House & Home magazine style quiz

Musings musings... So TV designers are always decorating rooms based on people's wardrobes... the question is, can one do the reverse? (Without wearing the curtains, with or without the curtain rod a la Carol Burnett in the 70s, hehe.)

I took another magazine style quiz, this one in House & Home magazine (from Canada). The thing about this one is, I really saw the look of my own place in the picture example. It was called "playful traditional," defined sort of as having traditional, classic bones but being very much of the present.

I actually think that's very close to my Carrie-and-Danielle style statement (contemporary beauty). Beauty to me hangs on classic principles. In a way, this "playful traditional" finally gives me a visual for "contemporary beauty." So that's really cool.

New questions arise, of course. Like: can I see this style in the outfits I put together, having had this window opened? I have a feeling I get distracted a lot.

... and veering off wildly, my other reaction to *playful traditional* was, what a hodge podge! The dark side of traditional is just having a lot of baggage and not being designed at all. That's definitely me too.

13 years ago

fern

Veteran

I think it's very true that your "chosen" style runs across everything in your life.
I saved this picture from a house style quiz -sorry no memory of where - but it was so representative of what I want around me.
It's kind of minimal & organic, but not modern. We use a similar cast iron pan every day and it has a special place in our kitchen.
We are working on editing our house the way I have been editing & refining my wardrobe: that is, very slowly.
I love playful traditional for you, Rachylou.

rae

(website)

We rent, and when I moved in with the BF I didn't have any furniture, so I never really "decorated" per se. We do display a *lot* of art, though. Much of it non-traditionally so, in the form of robots and stuffed animals, but we also have a nice collection of European scenes - boats, street scenes, etc.

If I could design a place from top to bottom, it'd be inspired by the computer game Myst - classical structures, heavy nature influence, a bit steampunk. So I guess the classical/preppy-UWP vibe does come through a bit - not like I want to live in a war-like space at ALL, though.

rachylou

@fern - I'm kinda liking playful traditional myself. Seems honest and I can get my head around that. But minimal & organic, but not modern, describes your style pic so well, fern. I am put in mind of the English countryside, which I'm very fond of. It's interesting, there aren't so many colors in the pic, but I find the pic suggests many of the colors in your wardrobe.

@rae - I am now rethinking my whole impression of your fashion style, as set in the context of Myst. To be truthful, I'm always thinking Mad Max when I think of UWP, but there's a "Padme Amidala," if you will, aspect to think of too. The princess, that is.

Mander

I think the eclectic nature of my fashion taste is also reflected in my house. Aside from the fact that it's a bit cluttered, we have a lot of different elements around the house, especially artwork given to us by family members or things collected as souvenirs. We did decide to keep all of the walls, curtains, etc. mostly the same color and all neutral in an effort to keep things from looking chaotic. The only downside to this is that there isn't much color in the house and we have far too much wood grain now!

Similarly, I like bold patterns and high contrast colors in my clothes, but I almost always wear just one patterned thing with everything else very neutral/boring.

Jjsloane

When I sold furniture it always helped to ask what colors people liked to wear to steer them towards an upholstery selection. Fashion however changes much more rapidly than our home collections (at least for normal people who buy clothing more regularly than furniture) so it's more of a guide and I would not recommend someone with a limited budget dive right into neon for a sofa.

@Mander and Jjsloane - Very interesting! I remember Christopher Lowell on his decorating show always talking about neutral sofas and bringing in the bold with pillows and other accessories. Where you put the pattern is as much a part of a style as the pattern itself, isn't it.

I'll have to ponder this! I do have my rubric, which is my strategy that produces this style... What a thought!

CocoLion

This is interesting. I have lived undecorated for quite some years now, due to diminished circumstances (I peaked in the 90s). My possessions -- rugs, artworks, furniture, antiques -- are dispersed. My sister has some of my best pieces and she has truly a showcase home now. My bf has some others. I love both traditional and modern pieces. It's going to take another year at least for me to finish my living room (on the bf renovation schedule), and I suspect how I decorate will depend on how everything that I haven't loaned out, combines.

Denise, I find myself wondering if your sense of fashion has changed with the lightening of your decor load.

The economic downturn certainly has hit me, and I moved back into the city from the 'burbs... And well, I don *my native costume* from time to time now, because it doesn't look so weird. Black has been added back into my daily wardrobe. Gone is this synthetic fiber quilted jacket that I LOVED, because it seems so tepid here. I had a moment there too where I tried to up the *steampunk* factor in my decor - black throw for the sofa and black floral chair cushions. LOL.

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