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Your space, your clothes

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

A short comment towards the beginning of this little video caught my attention: "when my friends see my space, they say 'oh, so much color' because I don't really tend to wear much color in my day to day. I prefer neutrals".

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/videos/8BqM1OLC

Does your style in clothing carry over to your home? Are they as distinct as this woman's color preferences? Why is that? Is it because of other people living with you, weather elements your clothing must endure, or some other factor?

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39 replies

Latest reply was from Barbara Diane

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Ha! We had a similar discussion on the forum some time ago! I am of the opinion that one's life should be cohesive. That said, my style comes out differently at home than it does in my wardrobe. I am more confident in my choices at home and that translates to a more colorful and iconoclastic presentation. But the idea of stylish, neutral "bones" is common to both.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Thanks!
Do you remember particular phrases to help look it up?

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

My clothing leans neutral. My house...not so much. I quite like color. I just don't really like it on myself.

ETA: Here's the earlier thread. I don't terribly mind revisiting things, though. People come and go, and our thoughts on topics evolve.

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rachylou

Veteran

I always think about Howard Stern, whose house was in Architectural Digest aeons ago. It was uncomfortably traditional compared to him. Full of CHINTZ.

I'm like that. My furniture is mostly hand-me downs. And then my sofa, I had to have chintz too. I'm more concerned with my furniture matching the architecture... although, it has to be said, I like my clothing to be visually suitable to my environs as well.

But no, my clothing and decor have never been of a piece. My clothing is more 'street' oriented. My stuff is... 'informed.'

rachylou

Veteran

That's your house, Jenn? It's lovely. My abode is full of junk, lol. I don't decorate properly at all, although I'm always messing with the 'decor.'

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

I don't mind revisiting either! And I enjoyed the previous convo, too.

cindysmith

Veteran

I prefer darker, more saturated colors in my home of late, while my clothing choices have all been very light this last little bit. I'm definitely going to be pondering on the "why" for the foreseeable future

rachylou

Veteran

So, I've been living in a tiny two room setup since moving back to the city. I want to paint my sitting room. I need it to work with my apple green bedroom, which I do not want to repaint. There are double doors between the two rooms, so they really need to work together. But I really don't want anything like an apple green living room... and I can't take white or yellow walls... I don't know, can any fashion principles help me?

Gretchen

Veteran

@rachylou can you get a paint swatch that's close to the apple green? Maybe 1-2 layers lighter? Or go deep? A rich green sitting room might be wonderful!

Or you could choose a complementary color and pull the rooms together through a pattern on pillows or rug? A nice pink shade on the walls (even ivory with a pink tone) and floral accents? Or a gray in the same color weight with batik that blends the two?

So many options..,,

rachylou

Veteran

A pink appeals to me, but I'm not sure how to make it sync. The bedroom is apple green with blue and green accessorising. I really really love this and don't know about seeding it with pink, for example.

krishnidoux

Veteran

I tend to be colorful in my clothing and more neutral in my interior decor... in fact, I love white, and if I could, my whole house would be white; I also like rich golden and sunny hues and cream. When I live alone, those hues dominate disproportionally.
In dressing, I often go for darker or more pigmented colors.

Anonymous

Interesting. My DD says our house isn't colorful, even though there's color in every single room. I think the reason she says that is because she prefers bright colors, and the colors I decorate with are muted. My kitchen and bedroom walls are dark green. My master bathroom walls are eggplant. My three DD's bedrooms are blue, bright green and turquoise, respectively. In the living room and dining room, where the walls are taupe, the furniture upholstery is colorful. Therefore, I don't know how she could say our house lacks color. That simply isn't true.

I can say, however, that I prefer traditional architecture and decor. I also don't like colors that keep me awake at night, lol. I need soothing colors. My wardrobe is colorful, but more on the soft side. I don't wear super bright colors.

Meredith

Veteran

I'd say my home reflects my style. Traditional/classic, a little eclectic, practical.

So what about you Fashiontern? How would you describe your decor? Would you want those same words to describe your style? Sometimes knowing what your style is not can help you narrow down what your style is.

anne

Veteran

I don't "do" decor. So no relationship at all.
My clothes are a carefully selected range of colours I know look good.

My house is either the colours they were when we bought it, or ones my DH or DDs (for their rooms) picked for rooms we have painted. Curtains as we bought the house. DH is a bit more aesthetic than me and has picked most of our furniture (that isn't handed down). We don't really have any decorations apart from family photos.

Anonymous

FASCINATING QUESTION. I veer very strongly toward safe neutral color in my wardrobe. When I bought my house, I boldly decided to have every single room painted in a vibrant color. This decision was such a departure from everything in my life. I felt I was making a important statement. What type of statement, I can't exactly say .....

I thought long and hard about the colors; I researched colors. I opted for brilliant greens, blues, yellow, and burgundy. The painter did an excellent job. No complaints.

Here is the thing. All that color was "jarring." It literally rattled my psyche when I came home. The house is now painted in either a very soft white; white white; or very, very soft, soft tannish color? I love them all!!!!! I have touches of color, but they are soft.

I adore color, but I have learned I need a calming color palette.

Jenn --those photos of your house are breathtaking.

Anonymous

Yes, I'm like Meredith in that my house reflects my style: classic/traditional, and a little pretty (glass knobs and florals). I seem to like cottage style the most, out of any style. Cottage style probably maps fairly well to a classic, laid-back dressing style.

I think if I ever moved in with SO, our collective style would be much more manly and modern (like patinaed brown leather couches and more natural wood). It would be more "chalet" than "cottage".

Fashiontern: you can google "cottage style" to get an idea of my house's style.

JAileen

Veteran

Almost every room in my house, except the bathrooms, are painted in an off white. The floors are mostly maple. So it's very neutral. That's not to say there's no color, though, because we have lots of artwork on the walls, and colorful rugs on the floor. I bet some of you would be surprised by those bathroom rugs!

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Anonymous

I wish to add that the wall colors and curtains in my house were left there by the previous owners, except for my DDs' bedrooms and the basement that we painted after moving in. We also got rid of wallpaper in one bedroom and adjacent bath (what teenager wants little Teddy bears in her bedroom?) and a huge mural of the front cover of "The Little Engine that Could" in the basement. With the exception of one bedroom (the turquoise one that I described in another thread), I haven't changed the curtains or anything because they go with what I already had.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Here is what prompted my post: a little work in progress at my "bills" desk in the kitchen. My son said "whales? Tadpoles?" He didn't want to be unkind, just didn't get that it was paisley. Or going to be paisley. Then I realized I had this shirt I could use as a model. I like the pattern on the shirt, but have never figured out how to wear it. Maybe it fits my kitchen better than me.

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Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Meredith, that's exactly why this question interests me.

For decor, I like art nouveau, classic Islamic style like the Alhambra, occasional bits of Hollywood glam, and the neatness of Art Deco. I'm undecided on the fascination with Islamic art in the 1920s era of all those other influences. (Not that I'm doing this here, this is a temp spot. I want it to look nice enough to support us while make strides to our next stage. That means I am not investing in any furniture that'd be hard to move, but am doing little things like the whimsical painting around the desk).

But very few of the fashions of that era interest me. I think of myself as a slightly mischievous tomboy, but the androgynous flapper girl styles mostly leave me cold. I have some jewelry that kind of hints in that direction, but that's it.

Cindy Smith, interesting that your tastes are diverging like that!

Rachylou, go for bright green in the other room. Layering one shade of green on another can look really nice. You could probably add lots of primary with the bright green. Or look at the botanicals in 3 and the bronze type colors in 9 here. http://www.housebeautiful.com/.....ving-room/?

Jenni, I love all the intense colors around that table, also love the love seat as banquet.

Meredith

Veteran

Yeah, I've definitely worn fabrics one might see as wallpaper or upholstery-toile, paisley, ikat...

So, you are clearly drawn to this sort of floral/paisley print. But you say you don't feel like you know how to style the shirt. What feels off? Is it the print? If so, maybe it IS best left to your walls. The cut of the shirt? The type of fabric? The color? If the later three are off it doesn't mean you give up on the print, you just look for it in an alternate form. Perhaps a blouse instead of a shirt, for example.

Don't feel like you have to respond to all that! Just trying to throw out questions/ideas that might help you sort through your preferences.

Anonymous

I love paisley, floral and ikat prints!

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Meredith, good prompts! I've had the shirt for a long time, remember it always feeling uncomfortable. Today was the first time I've put it on since the weight up/down, and it felt good on. So maybe I will wear it. But the other thing is that I've never known what to do with it, other than with light blue jeans, maybe as a topper over a white or lilac tank (yawn!). It just feels wrong to do something so predictable to such an unexpected shirt. Maybe it's the tension between classic style shirt on one hand and crazy paisley/stripes mix on the other that I like about it.

Emily K

(website)

Veteran

Rachy--how about a pale, crisp (really crisp! not mousy!), slightly blue-ish gray, accessorize with the blues and greens of the bedroom. (I'm assuming that all the trim is white--it's a common rule to keep ceilings and trim the same colors in all rooms to give a sense of cohesion. But, if bedroom trim is also green, that might look nice run into the sitting room with pale gray walls.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Krishnidoux, Sterling, JAileen, and Smitty, fascinating to read your descriptions of your white/very pale neutrals home together. It sounds like those colors are brilliant and intense, reflecting lots of light in Krishnidoux's home, soft and gentle in Sterling's, traditional and cozy in Smittie's, and truly neutral/in the background in JAileen's.

Anne, you don't do decor? As much as you've learned about style here, it's hard to imagine some of that wouldn't seep through to your home.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

rachylou and Sterling, those are very curated glimpses of my house. It's a work in progress. Funny though, I love minimalist Scandinavian interiors and ogle them on Pinterest all the time, but when it comes down to it, I buy a teal velvet settee and pink velour dining chairs.

SarahTheWhite

Veteran

Very interesting thread! My home is much more colorful than my wardrobe - by a long shot. But the colors I choose in my home are ones I would wear in some form (if only as accessories) if I decided to wear color. I think that the overall look and feel of my home is very congruent with my personal style, despite the difference in the amount of color in each. It's not literal, but it is cohesive (I think).

Suz

(website)

Veteran

My wardrobe colours are predominantly neutral and cool (navy, blues, white, grey, black, with cranberry, fuchsia, and fire engine red and sometimes teal as accents). These are the colours that suit my cool skin best. I like a modern wardrobe with retro touches.

My house is mostly warm colours (warm yellows, golds, brick red, sagey-olive greens, and bright warm blues). We have a lot of antiques (Quebec pine, mostly) with some modern touches in our artwork.

TBH, part of this is in response to our house itself. It's very old (1860) and seems to demand respect. Our décor isn't stuffy (the house is not a mansion but a workers' 2 up 2 down, expanded) but it is cohesive with the bones of the house, which are Victorian Regency.

My ideal would be warm colours (I love them, just can't wear them!) with more clean modern lines plus some antiques -- perhaps that is more similar to my wardrobe, apart from colour.

Jenn -- I love your house!

anne

Veteran

Yes, a more decor minded friend said the same thing to me! Our house isn't too bad I guess, and I'm happy to leave the decisions to DH. And I would wear the light blue colour he chose for our main living area.

But my thought about my house and imaginings of how I'd change it are on the functional rather than decorative. We have a VERY well used house (3 kids, DH works from home, 20 people over every Sunday, 12 or so each Tuesday, meetings and appointments there during the week, stuff that needs storage). And once you include books and photos there's not much wall space left.

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