Do you know what your ‘style’ of decorating would be called if your home was featured in a magazine?  I don’t.  I know what I like and I’ve tried to be objective about the rooms in my house but labels seem to elude me.  Sometimes words get in the way.

I have a vague idea that my ‘style’ is “eased-up traditional” a term I found in an interview of Peter Dunham in the latest House Beautiful magazine.   {love that term}  The house had touches of French and British Colonial among others.  I love French  ‘Country’ (I believe that just means a little less formality) and I love English (again, more ‘country’ than the highly polished/preserved furniture).  Our home is small (relatively speaking) so I often refer to it as cottage.  I occasionally pick up magazines that declare themselves “cottage” or “romantic” living publications and often only see one or two rooms I like…what’s that about?

My natural affinity for furniture and accessories that are MUCH less than perfect, even slightly beat-up or tarnished, makes me wonder what style that might be.  Words can conjure up an image based on experience or exposure that sometimes is unfavorable as a descriptive.

{Above image was recently shown on the blog site Greige}

An example of this whole “words creating an image” backfired when,  some years ago, hubby and I talked to someone about landscaping our back yard, including some changes we wanted to make to the patio area.  Some of you may know, I used to have a landscape business but I wanted an outside perspective.  So we were going to pay an “expert” for plans and then implement them ourselves. After a detailed walk through the yard and showing him some of the pictures I’d saved from magazines (which I believe reflected an English cottage-garden look with a formal knot garden) he looked at me and said, “So, what you want is a “funky” look, right?”  Hubby said I visibly blanched and needless to say I never called him back.  For some reason “funky” for me equates to a disorganized, mismatched, even cluttered or junky look, which I don’t believe is anywhere near the look I was going for.  Is it me?  It’s him right?

If you Google “design style” you will find plenty of entries that address the styles that are considered ‘standards’ but as one design blogger stated, there are as many combination’s of styles as there are designers and they (styles) are as individual as the person doing the room.

{If you’ve never visited A Country Farmhouse blog site I think you might be surprised}

I guess that’s what makes this hobby in decorating so much fun for me;  to see how individuals communicate their style and the “rules” are often not applied.  That’s the way I like it!  What about you, do you have a definitive style?

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