FINDING YOUR STYLE
INTRODUCTION
As varied as personalities can range, so can styles. Each of us has our own distinct style; we just need the knowledge and courage to express who we are. One way to express our individuality is in our homes. Knowing what overall feeling you want to portray in your home is important. Remember that the background or canvas you choose for your home creates the base for everything else you put into it. Getting your style "right" can bring a great deal of positive energy into your home because you are keeping consistent with your personality and desires. Because our lives are now so fast moving, our homes can become a special sanctuary. If your home reflects who you are, you will truly be able to find rest and peace for your family within your home.
MAKE A PERSONAL STATEMENT
Since you are lucky enough to build your house from the ground up, you don't have to be stuck with someone else's style. Your house acts as a mirror, reflecting who you are. It can be a personal statement of your personality, your lifestyle, and your values. A home says even more about a person than their wardrobe because our homes encompass every aspect of our complex lives. Living everyday in a style that you and your family feels complements your lifestyle will only enhance your way of life, and bring great energy into your home. If your family is active with vibrant personalities, an elaborate, elegant style could hinder the productive energy in your home.
FUNCTION FIRST
Surprisingly, style is not the most important consideration for your home. Above all, you must first consider the way your family functions. How do you live? Are you formal or casual? Do you have kids or pets? What colors can you live with? First, think about your needs and the way your life functions, and then you can consider your style. The best homes are a mixture between the style you want and the way your family really lives. Sure, think about what you truly love, but also consider what you can live with. If you have a high stress household, the brilliant, rich colors you may love may not be best for your sanity. You may have kids, but love luxurious textures and fabrics. The two don't typically go together, but you can still give yourself a sense of the formality without compromising the needs of your family. If you keep the function and style unified and in line with your families needs, energy will thrive in your home. Remember that the most gracious environments are meant to be beautiful, but also entirely livable.
DISCOVERING YOUR PLACE CALLED HOME
As fashions change, people change with them. Style evolves with us over time.
Take a look around you. What are your favorite pieces of furniture, accessories, jewelry, or clothing? These objects will of course give you a hint of what you like, but many of us have dual personalities. You can be mostly casual, loving your worn jeans, but also loving to get dressed up for a night out on the town. The same conflicts can occur in finding the right style for your home. For instance, you may love the look of Hollywood glamour and glitz, but also love the idea of a calm and cozy country home. Narrowing these choices can be difficult, but often you can combine all of your loves into one look that is uniquely you.
Today more than ever, styles don't have titles; they are a true reflection of individuality. Remember that as long as you love it, you can usually make it work. Keep your style as consistent as possible throughout the house. It is better to combine traditional and ethnic pieces within one room than have one room entirely traditional and another very ethnic.
One of the best ways to get the discovery process started is to search through magazines and browse furniture stores. Recall a favorite vacation, a hotel you've stayed in, or a friend's house that felt like home. What about those surroundings made you happy? Pinpoint the looks that you like and find out what they have in common that you love the most. Sometimes a group of magazine pictures that you love will seem somewhat different in style, but they may all have one common characteristic, such as high contrast. In this case, you may care less about the style, but like the fact that there is high energy from the intense contrast. As for exteriors, drive around various neighborhoods and see what strikes you. For interior and exterior, if you have a hard time pinpointing what you love, weed out what you know you don't like.
Deciding what you want for your home can be a great process of discovery. You may be living with this style for a long time so carefully and thoroughly think about what you really want. Ask yourself questions about the objects and pictures that inspire you. In finding answers to these questions you can distinguish your style. Bring your pictures into the Design Center and your designer can help you achieve the look you want.
Also consider what furniture and accessories you currently own that you'll want or need to move with you, and be sure to keep them in mind as you're choosing the details for your new home. On the other hand, if you must keep a piece for function now, but know you really want to change it in the near future, go for what you really want and just make do with what you have for the time being. Your 1970's clean lined sofa may not exactly go with the look you want for your home, so consider your future plans and make it work until you can get what reflects your style. Our homes can always evolve and in doing so they become even more of a statement of who we are and where we've been.
AVOID TRENDS (And too many outside opinions!)
Friends and family are a great resource to get help and support when choosing the details for your home. Just remember that their taste does not have to be your taste. Let them know up front what you are trying to achieve and they can help you find what you want rather than discouraging you because what you like isn't exactly their taste. Just because your best friend has a red wall that looks beautiful in her master bedroom, doesn't mean that you have to go that route as well. No matter how good it looks in your friend's home, it may not look great in yours or work with what you're trying to achieve. For one, it may not meet your true style, and secondly, remember that you need to follow your home's design integrity. Strip away everyone else's image of what your home should be and get what you really want.
COMPLIMENT YOUR ARCHITECTURE
After discovering the style that suits you the best, you will want to consider the architecture and style that is already integrated into your current floor plan and elevation. Wasatch Homes offers a variety of looks from Traditional, Transitional, Rustic, and Craftsman. These looks can help you achieve your overall style. Be careful not to go against the integrity of your home. Some homes naturally do not have a contemporary look. Trying to make a home contemporary that is not contemporary in architecture takes away its design integrity and usually ends up looking cheap and contradictory.
So play up the architecture. If your house has arched details and you like arches, play them up by adding more with your doors or cabinets. Also, merge the exterior and interior styles and colors as much as possible. A person should get a glimpse of what the interior of your home is going to look like as they walk up the front steps. The transition should not be too startlingly different to keep a continuous flow of energy. Keeping the colors consistent will also make your home feel more spacious.
DEFINED STYLES
Here are some details of each style, historically defined, to help you find what "look" best fits you and your family.
Traditional
- Design style influenced from England or France in the 18th Century
- Baseboards and trim work are characteristically light or white in color
- Furniture, fabrics, and accessories display details and ornamentation
- Exteriors typically unite brick (often red) with a lighter soffit and facia
- Cabinetry has either raised panel doors or ornamentation and moldings
- Window treatments exhibit a tailored look with formal swags and vertical panels
- Fabrics, both upholstery and accent, often illustrate floral and damask patterns
- Paintings display still life scenes and have gilded frames
Craftsman
- Design originated as a response to the Industrial Revolution and the heavy ornamentation of the Victorian Era
- Finish moldings maintain straight, clean lines
- Porches have exterior posts and columns that are often flared downward
- Details reveal little ornamentation and shapes are simple
- Lines are strong, horizontal, and broad
- Colors are mostly neutral; woods are rich brown, and lampshades are typically made from gold mica glass
- Accent colors of forest green, sapphire blue, and dusty rose display a lighter palette than that of the Victorian era
- Furniture is well proportioned, functional, and strong-lined
Rustic
- Wood is used in abundance for furnishings and accessories
- Cabinets are either hickory with variation and knots or are flat paneled
- Exteriors typically include stone with wood timbers and a darker soffit, facia, and roof
- Interiors allow for darker colors with an earthy, natural color scheme
- Furniture and accessories maintain simplicity, but are sturdy and display natural or worn materials with no adornment.
- Finishes are worn and muted; metals are rusted or oil-rubbed.
Country
- Colors show the wear of time and are subdued
- A brighter palette with accents of red, black, or pure white demonstrates a more contemporary country look
- Fabrics are either vintage or have floral, checked, or striped patterns
- Furniture looks like those from flea markets or grandma's attic
- Artwork and accessories important, having a handmade, homespun quality
- Shapes focus on geometry with angular lines
- Finishes are often painted and have simple ornamentation
Shabby Chic/Cottage
- Design style that is easily accessible and affordable
- Furniture displays simple, if any, adornment and is often painted white
- Upholstered furniture often includes a slipcover
- Fabrics retain a vintage and subdued quality
- Colors are soft and muted
- Style appears comfortable and feels lived-in
Modern
- Furniture style originating in the 1930's that based design more on functionalism and purity of line
- Surfaces maintain a polished, sleek, and smooth appearance
- Furniture has clean, classic lines
- Design combines asymmetry and geometric shapes
- Windows are expansive and unadorned
- Color palette blends neutral tones with metal finishes
- Finishes include concrete, granite, chrome, and stainless steel
Contemporary
- Design combines an array of styles started in the latter half of the 20th century
- Lines are softened or rounded in opposition to the stark lines in modern design
- Color palettes maintains a tone-on-tone blend of brown, taupe, cream, and white
- Accents of bold hues top the neutral palette that spread throughout artwork and accessories
- Furniture combines clean lines and smooth surfaces with no carving or adornment
- Woods typically display minimal graining and are lighter in color (such as birch or maple)
- Materials used consist of glass, stainless steel, nickel, and chrome
- Fabrics unite bold colors and geometric patterns on natural material
- Forms are slim and streamlined but not dainty
Eclectic
- Design style achieved by combining a mixture of styles together and unifying them with color, texture, shape, or finish
- Neutral colors help tie all of the diverse elements together
- Fabrics, finishes and furnishings are as varied as design styles
Old World/Tuscan
- Design style that feels comfortable and shows the wear and tear of usage
- Walls are textured and finishes are distressed, matte, and honed
- Tumbled marble is often combined with mosaic inlays
- Finishes frequently receive a glazed or sanded effect
- Colors are rich, deep, and regal, but muted for a timeworn affect
- Details include wrought iron, woven tapestries, ceramic jars, fringe, and tassels
- Fabrics used are damasks, tapestries, stripes, and small prints.
- Arched doorways and windows add femininity to a predominately masculine design
French Country
- Style replicates the formal French furnishings from the 18th Century
- Furniture and accessories encompass a more rustic and simple design than those they try to duplicate
- Chairs often have caned backs or seats
- Fabrics include a rainbow of vibrant or neutralized colors of yellow, blue, green, and red
- Accessories integrate natural materials like baskets and florals, and designs are simplified
- Wrought iron accompanies the other natural accent materials
- Patterns consist of toile, checks, and stripes
Transitional
- Design style that marries traditional and contemporary styles of furniture, finishes, and materials
- Appearance is both timeless and classic
- Furniture lines appear simple and sophisticated with straight-lined edges or rounded profiles
- Accessories are used minimally
- Style exhibits a limited color palette using dark brown, vanilla, taupe, and tan for a clean sophisticated tone
- Abundant textures maintain interest because of the lack of color
- Curves combine with straight lines for a softer feeling
- Style offers a balance of masculine and feminine materials
- Details lack ornamentation or adornment with the focus centering on the simplicity and sophistication of the design
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