If your life was a movie, what would it be? When Dan and I first bought our historic fixer upper, ours would have been The Money Pit. Remember that ’80s comedy starting Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, about the couple who moves into their dream home only to watch the house begin to fall down around them? Let me tell you, it’s not quite as funny when you’re living it and paying all the repair bills!
No matter what your life story, how you decorate your home should reflect your unique personality and experiences. Through the years, as I’ve decorated my own nest, twig by twig, I’ve drawn decorating inspiration from a wide variety of areas. Here are three places to look for inspiration to tell your own story through your home décor:
A Favorite Vacation Spot
Unless you squeeze your eyes shut every time you travel, you can’t help but be inspired by the places you visit and the things you experience there. I know I do. When Dan and I visited Charleston, S.C., years ago, we were both blown away by the beauty and intimacy of the walled gardens that adjoined the historic homes. Since the homes were built close together and have small yards, the home owners erected garden walls to give themselves a private outdoor paradise. As we were in the process of renovating our Money Pit, one of the things on our long list was doing something with our small yard. That trip inspired us to turn our unkempt weed patch into a walled courtyard. A year later, the walls were up and the garden begun. Now it’s among my favorite places in my home – a little piece of Charleston I can enjoy every day.
Key West, Fla., is another place where Dan and I like to escape when we can get away. There’s something so relaxing about beach living, isn’t there? I can’t bring the Atlantic back with me to Kansas, but I can celebrate my favorite feelings of beach life in my décor. The photo above, taken at Nell Hill’s Briarcliff, is a great example of how to thread in the icons of beach life, no matter if it’s a historic home on the craggy coast of Maine, a cottage at Martha’s Vineyard or a bungalow in southern Florida.
Whether you were inspired by a chateau you toured in France, a mountain vista you enjoyed during a hike in Colorado or even a hotel you stayed at during a business trip, the key to replicating the look and feel you fell in love with during your travels it to weave in the colors, patterns and textures of the place that stole your heart.
For example, if you live for ocean vistas, fill your palette with the colors of the sand, water, birds and flowers that made your heart swell with joy. Pull in natural elements that come from the sea, like coral, driftwood or a shell. Pick materials that mimic the style found in your favorite beach dwelling, like wicker or distressed painted wood.
An easy way to bring in the colors, patterns and textures of your travels is through textiles. The bed above at Nell Hill’s Briarcliff is filled with soft, relaxed patterns that feel like they are from a Nantucket cottage.
You can also add a piece of furniture or two that replicates the style from your vacation destination. Maybe it’s a weathered wooden hutch, like the photo above. Or an Asian influenced chest. A French settee. Or a Moroccan table. I’m partial to interiors that mix pieces from different influences. I think the contrast in styles makes the room intriguing.
Sets from Favorite Movies
I am a sucker for old movies. When I’m lying in bed, channel surfing, I always stop at TNT, drawn in by the dramatic images of old black and white movies. One of the things that makes me such an easy mark for Hollywood classics is the sheer elegance of the homes depicted in the sets.
Frequently, we gravitate toward movies that speak to something inside of us, whether it’s the plot that draws us in, or in my case, the set. After the movie Something’s Gotta Give came out in 2003, customers flocked into Nell Hill’s for furnishings and accents that helped them recreate the fabulous beach home Diane Keaton’s character lived in, with is elegant whitewashed interiors. The same thing happened in 2006 when The Holiday was released. I could picture myself living happily ever after in the English cottage depicted in this story about two women who were unlucky in love swapping homes, one in California, the other in England.
Is there a pattern to the type of movie sets that draw you in? If so, include these classic images in your own décor. For example, if Hollywood glam makes your heart beat faster, invest in a few key pieces of elegant furniture.
Maybe it’s a secretary holding a display of picture frames. Or a butler’s cart outfitted with an opulent bar. All you need is a piece or two, used as focal points in your room, to establish the theme you love in your Hollywood set.
You don’t have to buy new furniture to create the look of your favorite set. You can also do so through accessories pulled together in displays that mimic the ones you love. Look how glamorous this grouping of blue and white vases looks on top of this stunning buffet. The gilded mirror in the background, the crystal candlesticks and silver serving pieces are opulent and indulgent, like something you’d find in the home of your favorite starlet.
Your Current Life Stage
How you approach furnishing and accessorizing your rooms evolves with your life. For instance, when our daughter Kelly was a teenager, the only decorative element I needed was a stout door I could close so I didn’t have to see the mounds of clothes, stacks of books and God-only-knows-what-else was piled on her floor. Now that she’s grown and gone, I have had fun turning her old bedroom into a guest room. Same room, radically different look, all determined by our life stage.
What stage of life are you in? Your décor should celebrate today. Are you the parent or grandparent of a young girl? If so, embrace this fun opportunity to make her room fit for a princess. I work with hundreds of customers every month at Nell Hill’s, and my informal market research has shown me that many women have a little girl bottled up inside them who love pink. As we grow older, we can still indulge our penchant for pink by working it into more sophisticated settings, pairing pale pink with colors like soft gray or charcoal.
But when it comes to little girls, bubblegum pink it is! Don’t fight it. Instead, enjoy the vibrancy of girl-approved brights like apple green, orange, marigold and purple. Choose bedding that weaves together a rainbow of colors, brought to life in a mix of intriguing designs. Pick accessories that extend the fun, like this bright green lamp, aqua blue tray and playful stuffed animal.
Fill in with accents that celebrate her royal highness, such as these adorable paper goods for the perfect princess parties.
Next Week … When furnishing your interior spaces, you want to pick pieces that will endure, like neutrals. Thankfully, neutral furnishings don’t have to be boring. In fact, they can be downright exciting and fun. I’ll show you a world of new possibilities in neutral décor.
Lisa Fernandez says
April 22, 2013 at 10:00 amWhat a lovely post. I love it! It is so true every stage in your life somehow influences your decor. You are so right. But I have to say that you and your hubby stole our home movie “The money pitt” And I always say that was us. I can’t even begin to tell you that our renovations took over a year. I just have a montage of stills in my mind of me carrying a bucket to the mudroom sink filled with our dishes because we had no kitchen, or having the microwave propped up on an end table to microwave any possible idea of a meal while the neanderthol bunch of workers lounged around my patio furniture on their “breaks” belching away and tossing their cigarette butts on my petunias while constantly giving me a sneak peak of their lower backs when they bent to pick up some wood. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Awful.
We also are both in love with Charleston and France. We would be BFF’s totally. Hee hee.
Love all your ideas as usual.
xoxo
Lisa
Leeshideaway.blogspot.com
Franki says
April 22, 2013 at 2:28 pmSome of my favorite movies! So…I’m not the only one looking at the “sets” and “styles” when we go to the movies… 🙂 franki
Susan from GA says
April 22, 2013 at 3:25 pmI so agree with the ideas in your blog this week (well, every week! lol).
I also wanted to add…..I have started to listen LESS to what is “in” regarding my home décor. If what I love is not trendy…so be it. I surround myself with the things I treasure. If they wouldn’t make the cut for a page in a decorating mag…so be it. I am not going to change my living environment “just” because. Sure, I’ll add new things and tire of old things…but it will be up to my personal taste, not which way the wind is blowing in the world of fine décor.
Thanks for such a neat blog that speaks to me every time I read it!
Susan from GA
Karen Barker says
April 22, 2013 at 3:45 pmThank you for the wonderful day at the Lied in Lincoln, NE…..enjoyed your table, your “interview” and the day in general. It goes to show what talent abounds everywhere as you look at beautifully decorated tables.
A friend who is a decorator said to remove all the “faux greenery” from the top of cabinets…it was only “80’s tres chic”:)…so have done that – would like some ideas as to what to put up there…have pottery there right now. Any other ideas? I don’t want to make a big investment but it does look a little barren! (I am an aunt to Shelley Brenneman, who I think you know…lives in KC.)
Mary Carol says
April 22, 2013 at 4:42 pmLisa, thanks so much for making me laugh at your descriptions of your home improvement hell. We are sisters, aren’t we? Now I just have to figure out a way to get the image of the workers bending over, showing way too much, out of my mind! You are a sweetheart and I always enjoy your comments!
Mary Carol says
April 22, 2013 at 4:43 pmFranki, no you are not alone, sister! I’m right there with you!
Mary Carol says
April 22, 2013 at 4:44 pmSusan, you are a wise woman. Our houses should fill our senses and make us smile. Keep it fresh, but keep it “you”!
Mary Carol says
April 22, 2013 at 4:48 pmKaren, I agree with the faux greenery vines. It’s best to say goodbye. And I really like your idea to put pottery above your cabinets. My recommendation is to select larger pieces since everything looks smaller when it’s up high. And, try displaying pottery pieces in a variety of shapes and sizes together in clusters. It has a more powerful impact.
Bobbie Pullen says
April 22, 2013 at 10:25 pmMary Carol, I thoroughly enjoyed all of your wonderful ideas for personalizing one’s home. The photos are beautiful.
We have recently downsized. I am struggling to make our current house our home. Thank you for your help via your blog.
Jan says
April 23, 2013 at 6:50 pmHi Mary Carol! Just love following your blog and all your ideas! And I know this is a really “crazy” question – but the person wearing the navy and white stripe flats………what make are those shoes?!? I just LOVE them!!!! 🙂
Joyce says
April 23, 2013 at 8:57 pmGreat post! Love the lantern with the mirror in the 2nd picture. Do you have those for sale in your store?
Barbara Novello says
April 23, 2013 at 10:27 pmLOVE your shoes!!! WIsh I could find them!
Mary Carol says
April 24, 2013 at 3:06 pmHi Joyce,
Aren’t these lanterns the best? This model is all gone, but give us a call and we can help you find another, I bet! You can reach us toll free at 877-746-4320.
Mary Carol says
April 24, 2013 at 3:11 pmI agree, you all, LuAnn’s shoes are so, so cute! We are laughing over here because she got them several years ago and can’t remember where, and the brand name on the bottom of the shoe is all worn off, so she has no clue who made them. Sorry we couldn’t be more help in the fashion department!
Patty Every says
April 25, 2013 at 6:42 pmWhere did you get those adorable striped shoes? My kind of style? Sell at your store?
Ginny says
May 4, 2013 at 9:48 pmI will be visiting your shop in few weeks- it will be one of the highlights of my trip no doubt! I first read about you and your shop in Romantic Homes Magazine years ago and knew I found a kindred spirit.