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Just for Fun: Are you at home in a rustic home or do you prefer sleek elegance or something in between?

Liz CA

By Liz CA,
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JustEm

JustEm

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The look of the house doesn't matter at all to me. It is the people inside of the house that dictate whether I feel at home or not. My current house had no real decorating scheme unless constantly messy is a decorating scheme. I feel completely at home here bit could easily feel at home in other types of homes

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Liz CA

Liz CA

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Newer design, but country wood and stone. (Just not high up. My wooden center beam collects dust like crazy, 18 feet up!

 

Yup, when I lived in a home with wooden ceilings and beams, I avoided thinking of what the top looked like. Dust on rough hewn wood is not easy to get off either.

 

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Scarlett

Scarlett

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...like early garage sale 1990's? :laugh:

I am definitely leaning more toward country/rustic than sleek elegance. Yet I have some IKEA pieces because the price was right...There is pretty much an eclectic mix of things in my home.

I don't hate rustic,,but don't really want to decorate that way. French country is probably closest....more traditional.

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nd293

nd293

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I like my home warm but uncluttered. We have a fair amount of IKEA stuff because it works very well in small homes, but also heavy handmade timber furniture from Indonesia and India. I guess I like rustic, put together in a sleek way!

 

When we moved in, our house had black marble look flooring and 3 or 4 black walls, a variety of light fittings, and black kitchen counters. Now it has timber-style floors, the same neutral colour walls throughout (extended to doors and door jams), simple, low profile light fittings and timber look kitchen counters.

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Matryoshka

Matryoshka

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Like everything else in my life, I think I end up eclectic.

 

My family room is weathered knotty pine (I didn't make it that way, but I haven't ripped it out since we moved here either.)  There's a hand-built fireplace with a wood stove in it at one end.  There's more cement than stone - the Yankee that built it was not that skilled.  Very rustic. ;)  That's open to my cherry kitchen with my Portuguese tile backsplash.  The kitchen I redid.

 

Then the rest of the downstairs (dining room, living room and what was a 'back parlor' that is now home to built in bookshelves and an old piano) has wallpaper and somewhat more formal but not overly so furniture, somewhat referencing the time period the house was built in (1880).

 

Probably leans rustic...  I'd love it to be uncluttered, but I live here, and clutter is my nemesis (and the rest of the family aren't exactly helping...)  IKEA would probably look weird in here.  I do have some white melamine bookshelves in one room, though.  Because, books.

Edited by Matryoshka
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creekland

creekland

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No special design here.  We bought an older country farmhouse because we like the location and land.  When the owner asked us if we wanted to look at the house again, I looked at hubby and said something to the effect of, "We don't really need to do we?  We like the land, location, and barn, etc.  Whatever the house is like we'll live with."  He agreed.  It's a 4 bedroom, 1 bath place.  It worked - raised all three boys here and they lived.   :lol:

 

We've been here 19 years and still have all appliances that haven't died since we moved in - and when the washer/dryer died we replaced those with auction buys.  Our furniture is piecemeal - some hand me downs - some purchased as we had needs (new or used) - nothing bought "because it went together" as any sort of style.  All flooring (except one) and cabinets/counters, etc, were here when we bought the place.

 

It all works.  Why spend money to replace it?

 

We have replaced the wiring, windows, roof, porch, toilet & tub, and a bit of the piping, but those were true needs - not just replaced for "style."

 

None of us need "Better Homes and Gardens."  We're content with "Perfectly Good Homes and Gardens."

 

If it isn't broke, why fix it?

 

I've never been "in" to any sort of fashion.  No regrets.

Edited by creekland
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lynn

lynn

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How about comfortable traditional. Not better homes and gardens photo ready but you can tell we were married 1990 by our dining room table and other decor choices. I'm currently looking for new dining table but I'm only finding flimsy junk for the money I want to spend. For something I expect to last 25 years or more kwim. But I'm looking

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Arcadia

Arcadia

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Clean lines, lots of natural light, white furniture. Something like the link below but without the poster, chandelier, chaise or coffee table http://dheony.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/architecture-as-well-as-beachfront-residence-in-malibu-featured-beachfront-residence-combine-with-charming-modern-house-25-include-home-design-mimicking-the-clean-lines-of-an-ocean-liner.jpg

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Epicurean

Epicurean

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There's a name for the style I like best...what is it, again? Oh yeah. Expensive. I like pretty much anything expensive. :lol:

 

Seriously though, rustic is probably my favorite. Stone, wood beams, dark wood floors, big fireplaces, lantern type fixtures. Maybe something that has a medieval feel to it.

 

We're actually house shopping right now. I can tell you that we're probably not going to get any of that.

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Liz CA

Liz CA

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Right now I have a preserved dead fetal pig in my living room.  I wonder if that counts as rustic? 

 

Maybe forensic instead of rustic??

 

 

It all works.  Why spend money to replace it?

 

We have replaced the wiring, windows, roof, porch, toilet & tub, and a bit of the piping, but those were true needs - not just replaced for "style."

 

None of us need "Better Homes and Gardens."  We're content with "Perfectly Good Homes and Gardens."

 

If it isn't broke, why fix it?

 

I've never been "in" to any sort of fashion.  No regrets.

 

When I was younger, I wanted nice furniture, now I just want plumbing that works, semi-reliable electricity and leak-proof windows. :)

 

Cottage cozy, but uncluttered.

 

That sounds very nice. I am still waiting to get that house with a front porch, overhanging roof and dormers...

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Liz CA

Liz CA

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There's a name for the style I like best...what is it, again? Oh yeah. Expensive. I like pretty much anything expensive. :lol:

 

Seriously though, rustic is probably my favorite. Stone, wood beams, dark wood floors, big fireplaces, lantern type fixtures. Maybe something that has a medieval feel to it.

 

We're actually house shopping right now. I can tell you that we're probably not going to get any of that.

 

I go along with everything you mentioned except instead of dark wood floors, I prefer lighter ones - cannot see the dust as much. My back hates doing floors. ;)

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Greta

Greta

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My taste definitely leans more toward the rustic. It just feels so warm, cozy, and inviting to me. Sleek looks really pretty on tv and in magazines, but when I actually walk into those kinds of spaces, it has a "look but don't touch" feeling to me. It doesn't say "welcome home!" at all.

 

My specific tastes beyond that depend on location. Here in NM, I would most want (don't have) an authentic adobe home with the kiva fireplace, and the vigas and latillas on the ceiling, and Navajo rugs and Tewa pottery and all that wonderful stuff. In Colorado, I would most want a modern log cabin with big windows and a huge stone fireplace. In Vermont, I would want a century-old farmhouse. In a major city I would want an urban factory-turned-loft kind of space. I'm not going to get any of those - just dreaming here!

 

I like leather, wood (stained not painted), stone, brick, things like that. More traditional, formal homes look incredibly beautiful to me, but they don't feel like me.

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TravelingChris

TravelingChris

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I am comfortable in lots of different styles of houses. But they have to be individualized. I don't like my daughter's house very much because it is very similar to all the other houses in the development.

I don't like cookie cutter houses. The last two houses were fairly similar. Our house here looks like it is a one story house but it is actually a two story house.

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Um_2_4

Um_2_4

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French Country and lived in.

I have friends whose houses look like show pieces from catalogs. Cold....brrr. I can't stand it. I mean no sign that someone lives there. I don't need messy (although that is often the decor de jour after a busy day), but I need lived in. Their houses literally depress me. No books, no pictures, no personality. Just showroom furniture, a few art pieces, coordinating pillows, and it's all the rooms: dining, living, kitchen, bedrooms. Kids are not allowed to play (well they are for a bit, but then put it all away, no use the blocks to build a city and drive the cars through it, etc.). They freak out at my house when I let them have the legos AND the blocks out together :lol: ! What a wild woman I am  :tongue_smilie: . I mean I love my friend, but I couldn't room with her.

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Tap

Tap

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I am very predictable.  I like transitional/modern country.  Think Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware.  I like better quality furniture though (stained hard woods vs painted).  I am poor and can't afford what I like, but whatever it is, it has to call me to 'curl up and stay a while'.  LOL

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RoughCollie

RoughCollie

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I like lots of light, huge windows with beautiful views, lots of wasted space (like extra wide hallways and huge kitchen), lots of color and patterns, and sleek-ish furnishings. Shaker style, clean lines in the upholstered stuff. No clutter. I know what I like when see it.

 

I probably do like some decorative accents, if someone else figures that part out so it looks good, not like clutter. No ruffles, nothing overstuffed. white woodwork, wood floors that can be beaten up a little by dogs and people dropping things on them. Colorful patterned rugs. No wall-to-wall carpeting. Comfortable seating everywhere, and lots of drawers to put stuff in.

 

 

 

 

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creekland

creekland

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I like fancy pantsy with the maid and cook to go with it.  For now I'll just settle for a quarter acre and a house built in the 70's with a little updated paint here and there.

 

I can skip fancy pantsy (see my post above for more details if desired), but I'd LOVE the maid and cook.   :coolgleamA:

 

Of course, both might roll their eyes a little when they see what they have to work with, but if they get paid enough...

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Elizabeth 2

Elizabeth 2

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Does "I bought it at IKEA because it has extra storage, is washable, and their stuff is designed to put up to three kids really well" count as a style? ;) 

 

Reality, I tend towards clean lines, cozy fabrics, and something that can dress up or down.  Light and bright help, whereas large amounts of stained wood seems to be depressing to me.

 

Lots of my photography on the walls because it's all of people and places I love.

 

 I like the styled homes in magazines, but I have had to clean them.  Too many years of janitorial and housekeeping services taught me that it's not as fun as it looks. 

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BarbecueMom

BarbecueMom

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Sort of a contemporary-minimalist blend kind of thing, I guess transitional would be the closest. Only the necessities, but comfortable. No knick knacks or non-functional decor, but not "blank". Some color okay, but not many patterned things. Bare floors.

 

Right now I'm living in "science lab and Lego chic", which I'll gladly take over DH's preferred style of wood paneling, deer heads, and badly organized gaming systems. *shudder*

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Ottakee

Ottakee

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I LOVED my friends last house. Mostly warmer/neutral colors with just a few accent pieces buy very warm and inviting and uncluttered. Their home was so welcoming to all and looked great but one where you felt comfortable to let your kids play, to put your feet up and relax, etc.

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Stacia

Stacia

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I lean toward a more Scandinavian look, so kind of a mixture of sleek and rustic, with lots of light and not overly cluttered. Someday I'm going to live in a home with white hardwood floors instead of ugly ugly carpet. ;)

 

White hardwood floors are my dream too. That & Danish modern furniture. (I already have some of that style, but I'd love to purge everything else, get white floors & walls & keep it light & simple.)

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Guest

Guest

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At some point, the house has something to say. The best floor plan house I ever had was hostile to my taste. So the house and I compromised. It got the living room, I got the family room.

 

I like a lot of styles but none of them are fussy or damaged-looking.

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IsabelC

IsabelC

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My "what I like, given that we are fairly poor and have children and pets that make a lot of mess" is completely different to my "what I'd like if money were no object, and I had staff available to do the cleaning". For example, we have no carpet anywhere in our house, but in my fantasy house there's be lots of thick carpets. So it's kind of moot. (Oh and if I don't talk about it, does that mean it's also a mute point? ;) )

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