We moved into our 1940s house last November and since them I have done very little decorating. Part of the problem is that up until now I have never lived in a place that I have felt like decorating. Most of our homes have been rentals and although I know several people that dive head first into decorating their rental I am not one of them. The one house we did own we only ended up staying in for a year so I really only had time to paint and hang pictures.
I found after we moved into this house and were finally beginning to settle into a place that we plan to live in for as long as we can possibly stand (which hopefully will be 10 years or more) that I didn't even really know what my style was.
I discovered this one weekend when my husband's parents were watching the boys and we decided to peruse a furniture store for ideas. Up until now we have only had furniture that was given to us or we found for a steal on craigslist. During those times you can't be very discerning or turn something down because it's not your style. You just take it and use it because people need places to sit.
Going to the furniture store was highly unsettling to me. I'm not even going to deal with the fact that the sales clerk there basically stalked us through the store despite our constant reassurances to her that if we did find something she would be the first to know and that we really were just looking. It was all my pregnancy hormones could do to stay calm and not scream at her, "Stop following us!!!" So trying to ignore her footsteps behind us we pressed on looking at tons of oversized, overstuffed furniture that didn't come close to resembling anything I would want in my living room.
First of all in the 1940s they didn't sit on giagantor couches that make you feel like you're a little kid when you sit back on them. I am short and there is so little furniture made out there for people shorter than 6'. When I'm visiting with guests I don't really feel comfortable kicking my shoes off and curling up into a fetal position on the couch just to get comfortable. So we both left discouraged and my husband said, "I need you to figure out your style."
So thus it began. A quest to determine what says me. It's easy to point to what doesn't say me but the other side is much harder. The next week I googled, looked through magazines, and countless blogs on the subject and eventually found out that my style is very similar to our house. I prefer smaller furniture. The kind of furniture that most likely originally furnished this house when it was first made. I love the 1940s style which interestingly enough is modern. It has sleek lines not bulky pillows and oversized recliners. Much of what I found is now considered apartment furniture.
The only thing left was to actually find something that was in our price range (which is really cheap...i mean REALLY). Amazingly enough I found this on craigslist and fell in love with it (so I guess we still haven't broken the mold of getting our furniture on craigslist). It is the first piece of furniture that I truly believe reflects my style and we both absolutely love it.
Now to tackle the whole concept of curtains....Ugh!!!
