Can you see why this mountain home gets raves from everyone fortunate enough to visit? Read on to see how you can bring your own special uniqueness to your home too!
Here’s how these creative homeowners designed their home to be a cut above the typical home of today.
1. Do not hesitate to personalize your home with “found” or your own collection of pieces that have a back story.
Whenever you can share the story of where you discovered a unique piece, it definitely adds significance to your rooms. In the same way, incorporating personal items collected over time again makes your home a cut above the routine, almost ho hum look of many homes today. This is another reason why antiques are regaining their popularity regardless of one’s life stage.
2. Use and display items in unexpected ways
I am immediately drawn to vignettes that incorporate an intentional creative spin when displaying accessories or furniture. The cool aspect of working your coffee tables, book shelves, wall items in an “why didn’t I think of that idea?” adds whimsy and or an informality to predictable appointed homes. Plus, this is an opportunity to use your favorite treasures that will justify its use in this nontraditional approach to finishing your home to make it your home.
3. Being selective, restrained but calculated use of accessories always deliveries a pleasing space.
I know you have heard me say many times, stuff for stuff sake is so “yesterday?”
Make your home special just like you are!
If you do not have what you consider any treasures, I ask my clients to just wait and not be in a rush to fill every blank space. Some of my all time best projects were my clients who used restraint by not going shopping to fill in the gaps. They scoured local shop versus the big chains. Or they used personal items from their travels, family collections, resale shops, even flea markets. The fun result is there will be a back story to many of your items that you will continue to enjoy sharing with others.
4. Showcasing nature, if possible, never fails to enhance any room.
Now of course I realize not every is so blessed to live in a home like this one with these travel magazine views to decorate around. However, wisely framing windows with your window treatments is one of my tricks to bringing the outside into our rooms. This is what I intend to do in our new home when the time comes or I should say the budget allows! By avoiding too heavy or too view inhibiting window treatments, this is very easy to accomplish.
5. Last but definitely not least, is understanding the principle of scale and proportion!
Notice the size and amount of furniture in this over the top fabulous great room.
Breaking it down, there is one large sectional perfectly designed for space planning function as well as beckoning one into to this amazing room. Even the scale of the suede leather recliner fits beautifully adjacent to the size of the smooth black club chair. The narrow long coffee table is exactly scaled for the furniture it centers.
Also, notice the scale and proportion of the chunk of mantle on this massive wall. Again, it is done so correctly it fits seamlessly adding even more wonderful interest without being overly contrived.
So you see, or I should say you observe, when you break down these 5 reasons this home totally rocks way above so many, there really is no reason that you too cannot upgrade your home’s spaces with a little imagination and giving yourself permission to just have fun without all the serious introspection.
It is your home you all, make it what you enjoy so that your precious time spent in your home will pay dividends to you over and over as you experience seeing you, not a cookie cutter, non-personal look in your home sweet home.
And don’t forget pet/kid friendly fabrics!
So again I say: Make your home special just like you are!
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The fun and challenge of relocating is designing/decorating to fit the new area – New Mexico decor does not fit in Kansas!! Kansas does not “fit” in Colorado, NM, or AZ. A good excuse for a huge local sale before the move. Out with the OLD and in with the NEW!However, just a pinch of HOME needs to be incorporated!
You go Ragene and have your sale then have yourself a blast finding your new look in New Mexico! And I love your knowing that bringing your past into your new location will surely help you feel more at home. But the most significant point is to display who you are in your history of where you have llived plus your life experiences. Thank you so much for commenting and send us pictures of how and what you incorporate in your new life. xo Mitzi
Nice post Mitzi. Love your 5 tips to consider and how you showed how it worked throughout the home. 🙂
Thank you dear Deborah for commenting! It really makes our home ours when we do what these truly creative homeowners accompllished with high style and not loving hands of mother look. As you so know, this is not easy to pull off! xoxo Mitzi
Your advice to not just fill spaces with stuff to fill them, but to rather curate with items that are personal and meaningful is pure gold! THAT is what makes a house not merely pretty but also a home!
Janet I love that you understood my comment on “stuff” ! As a very smart lady, you see so often exactly what I am talking about regardless of the price tag of the “stuff”. Some where in one’s homes, should be a reflection of who actually lives there! I so appreciate your comment! xoxo Mitzi
Hi Mitzi ~ I, too, love how you are spreading the message to fill your home with objects that are meaningful to you and that hold special memories. Nothing says *home* more than being able to look at an object and remembering the people, the memory, behind it.
Hi Leslie, I love your summary of my message which is of course your experise! I am not sure how all of this has developed lately, perhaps it is in my own quest to seek relevance and significance in our new life stage and location. The only way that I knew how to accomplish this goal was to bring our past with us along with redoing our new home.
But in processing this message further, what has surfaced is the observation in our high level world of design that this is exactly what is so often missing, that personal identity of who actually lives in these over the top magnificent homes. Therefore, I believe that the time has come to celebrate our identity in our homes and not shy away displaying exactly this message. Designers could do very well with adding this to their marketing.
BTW, I am getting closer to establishing my plan for 2020 and I thank you for your support on my professional “re-adjustment”.
Love the idea of displaying things in unexpected ways to tell your story.
Hi Mary Ann and thank you for taking the time to comment! You observed one of my favorite reasons is that the creative way these homeowners displayed thier finds and their personal history. There are so mamy that I could not show them all but maybe I should in another post. xo Mitzi
Great tips Mitzi. I especially love Tip 3. So, so true!
Thank you for commenting Sheri! With your experitise, I am not surprised that you honed in on number 3. THis is perhaps the one part of finishing any of our projects that can make it break it since accessorizing can go south in a hurry. This again as you know, can sabatoge the best of our hard work . And I know that tons of designers agree with us !
Love the advice about personalizing your space and waiting to collect things as you find them. Having a happy story to go with your furnishings, art and accessories means they have spark memories and joy!
Thank you Lisa for commenting and sorry that I missed yours!
Yes to you knowing of course that the secret to making spaces be unique and personal is to not be in a rush to finish just to be finished. Lives happen over time so having our homes reflect our story does indeed spark memories and joy…:)
Lots of great tips
Hi Sarah! I must thank you for commenting because it is so rare for most followers to do so but it really encourages us to know that our posts have had an impact,. Even just an acknowledgment like yours keeps us keeping on. xo . Mitzi
Thank you dear Deborah for commenting! It really makes our home ours when we do what these truly creative homeowners accompllished with high style and not loving hands of mother look. As you so know, this is not easy to pull off! xoxo Mitzi