This blog is all about how to turn your home into a place fit for the photographers camera with plenty of that "wow" factor. You will spend no more money then what you could be spending on your weekly visits to the odd coffee shop or buying that extra piece of clothing. You know... that coat that as soon as you got home, you started having second thoughts.
No I am not asking you to save up a lot of money .... the most expensive thing I bought was a sofa for $650.00 and that was after having the fun of buying something new every week ...week after week for several years. How? Well I will get into the details later. With a very few exceptions I paid less then $100.00 for each piece of furniture...in fact many pieces were less then $30.00. Lamps were all less then $15.00 ...accessories less then $12.00 some as low as fifty cents. Yes I said fifty cents!
What is more not only does my place look great ...about 90% of the items I choose will never date or look unfashionable ...making my purchases an investment...and something I can keep forever.
There are over thee hundred million people in the U.S., sixty one million in Briton and millions more in the rest of the world. We all have to live some where...and millions of us have a place that we either rent or have bought... we all furnish it in some way or another...and it is human nature to personalize and decorate it. There are millions of us that prefer to do this in such a way as to make our place not only a home...but a artistic expression of who and what we are.
There are also literally millions of us wish that some day we could have a place like we see in the movies...on TV or especially in the magazines that are dedicated to the pursuit of beautiful homes. But if like me... you feel trapped by financial circumstances that make you feel that such a thing is not in in your immediate future there is a way.
There are only a few things that you must do. First you must be prepared to spend a little time on it every week. You must have the patience to accept it will take awhile to notice a measurable change . You must be able to part with pieces of furniture and other items that do not work, even if you are attached to them because of sentiment... or money invested. You must be capable of putting a few dollars aside... preferably an average of $30 a week...some weeks ten or twelve dollars...some weeks nothing and you save a bit for larger items. ( I did this by forgoing my coffee shop habit... in favour of home made coffee and grocery store treats) Lastly....the big one .....you must be able to expand your tastes to include things that you will at first... .feel are not your "thing". You will probably... like me... change your mind ... or replace only a few things over time.
I am sure that when looking at the pictures of homes displayed in magazines....that ...although you were impressed by the rooms... none were 'exactly' to your taste. You feel that given the same budget you would do many things different. But! I am sure taken as an even trade for the rooms you presently live in... you would be more then happy to forgo your quibbles.
So what is my point? Well I have found that making a room that is fit for the magazines photographer... and with plenty of that "Wow" factor is neither difficult and can be dirt cheap.
I can promise you it will look as good as the ones in the magazines ... it certainly will not look out of place with the best of them.
OK...whats the catch ???
With out limitless funds there will be compromises. For example in Alejandro Bahamon's book Room by Room there is a room with my favourite desk. Marcel Breuer's S286. It is my dream desk ...I do not own that desk ...a few pages later is another desk. A very nice desk too ...that one I have a close copy of ! I love my desk ...not because it is my dream desk ...but because it is a valid substitute in the same league ...and it cost me $80 .
So ...like me you will learn to enjoy being surrounded by things that are undeniably excellent ...but may not be necessarily your first choice.
Style Is Everything!
There are over 70 styles I could name here and even they could have sub categories.
So... for our purposes lets keep it to a few general styles that relate to the average person.'Traditional' ...a style most people associate with lots of carved wooden furniture of oak,walnut and mahogany in rich dark stains ,Persian rugs,tapestries and damasks. 'Country'...which was derived from the furnishings of the working people of the same era with many of the attributes of traditional but made with inexpensive materials such as pine,cotton and chintz. 'Modern' with a minimum of pieces with sharp clean lines and using a lot of glass,leather and chrome.'Transitional' a current favourite... that is very much related to the 'Art Deco' spin off 1930,s Hollywood. This style takes the designs of traditional pieces and greatly simplifies them.
Then there is what many of us own ...'Eclectic' bits and pieces from many styles.
Lets Pick A Style
'Traditional'? I have seen some gorgeous places in every style . But ...a top notch traditional place is not cheap to do. Sorry...but even the kid working part time at the thrift store can recognize a hand carved dining room suite ...even if it is by trying to pick up one of the chairs...which made of solid wood weighs half a ton.
'Country' can be affordable since it consists of traditional pieces of lesser value and pieces in a very worn condition can work quite well. But affordable and dirt cheap are two different things.
'Modern' can be absolutely cheesy looking if the pieces are badly designed with sloppy workmanship,poor materials and no attention to detail... but the good news ...is that you can often find an absolutely great piece sitting in a sea of decade old Wal-mart items at the thrift stores with a small price tag.
'Eclectic'? Well it covers all of the above and even more. If done right it can look amazing. Its greatest asset to us...is that anything you find in your search either really grabs you are is simply a bargain need not be ignored.It also means that you can keep a few pieces that you may already own.
So...If you want a great looking room ...cheap... 'Eclectic' is the way to go!
Hey! Before I started I was a die hard Traditionalist...antiques or nothing!!!
I soon found that if my room looked like the room on the cover of a magazine...although in my opinion ..some one someone else's room...but still a room with the credibility to be photographed for a magazine...well, ... I soon got over it.
Furthermore my tastes slowly changed....I learnt to really love my chrome and white leather Marcel Breuer B33 chair ...this is virtually a classic modern piece.
I have seen these sell for hundreds of dollars ...paying $8.50 did not hurt convincing me I was on to something.
Marcel Breuer B33
1927-1928
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