Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Nine


Kristin from Discover Interior Design did a great series about design resolutions. She invited several bloggers to participate. I love them all, and it was fun to see how each blogger took on the assignment. One of my favorites is by new blogger Lynda who has new the blog Focal Point (please check out Focal Point and add it to your blog list).

I'm not big on making New Years resolutions, are you? But I took a stab at it, and approached mine in the vein of a dating advice column....

reprint from Discover Interior Design:


Top Nine New Years Decorating Resolutions


Resolution #1: Define what you want in a decor relationship
Before you can find what you want, you first must inventory what you need, so start the New Year off by making a dream list of stuff you want in a potential room and don’t just file it away when you’re done. Keep the list in mind whenever you see a room with potential, instead of solely relying on physical attraction. It doesn’t matter if a room looks like Domino if it doesn’t treat you well.

I have an ongoing master bathroom project for five years now – will I finish it in 2010?

Resolution #2: Assess your baggage
Be honest with yourself; if you have any residual feelings or anger leftover from your last decor project, don’t take it with you into the New Year. See a decor shrink, vent on your blog, whatever you need to do – just get rid of it!

I love big clocks and cow hide rugs – can I live without this baggage in 2010?!

Resolution #3: Get your booty off the couch
The likelihood of decorating the perfect room while you’re parked in front of your TV watching HGTV is miniscule (unless, of course, your mailman or local pizza delivery boy just happens to be a dead ringer for Candice Olson.)


Resolution #4: Get out of your decorating comfort zone
If you are the type of person who has had the same sea grass rug for the past eight years, it’s likely that you’ve been doing the same type of decor for just as long. If your past interior designs haven’t panned out the way you hoped, it may be time to shake some things up in your family room. In 2010, make it your goal to rethink the kind of slipcover you are keeping around and be more open to pursuing new kinds of furniture. For example, if you are a serial online decor blogger, try getting offline. (And vice-versa).

Just do a fabulous 2005 design mash up – It’s so five years ago so who will know in 2010 that you’re off trend.

Resolution #5: Decorate more than one room at a time
Decorating more than one room at a time helps takes that this-has-to-work-out-or-else pressure off of you that can doom many a fledgling project. So while I certainly don’t advocate written-in-stone-projects, until you get serious, try to see at least three different design styles simultaneously in one room. For those of you who are thinking “But it’s so hard to just think of one!” my advice is to stop being so picky.

Open your eyes and design more than one room at a time.

Resolution #6: Stop trying to make lemonade out of bad lemons
You can’t whip your bad furniture into tip-top shape without dumping any lingering baggage, whether it be river rocks, foo dogs, Buddha heads, or any other zen knick-knacks that you can never quite shake. If these so-called decor schemes don’t have the ability to go anywhere, than it’s not worth exerting your creative energy to maintain them. Refrain from dwelling on, or hooking up with yesterday’s bad news and instead re-channel that momentum into getting something new.

Lemonade from lemons – Yes or No?! Discuss!

Resolution #7: Ditch the deadline
Milestone birthdays have the ability to send even the most rational of decorators into a frenzy, so stop comparing yourself to your friends, sisters, and/or bitchy bloggers, and realize, with as much Zen-Chinoiserie-like tranquility as you can muster, that everyone is sitting on their own unique Ghost Chair. When it comes to credenzas, there is no right time for it to happen.

Tick-tock it’s February and you still haven’t taken down the Christmas stuff –
Forget deadlines and relax, recycle, reuse. And reinvent it for Spring.

Resolution #8: Decorate yourself
Remember that the longest relationship you will ever have is with yourself, so be your own interior designer and don’t wait until you’re room is finished to post it on your blog. Give yourself permission to exaggerate on something that’s totally not your idea and reinvent it as your own.

Why wait for fame? Make your own magazine cover HERE

Resolution #9: Enjoy the journey
Decorating is a process, not unlike applying to colleges as a high school senior. Sometimes it can be exciting (OMG, they like me even if that tacky lamp looks bad!) and sometimes disappointing (How could I have picked that fake Ikat pillow from Wal Mart!) but no matter what happens this year, remember that it is only the end-result that matters. Whatever your decor resolutions are, be the boss of them. Go public with them, if need be. You won’t regret it when you are mentioned in a defunct magazine, or get a book deal, or get on a radio show like The Skirted Roundtable, or on everyone’s blog list in 2010.

22 comments:

  1. I'm salivating over that silver buddha head vignette. Is that normal? LOL! Happy New Year Val!

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  2. It is pretty isn't it?
    The lamp is by Nate Berkus for Home Shopping Club! I bought two this past summer for my bedroom and love them. Sadly, I think they sold out.
    The buddha is very cute too.
    xo xo

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  3. YEAHY!!! design resolutions!!! I'm SO diggin' the 'Get Your Booty Off The Couch' pic... and GREAT pics of CLOCKS!!!

    I'm adding these resolutions to my list NOW!! Love YOU (and YOUR blog!)
    Lynda
    http://nyclq-focalpoint.blogspot.com/

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  4. Speaking of college admissions...yes, knee deep over here. Love the "off the couch" tip. Though I left HGTV behing eons ago, I've got years of ideas and tear sheets backed up, waiting for my wings to be de-iced. Blogging has helped me to clarify my focus. No time like the present. Trish

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  5. Stupid E key! I meant to say "mEh."

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  6. Here's my dilema: I want my bedroom shabby, my gameroom in a morroccan theme, and the rest of the house old French mess. I'm all split personality-esque. mh.

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  7. Thanks for a great post- I'm all about recycling, reusing and reinventing. Thanks for the heads up about "Focal Point", obviously another firm believer in the "re" mindset. We all need to live out our fantasy in our homes, creating rooms with soul that nurture us daily. What we need more than new "stuff" is inspiration and imagination....Happy New Year! Robin

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  8. I loved all of these resolutions! I am in the business but when you are doing your own space, you are so emotionally involved..Thanks! You helped me clear the air and my house!!!!!!!Maryanne

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  9. Love the picture of the bathroom. Could you tell us more about how you plan to complete this room - also from where it started. The mirrors (my weakness) are lovely.

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  10. Fantastic post! There is definitely nothing harder than decorating your own home.. what I do know is that I would love my living room to be more.. Phoebe Howard-y.. LOL!

    I would also like to thank you for nominating my blog at apartment therapy. The best thing is that I discovered your blog (I can't believe I haven't come across it before)!! I will add you to my Bloglovin and blogroll =) Happy New Year!!

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  11. I guess it's best to use the work of others since you have no credentials or background to offer any decor advice of your own.

    I hope you are happy with the little bump in traffic your antics have brought because visitors to your blog will stay away in droves in '10.

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  12. Awesome list! I'm just going to go ahead and steal them for my own! I never remember to make resolutions (probably because I never remember to keep them!)

    Thanks for the fantastic shout-out at the top of your page, by the way! You made my day! :)

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  13. I see the anon that tried to hijack my blog yesterday came t yours today. She's insane. In serious need of hospitalization. Btw anon vamp has posted tons of images from her published work. Published
    as in books and magazines. It's all
    there for you to see. You creep. Blogs are like magazines. They,like magazines,show the work of others. Not sure why u don't understand that except that you are insane. Get a life. Take your pills. Your paranoia has returned.

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  14. Wow, Cote de Texas, perhaps you should get a life. You write a design blog - you are expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner. What if some of your guests on the SRT read your post here? Perhaps you are the one who should grow up. Sorry, but you disappoint!

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  15. Sorry - you're a complete joke. my guests on the srt would certainly recognize that you are a troll and would throw you off any blog, which vamp should do asap. she will - give her time to realize you are a troll. go look up the word - along with the pronounciation of Kon-yak.

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  16. Visual, good to see the great posting on decorating resolutions - we all need to adopt new ones and your links to a number of up and coming artist in your area us another good source. Thanks for staying with the design format as we have seen recently a design blog turned into a personal holiday diary. I hope you will continue to feature up and coming new bloggers and feature your current projects as clients will permit. Your site has a fresh look and is sassy enough to be also entertaining. There is no reason not to smile when learning a good design lesson. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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  17. WOW! The comments are very pointed! I love what you do"Visual Vamp". I think your post was great and I look forward to more in 2010.

    Happy New Year.

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  18. Visual, among your top 9 design resolutions should be never over use linen slips. It's clearly for people who don't have the talent to select coordinating fabrics for their clients. It is so over used by some that one wonders if they make their husband's condoms out of them complete with ruffles. I guess the name Mr. Slipper Socks didn't happen by accident. I am ready for some real decorating. Country Living and Cottage Chic is getting a bit over done and complete homes done in white slips a bit boring don't you think. Obviously, this post may be a bit controversial considering there is only one blogger who can't design anything without white slips (to accommodate the animals living in her home I suspect), but please give us beautiful fabrics for the new year and let the viewers decide which ones are the most interesting and beautiful. By the way, have you ever seen a slipped cocktail table? I didn't think so.

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  19. omg. forgot to take your meds this morning? clearly. Valorie - this is the insane woman who left probably 50 comments on my blog about Christmas. Once I told her she couldn't comment on my blog anymore - she came here to put me down. condoms???????? excuse me? What are you talking about? Really - lay off the cognac. It's too early to be drinking!!

    AS if I don't know how to decorate with fabrics.

    I have an idea. Why don't you start YOUR own blog - call it "I hate slipcovers" - then show all your decorating with chenille! So beautiful! And be sure to show us what that chenille looks like a few years later - how filthy dirty and disgusting looking it is!!! ok???

    Start your own blog and you can rant all you want about condoms and other people's husbands. You clearly are obsessed with my daughter - you've proven that - I guess you want my husband now too. For a Christian woman - you sure think weird thoughts - condoms with ruffles!!

    Nice.

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  20. There seems to be some controversy in the blog world over the word "cognac". One blogger used it several times in a recent SRT interview and pronounced it coneyak. Several entries have weighted in on the subject including a link to a website dictionary.

    A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English (not Texas English) written by Merriam-Webster clearly describes how cognac should be pronounced. There is no long "on" sound - no "cone", but rather the "co" sound moves quickly through the soft "g" and "ac" sound. I wish my computer program would allow me to type it as it sounds. I am not being pedantic here, but when Texas meets East Hampton on the SRT, East Hampton may need a shot or two of the controversial substance. Try not to slobber too much tomorrow, Joni.

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  21. very good resolutions! i especially relate to 4 and 5!

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