wow that is WILD! i like how airy it is…

i am feeling the exact same way! it’s like this inner turmoil! makes you step back and laugh that we humans spend so much time and energy (and $) on STUFF. we’re about to move into a gut rehab - 100 years old on the outside, new on the inside, and i have no idea which way to go… so far the finishes i’ve picked have been modern and simple, but when it comes time to buy furniture and decorate… ahh!

I’m surprised you have just two. I think I’m currently fighting at least 5 different design personalities. My therapy consists of blogging and forcing my unattainable desires upon others. ;)
My house is a hodge podge of styles, which I link together via color. This does allow me some freedom to wander from style to style, although I try to keep it toned down.
I currently have a set of 4 chairs, two recovered and two that are not. A new light to hang. Shelves full of items I can’t decide where to put. I think it’s just part of loving design. :)

I feel you, sister. That’s why I designed my bedroom to be ornate, and my living room to be minimalist. The perfect mix, and when I want to bring home thrifting finds, I just make sure they’ll match my bedroom, b/c the living room is OFF limits!

Speaking of bedrooms, mine seems to be right up your alley:
http://designformankind.blogspot.com/2007/09/mi-case-es-su-casa.html

Enjoy!

I could not agree more. Every decision I make is painstakingly laborious; research, samples, price comparison, testing! Combine that torture with pleasing my husband’s taste and I am often unable to make any choices about anything. Calgon, take me away!

I feel the same way. After living in a clean Asian inspired apartment, I’ve slowly been transitioning to pastels and Baroque details. My boyfriend is very good about coming home and having everything look different (and not knowing where I moved his stuff to).

I know how you feel! I am enamored with the ski cabin feel which I am reserving for my retirement cabin on a lake in Canada.

But right now my style is all over the place!!!

Glad to know there are others out there who are equally indecisive. My husband and I bought a small Victorian (not an ornate looking Victorian) house last year, and I’ve had the hardest time choosing light fixtures. We kept one the original fixture remaining in the house, but the other fixtures are replicas and not worth keeping. I thought I wanted a chandelier for the dining room, but decided on an economical pendant lamp from design public: http://www.designpublic.com/shop/lights-up/3621
It’s a beautiful lamp without calling too much attention to itself and seems to work well with our random assortment of furniture.

Love this wire piece.

Your dilemma is felt between mixing ancient and modern. This mixing between the old and new has been exemplified wonderfully in The World of Interiors magazine over the years. It can be a beautiful thing when done up right. To me a good chandelier can go just about anywhere and will always be in style…
There was a company years back called French Wire that had a little more traditional take on wire chandeliers and accessories, but were great as well.

I often feel the same way because there is so much beautifual stuff out there. I struggled with trying to figure out which style to go with when I realized “cleanly ecletic,” is the way to go. It’s a delicate balance but when done right, makes me very happy!

stunning chandelier!

i’m right there with you and the design dilemma, its so hard to know which way to go with so many beautiful options out there. i really do think that the most interesting results come out of mixing styles anyway - or maybe that’s just my excuse for my own hodgepodge house!

I too am constantly changing my mind about what my style is. I think it’s because I’m always looking at different designs. On top of that, I find myself getting into what I’m working on for a client. I find myself having to do a gut check to see if that style is mine or my clients. Honestly, I think it’s easier to design and decorate a client’s space than my own. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who deals with this. Case in point, our bathroom redo is stalled because I can’t find the “exact fabric” for my shower curtain. So we are living with a clear plastic curtain and ugly towels. We are having a party at our place next month, so I’m going to have to finish it by then. P.S. I love the new site:-)

I agree completely! Once I became so surrounded by design and shopping, I definitely have multiple design personal disorder! One week I want Marie Antoinette, the next it’s nearly Amish simplicity!

Fabulous chandelier!

I LOVE that chandelier. If only I had a place to put it. And the funds to buy it, but that’s beside the point. I’m drooling.

I also have a design multiple personality. One area where it severely hamstrings me is window treatments. I have three windows in the living room that are covered with white wood blinds because they were here when we bought the house. *sigh*

I struggle between those two decorating mindsets too. My biggest hang up is too much clutter, so when I’m feeling overwhelmed by the enormous amount of STUFF that I own, I’ll usually get on a simple/serene living kick and pack up boxes and boxes of items to be donated. It never fails that I come back to the ornate/baroque style of decorating though. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to curb my desire for feminine and beautiful items. I should give it my all at least once before deciding if a simple aesthetic is really for me.

Whew, and here I thought there was something deeply wrong with me! What a relief to find that a design maven such as you is torn, also.

I, too, love the new site! congrats!

Quick question - what kind of dog is that? It looks like a Wheaten but smaller….

I am currently sporting the test square look. I have bought nearly 25 gallons of paint in the last 6 months.
As far as decor goes, I’ve always been minimalist/modern/contemporary- now I’m doing a 180 into Bali Resort Chic.
And just one more thing- why don’t they make furniture like they used to? I am getting old.

Dawn - www.EastOrlandoLife.com

I don’t so much consider my design preferences (which sound like your’s) as ecclectic, but more from the school of “I know what I like” design. As long as you know what you like, you should be able to combine together a number of styles to make a space you really enjoy. I can’t live in just one style…then I’m always wanting to live in a style I don’t have! Love the chandelier!

passionate simplicity. that’s what i call the marriage of the two. I try to incorporate both as they are equally key elements in both my design and personality.

I feel much the same way.

I have a few different design wishes.

Sometimes I want a large open, empty, white space with many windows and simple furniture with clean lines (I did briefly have a place that was partly like this.)

I also love an earthy vintage, indie/ hippie theme also. Lots of books everywhere, charming earthy wooden tables and chirs, handmade 70’s dishes, etc. (which is what most of my places have looked like).

And I briefly had strong bright colours in everyroom.

It’s too bad it isn’t as simple as popping into one’s closet and changing outfits.

But irregardless of the mood I’d love that chandelier. Gorgeous. I have such a weekness for chandeliers.

Along with everyone else who commented, I am relieved that there are so many people out there who have difficulty making decorating decisions. I’ve never come across a colour that I didn’t like. So my apartment has a fair number of colourful objects…then I’ll look at some all-white apartment in a magazine and wonder why on earth I can’t tone it down. But I love red so much, I don’t know how to live without red (and orange and turquoise and maroon and green)!

Darling, have that minimalist design you like on your living room and then install the most luscious, ornate, heavy chandelier the world has ever seen right smack in the middle.

I think it will make you so happy (and it will to me too, once you post the picture!!)

hey.. a lot of people find the wire interesting.. i know i do! You should all cheack out Benedict Radcliffe’s work.. he is a wire master!!

This is wire?!? This chandelier is just incredible. What an amazing play on traditional and contemporary design. There is also a really cool optical illusion thing happening in the photograph with the chandelier against the dark (is it black?) wall.

I feel totally the same way! And even though I sometimes finally make up my mind and end up with something that I truly love and enjoy, I’m still feeling a little bit uncommited and look forward to my next makeover. And it’s got nothing to do with not being able to choose a certain style, I mean I can mix and match endlessly and still not be completely happy even though it contains all my favorite looks. It’s like I want it one way when it’s a sunny summer day and another completely (or sometimes only slightly) different way when it’s a dark winter night. And I’m forever redecorating every place I ever visit, inside my head, no matter how fabolous it looks I’m always going ‘hmm how would I improve this space..?’

If you like the chandelier above you’ll probably drool over this one as well. I imaging having this Tom Dixon fixture would be like having the Eiffel tower in your dining room.