where to learn about decorating your home?

[Nosy]

Blogs, websites, forums?  I need ideas for decorating our house, hopefully frugally, ecofriendly, and non toxic.  Any suggestions welcome because I have no interior design skills!

[newbymom05]

I love decorating blogs! Google The Nester and Hooked on Houses--not only are they great, but they link a ton of blogs on their homepages.

[ChristyMarie]

Honestly, I like to look on realtor.com at house listings.  You can look in an area you admire and see what others are doing.  I've gotten a few great ideas from doing this.  *blush*

[CatsCradle]

Honestly, I think the best decorated homes are those that are filled with things that people love!  I don't think you have to have interior design skills to do that.  For instance, I love everything about Mexico but I also love handmade quilts, etc.  What ends up is I have a lot of color.  I think the best thing to do is to decide what color you want your walls...walls sort of set the stage...then all the personal objects you add after that just add "personality" so to speak.  I would really think about things that you are attracted to first, then build from there.

[newbymom05]

Originally Posted by ChristyMarie 

Honestly, I like to look on realtor.com at house listings.  You can look in an area you admire and see what others are doing.  I've gotten a few great ideas from doing this.  *blush*

Ooh, and Flickr--just put in your search word like "living room" or whatever and you can browse for hours!

[Tumble Bumbles]

Originally Posted by newbymom05 

Ooh, and Flickr--just put in your search word like "living room" or whatever and you can browse for hours!

Absolutely!

I also love the Rate My Space community at HGTV.com. It's 'regular' people who post pics of spaces they've done or need help with. You can get some good ideas there.

[newbymom05]

And I forgot Apartmenttherapy.com  Wow, no wonder I never get anything done in the house--too busy looking on the 'net lol.

[marrymeflyfree]

younghouselove.com is a really cute blog I just found.  Frugal, eco-friendly, non-toxic...I think it would be right up your alley.  It's written by a young couple with an infant daughter.  

[AllyRae]

Ditto to Rate my Space!  I get tons of good ideas from there.  I also like just sifting through the HGTV site...there are lots of good eco-friendly ideas on that site.
 

Originally Posted by Tumble Bumbles 

Absolutely!

I also love the Rate My Space community at HGTV.com. It's 'regular' people who post pics of spaces they've done or need help with. You can get some good ideas there.

[homemademom]

Originally Posted by marrymeflyfree 

younghouselove.com is a really cute blog I just found.  Frugal, eco-friendly, non-toxic...I think it would be right up your alley.  It's written by a young couple with an infant daughter.  

I love this one, too!  And they link to tons of other house decor blogs so you'll get lots of ideas.

[green_momma2007]

Yeap, rate my space is great. I'm heathenmama over there.

Originally Posted by Tumble Bumbles 

Originally Posted by newbymom05 

Ooh, and Flickr--just put in your search word like "living room" or whatever and you can browse for hours!

Absolutely!

I also love the Rate My Space community at HGTV.com. It's 'regular' people who post pics of spaces they've done or need help with. You can get some good ideas there.

[Juvysen]

[jennifercp8]

Originally Posted by marrymeflyfree 

younghouselove.com is a really cute blog I just found.  Frugal, eco-friendly, non-toxic...I think it would be right up your alley.  It's written by a young couple with an infant daughter.  

I thought this place looked familiar!  I read an article in a design magazine a couple years ago when they first remodeled.  They only showed the outside, living room, and kitchen.  The before/after of the outside is awesome!

[sapphire_chan]

What if everything looks good and you can't decide? Is there a good way to figure out what you'd be happy with over time?

[cyclamen]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 

What if everything looks good and you can't decide? Is there a good way to figure out what you'd be happy with over time?

This is my main problem.  My tastes change so quickly.  I'm trying to practice contentment and satisfaction.  But my big thing is I never want anything too wild in case I hate it.  Then everything is boring.  Wah.

[homemademom]

Cyclamen, I'm the same way as you. I hate committing to a pattern or color scheme because I like changing things around.  We are currently painting our walls a very neutral beige, and then, I'm putting up dark stained bamboo shades and white curtains. Oh, and we're getting a beige rug, too :lol.  And not surprisingly, our couches are brown leather :p. But, then, I'm going to make some colorful throw pillows, get some table runners, accessories, and pictures that bring in color and whatever style I decide on. It's a lot cheaper to do it that way than fork out a big chunk of money for an area rug, you know?

[cyclamen]

Originally Posted by homemademom 

Cyclamen, I'm the same way as you. I hate committing to a pattern or color scheme because I like changing things around.  We are currently painting our walls a very neutral beige, and then, I'm putting up dark stained bamboo shades and white curtains. Oh, and we're getting a beige rug, too :lol.  And not surprisingly, our couches are brown leather :p. But, then, I'm going to make some colorful throw pillows, get some table runners, accessories, and pictures that bring in color and whatever style I decide on. It's a lot cheaper to do it that way than fork out a big chunk of money for an area rug, you know?

Oh wow, this sounds completely beautiful!  I'm imagining the contrast of dark and light colors together and it sounds wonderful.

We've got white walls, a lot of mid century modern furniture from the thrift store, musical instruments and equipment, canvas curtains, and a dark blue area rug.  What we need are some cool sculptural accessories, a rug for the bedroom, a lamp that's not from walmart, and to hang up art on the walls.  My BF bought some hooks to hang the instruments, and I think we need a big houseplant in the corner of the living room, and probably one in the bedroom too.  What's tough is everything is a hodge podge.  There are some recurring colors, like navy blue, and red-orange.  But I like things to look much more pulled together than my BF does.

I've got some pretty Japanese fabric that I've been sitting on for a while, and I think I'm going to make a cushion for the rocking chair, and also staple some to a canvas and hang it up.

I guess I wish I was just more confident and happy to own my decorating choices.  I have friends with great style who do outrageous things, and I think it looks great, but not in my house and not on me. 

I would love to be able to paint one wall a glossy navy blue, but I don't think the landlord will go for that....   Perhaps some glossy navy blue curtains, though....

[sapphire_chan]

It also doesn't help at all that the images that really appeal to me are

This

and things like these.

Not exactly compatible. And it also makes getting clothes hard. It has helped to have dd choose her own clothes. Once you see how cute brown squirrel patterned pants are with a pink and white paisley shirt, it's a lot easier to enjoy things that used to seem like they clashed horribly.