn't markup light fixtures.

I will say this: If you don't have money for new furniture right away, it's amazing what paing and new fixtures and hardware in a kitchen do to a house.

[Anonymous]

I also don't like the staged matchy-matchy page 29 of xyz catalogue look, and am working on my house bit by bit. We have too much stuff (both DH and I are packrats) and can't afford to upgrade or replace all of our old furniture just yet. But I have a master vision that I'm slowly working toward and the furniture we do have is arranged in a pleasing and inviting way. I do have a good eye for space and color, as well as a decent ability to mix and match pieces from different decades or origins and have it look comfortable but not eccentric (if I do say so myself). I am soothed by the aesthetics and have a strong desire to have beauty and visual order around me (I am the person who notices if the molding around the window is slightly off-level, for example, and my eye will go right to it every time). In addition, I grew up in a dysfucntional and cluttered home, so while I struggle with that myself I still have a strong drive toward order. We make incremental improvements (new shelves for closets, better storage system for crafts, more fluid arrangement of furniture after we paint a room) and do as much as we can ourselves.

I absolutely agree that paint and new fixtures can make a world of difference; our bathrooms and baby's room look fresh and crisp after spending less than $100 on each room and doing the fixing up ourselves. (Of course, you can spend more than that but even a contemporary $30 fixture from Ikea really changed the feeling of the room.) I heartily recommend color in a home, and I also recommend going room by room and living with each new color for a while before choosing the next. That way each step will build on something that you've already integrated into your lives and you'll naturally tend toward a balance between warmer and cooler colors and a coherent feeling in each of the rooms. That's not to say that you won't know already that you want a green dining room, a blue kitchen, and/or a yellow bedroom, but once you pick a certain blue you might be moved toward a slightly different green than you first imagined.

Anyway, I also would never hire a decorator because my home is the only "art" project I can afford at the moment!

[Anonymous]

Important to me but not so much with the other three slobs that live with me, but whom I love dearly so I am ok.

[Anonymous]

We did not use an interior decorator in our 3 bedroom 1940s colonial (seems a bit excessive - I can't imagine) but my husband really has an eye for that stuff (I do not - I have no taste!). We renovated our kitchen and it looks great - he painted it himself and the color he chose looks awesome, and goes so well with the counter tops and cabinets. He also is much more minimalist that I would be and our house looks nice, though our undeclawed cat has ruined our couch and chair. Oh well.

In terms of importance, we work hard to keep the house uncluttered and looking nice, because it's our home and we spend a lot of time there (we both work so somewhat easier during the week to do that than if I was home with two LOs). I'm a homebody and I like nothing more than hanging out at home, in our kitchen, and so it's important that it's nice. We did spend a lot on the kitchen figuring we'd live here for at least another 10 years and that is the space we prioritized, but otherwise, we would never spend money on a decorator (though I think it's great if people do, especially if they have bigger houses).

[Anonymous]

Yaaaawn.

[Anonymous]

Yea, if I wanted to blow my money then I would have a perfect house. I also have two small boys and it is just too much stress to keep things perfect.

I used to like to have a perfect home, but that was pre-kids. I like things neat, nice, and fairly updated, but I don't need to have a model home.

[Anonymous]

I don't like the look of those "just so" houses. I have good taste, and limited means. My house looks fine. If I had enough to hire a decorator, I would do a thousand other things first.

Also, not all decorators have good taste, and many care more about appearance than quality. I suppose you get what you pay for...

[Anonymous]

I care nothing about how the interior of a house is decorated, as long as it's comfy and welcoming (which can mean anything to anybody).

I also don't want to spend any extra money on my house - prefer to save for retirement, like a PP said.

[Anonymous]

We used to have a beautifully decorated and clean home. Now we have three boys and that is all I'm going to say about this thread....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used a designer (and a general contractor since some of the renovations required alterations to our house.) I like design myself, but I also work full time and didn't have the time to devote to decorating/renovations without help. I probably wouldn't have bothered with a designer if we didn't have to have events at our house. DH is a law firm partner and we have to host parties quite often. We had been to enough events at partner's houses when we were younger that I had a pretty good understanding of how a house needed to function in order to hold events. I find it easier to keep the house clean now that everything is intentional. We either made a place for it or we got rid of it and we built in a lot of storage for the kid's toys, etc. We have a small house by partner standards (rowhouse in the city) so we had to be extra careful to make the rooms functional for entertaining. I knew if the house wasn't pretty great, people would question why we didn't just buy a gigantic house in the burbs. Maybe they still do.

I would love to know more about this. We're in the midst of a redo and from the portion of the house that we've finished (upstairs), I can already tell that this is the case. Our house is small, rowhouse-like as well and I'm encouraged to know that we can get it to a point that it is suitable for serious entertaining!

[Anonymous]

The first thing I can say is - no one can use someone else's ideas the way they think they can! This is the number one mistake and number one pet peeve I see. Every house has individual functions conducive to one's family, not the next family, even if you think they are similar.

That said, I have yet to meet an interior decorator that was not more smug than helpful, so I take it as a sign that what I am doing with my own eye works best. I think every home should be somewhat neat and clean; but "off limits" rooms and furniture is just mean to younger children. It is their house, too! Ecclectic works in most cases - and reflects the taste and style of the owners that live there - not matchy-matchy (80s style). It can be as small as using your favorite color (and for crying out loud, enough of the red dining rooms!); or as large as mismatched (not clashing) furniture in your favorite room. Things can be done without huge investments being made. Most people have either time or money, but usually not both. Be realistic.

ITA with PP who said it really is difficult to get comfortable in a house/room that looked staged from a chain furniture store - it is OTT obvious. Find your own style and do not be afraid to be yourself and show some individualism. It is your house, not your neighbors or friends.

I have seen one neighbor try to copy another with a remodel and it was comical! Don't be them.

[Anonymous]

I would LOVE to have a beautiful interior. We have hired a designer to help us stay within budget and get a look we want. Otherwise I'll just wind up spending money on things that aren't "quite right" and I'll just be bummed out about the wasted $$$.