Creating an Authentic Home

When attempting to succesfully design a home, we all know that along with taking client's needs/ wants/ personal style into account, it's also important to examine the home itself and think of what type of interiors would be authentic.  Where is it located?  What style of architecture is it?  What's the age of the home?   How does the home fit within the land around it?  What's the level of quality?

{My old house that by Dad built when I was a kid}

The goal in creating a well-designed home should always be authenticity.   A home should feel appropriate and effortlessly fit into the world around it.  (I don't mean this in a rigid sense: the decor in a home doesn't need to "match" the architectural style of the home or be a historal reproduction frozen in time...  but it should take it into account everything around and work with it, carving its own personality that works within a greater patchwork "quilt" around it.)

{Design by Pheobe Howard and image via Cote de Texas}

A home should never feel like a staged set or forced.  For example, think of the person who loves Tuscany...  Does this mean that he/ she should now come home to Washington, DC and recreate a Tuscan villa in their Colonial?  Absolutely not.  Yes, she can bring things home from her travels and incorporate them into her her to remind her of her wonderful time there, but her home does not exist in Tuscany, so she needs to take its true location and architecture into account or it will feel contrived...  It's a very fine line and when done well, is incredbile.  (Now by all means, if you're someone who wants to completely pretend you live somewhere else and don't care about your home feeling authentic/ appropriate, then go ahead & do it.  All "rules" can be broken and if it really makes you happy, then go for it.  I would never recommend this, but above anything, people should be happy in their homes, so if you want to pretend you live in a vinyard, go ahead. ;)  And I can use this example because in our first home, I faux painted the walls in the basement a washed cream, exposed the beams and added wine and rustic items and I loved it!!  In a townhome in Northern Virginia, it was completely inappropriate. (total cheeseball, I might add) It was a good lesson for me.  Homes don't exist in bubbles.  Here's one of the real estate picture we used when we sold it and I can't believe I'm sharing this with you:

(I have to say, I still like the exposed I-beams but PLEASE remember this is before I did this for a living!!! ;)

Whenever possible, materials should be of the highest quality.  It makes a huge difference.  And notice I say, whenever possible...  In my own home, we still have the existing formica countertops in our kitchen.  I wish we could do soapstone, but for now this is what we've got:

{Our kitchen, photo by Helen Norman}

It's okay to know what you want to do and what the best course of action is and not be able to necessarily do it right away.  (or ever.)  I will tell you though in all honesty though, that these details make a huge difference.  Take the example of my kitchen above...  yes, I have the look I want and it fits my home & feels appropriate... BUT it doesn't feel as solid and as permanent as it would were the counters actual stone vs black formica immitating stone.  (I would rather they were solid black and not immitating stone or OF COURSE actual stone...   I'd take concrete too :)  The quality level is not as high as I'd like it to be.  This isn't anything I'm changing any time soon, and I am honestly happy with what I have, but I do know what could make it better.

One of the best books that deals with creating a home that is authentic & appropriate & that fits in with the land around it is Bobby McAlpine's The Home Within Us.  (As I've mentioned before, if you don't have this book buy it because you'll want to read it over & over):

{image via Lucindaville.blogspot.com}

So what do you do with the home you've got now?  Maybe the mistakes you've already made?  I truly believe it's a bad idea to throw good money after bad.  If there is something wrong with your home or decor, don't continue on a path based upon that wrong item.  (I've seen this happen countless times.. maybe it's a wrong paint color or a bad sofa or terrible countertops...  It's always a mistake to spend money to make things work with something you don't like or that isn't you or that isn't appropriate.)  So fix that wrong item and suck it up because in the end you will have a home you love versus one that works with the $2000 "mistake" sofa you purchased.  It's really not worth it in the end. 

(image from thisnext.com}

When you think about adding things to your home, make sure you love them and make sure they work within your home.  Are the materials appriopriate & authentic?  Weed out anything that doesn't work with what you're trying to create and slowly add in what is real and what you love.  Create an overall plan for your home & do it right.  It's okay if you can't do it all at once.   Patience is key when creating a home because it's truly a never-ending process.  Enjoy it and be true to yourself & your home and you'll love it. 

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Pretty easy breakfast

I love simple special meals. (Yes, there are times when I like to go all out & spend a ton of time doing something really special, but for the most part I like to keep things quick and easy.)  On the weekends we like to do leftover breakfasts where we use everything leftover from the week in the fridge. 

Here's a picture of something I like to do to make it feel more like a treat:

{Yogurt in my husband's Great Aunt Stella's etched crystal dish}

Plain old yogurt from the plastic Dannon containers it in a pretty dish with fresh fruit on top just tastes so much better.  My husband brought home these pretty yellow daisies and I loved them with the yellow botanical in our kitchen:

We loooove leftover breakfast burritos:

This week we ended making them out of eggs, white rice (leftover from the Chinese takeout the night before), sausage, mushrooms and fresh homemade pico de gallo.

{Justin wearing his burrito }

{Here's a picture of me making my visiting cousin babywipe his plate off so I could take a pretty picture of his burrito.  See what it's like being related to me??!}

{And I said I wouldn't put this picture of them in their pjs on here but I couldn't resist.}

Hope you had a great weekend-  Ours was crazy busy but good!  {I left my daily planner/ schedule at our hotel in LA and had it next day aired home via UPS but came to find out this morning- 3 days later- that they accidentally sent it back GROUND...  I am seriously a lost person without it and feel like a total mess!! eeeek}.  We have a small photoshoot here in the "studio" (i.e. my basement) for Piccola Magazine today, so I'm off to clean.

Anyway, would love to hear your breakfast shortcuts!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

New Irregular Blog Series

As anyone who writes a blog, knows, reading comments from readers is always a bright spot in the day.  I often go back and read them multiple times and either feel good, take mental notes because they're so informative, laugh, tear up, get excited or just mull them over.  I've been thinking about this for a while now...

At the Design Blogger's Conference, Paloma who writes one of my favorite blogs, La Dolce Vita, mentioned that readers love series & regularity in a blog.  (I know I do)   But, if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I'm not very regular and really don't know what I'll write before I actually write it on most days.  The last time I tried a series, it was Pure Organization... Do you remember that?   (Yeah, I doubted you did! ;)   I loved it at first but then having it be so regular started to feel like work to me and I really don't want any more work.

{Pure Organization Project #2... Redoing the coat closet}

I use this blog as an outlet of sorts and what's coming "out" of me isn't very regular.  BUT I have decided that I will start a very tiny not-rigidly-regular blog series called In  your words, in which I'll share a favorite comment whether it be because its's informational, inspirational, funny, poignant, etc. from a past post.  I have so many and know could never get to them all, but it's my small way of thanking you for reading along & taking the time to leave your thoughts. 

So... today I've got an informational comment to share from the post I wrote waaaay back called Brass is Back, which you can read here. The commenter, Blogardener, writes:

The brass that is so universally hated is actually LACQUERED. Brass, either oxidized or polished, has a lovely mellow warmth. The cheapy builder's stuff has a bright, almost cool yellow tone. Cool + yellow = blech! You can remove the lacquer for the beautiful metal underneath unless it isn't solid brass at all, but a brass PLATE that's been lacquered. That's the stuff I'd paint or replace.



Brass is gorgeous, mixes well with other metals, historic (the real deal has never gone out of style), and it cleans itself of bacteria every eight hours (oligodynamic effect). Not so with steel or porcelain (which was ironically once a popular replacement for brass knobs because it was thought to be antiseptic).

So glad to see this post!

{Southern Accents Kitchen via Urban Grace blog}

Blogardener does not have a public profile but I will be sure to link back to any commenters that do!  I think what she wrote about the builder's brass is so true and how to tell if you can/ should redo ir replace.  As with most things in design, trends are in a constant state of flux, so it's really best to go with what's right for you and forget about what's in or out. 

Enjoy your weekend!!  Also, I'll be posting in-progress pictures of the DC Design House on the Pure Style Home facebook page in a little bit if you want to check it out.   (You can click on the left sidebar of the blog to "like" Pure Style Home on facebook.)





If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.