Saturday, June 23, 2012

Walking through other peoples' houses

Today was the homes tour for one of the neighborhoods near ours. This is the first home tour that I have been on since we bought this house and walking through several of those houses was very encouraging for me. First, there was the fact that a couple of them needed almost as much work as ours did when they were purchased. They are just a few years ahead of us. It was interesting to see what people had done.

I also enjoyed seeing the colors people had chosen and the places they chose to retain the old--or to update--and how each decision worked.  It reaffirmed some of what I am hoping to do and, I think, helped bolster my confidence in the colors that I am choosing. I love color, but tend to be afraid that I'll overdo it.

One house in particular was fabulously decorated. But not "decorated." Rather it was populated with a lifetime's collection of books and art of various kinds. His taste was incredibly eclectic and ranged from paintings to textiles to pottery to glass to photography to furniture pieces that were art in their own rights. Each piece was beautiful in its way, and the totality was breathtaking.

It was good for me to see that home, because I worry sometimes that my "I know what I like" style might not hang together. But, after today, I am fairly certain that as long as I keep choosing, carefully, those pieces that I find beautiful, it will be okay. My paintings of various styles can hang out just fine with my batiks, glass pieces, pottery, icons, etc., and it can all be beautiful together.

2 comments:

Bethany said...

Just think how homey and interesting you made our silly suburban cookie-cutter house look. This house is going to be fabulous, and parts of it are well on their way, already. (Despite the sparkly ceilings. Those are a different kind of fabulous.)

Elephantschild said...

It will hold together, and it will be unmistakably, uniquely, wonderfully YOUR house.