Tasteful Friends: House decor discussion thread edition

From the HGTV thread, tailor made for this new thread:

"I figured I might ask you guys your thoughts about your personal taste here. I'm preparing to move into a smallish Victorian house, and I have come to realize that my tastes haven't really changed since I first moved out on my own, about 25 years. While I can be influenced by certain trends---I like a lot of the same paint choices and furniture I've had forever. I'll be painting the living room a deep terra cotta, the master bedroom a deep green, some antiques, some modern pieces. A lot of brown and black as well. I like to live with what I like, obviously, but the only thing that's changed really has been to make things slightly more modern. I'm thrilled that in this house the kitchen and bath haven't been updated in likely 80 years, so I am going to keep them pretty old school."

I can't even go into a kitchen if it doesn't have white cabinets!!

The "my tastes haven't changed... in 25 years" quoted above is me, to a 'T'. I just bought what I hope and believe will be my last home. It's a bit of a trophy house in a nice gated neighborhood, built 22 years ago but in good shape with only minor repairs and renovations required, but I'm going to re-do the bathrooms now and the kitchen in a few years. The people who bought it new did some crazy things to the house (converted the formal dining room into a library, and the bedroom off the living room into a humongous dining room where they hosted dinner parties for as many as 28 people, as the former owner told me on one of my visits for the various inspections) but had done no other work to the house since. The remaining owner was a 96-year-old woman (her husband died about 6 years ago) with impeccable modern taste. It turns out that her family and my husband's family were in the same business and knew each other vaguely; the owner's children said it had to be karma that we ended up buying this house.

Regardless, it desperately needed painting and new carpets in the bedrooms, and when we went paint and carpet shopping, I realized that I've painted every home I've had almost exactly the same shade of off-white with off-white carpeting. Of course, all of the furnishings and art we have are suited to a neutral palette, but still... The odd part is that our furniture is mostly maple wood, and maple is currently not available without special-ordering or custom pieces. The guy who is making some pieces for the living room said that he's doing a bang-up business in maple because it is currently out of fashion. It's a pain because we moved in almost three months ago and none of the furniture I've bought has been delivered yet, and won't be until after the first of the year. I know, first world problem.

The amusing part was when hubby said that under no circumstances would we have a single wall in any room painted a contrasting "feature wall" color because "we don't live on HGTV!"

Aren't Victorian houses expensive to maintain?

Well, any house can be expensive to maintain, R4. One of the bigger pains in the ass will be removing the old aluminum siding and repainting the place. It's not a big house, but it is tall. It's mostly grunt work that I can do over the next spring and summer. LOTS OF SCAFFOLDING. If it's slightly less energy-efficient, I'll trade that for the giant windows, tall ceilings and overall character. I'm gonna have an energy audit done pretty soon. I completely agree on the feature wall thing, R3. I don't think I've seen one I've ever liked.

Alright Tasteful Friends, what is your opinion of all-white walls?

My 100-year-old reno is very plainly styled, square, large rooms, oak flooring, big windows, lots of light. No fussy or ornate woodwork, lath-and-plaster, 9-foot ceilings.

I would call the houses style/type? I really don't know?

Kitchen will be maple cabinets, subway tile and a light beige ceramic on the floor. There is some exposed brick from a non-functional chimney we're going to leave in.

I collect antique stained glass windows, which I plan to hang in the large windows in lieu of window treatments. I loathe curtains. I like my windows naked.

My eclectic collections will provide color, as well as the stained glass windows.

The look I'm going for is, as best as I can describe it, is... Modern/Euro/Hippie? Or is this a dumb idea?

Does any of this make sense?

Suggestions appreciated.

OP that place is gorgeous.

Yes, it does make sense r6. Your place sounds like something I would really like. I happen to love white walls—very crisp and clean and great backdrops for art.

I don’t care if white is in or out; it makes me feel good.

I like all-white (warm white) walls. The only other color I would like is warm gray.

The stained glass and the collections of things, I don't know. I hate Tiffany lamps, so I would avoid too much stained glass. But it's your house.

R6, It sounds like you know what you like, so you're already ahead of the game. I like eclectic tastes and people who are confident enough to not have everything match. I hope you keep on posting with your progress.

I actually like soothing, neutral greige. I find it very calming - and flows from room to room without stark contrasts. Maybe a subtle blue or green for a bedroom - but all man rooms are neutral but not white. Nothing too modern. Some antique simple pieces that get mixed with not expensive recent-ish furniture from Wayfair that I don’t mind getting rid of when I move every 5+ years.

Artwork, books and sculpture are the main “color”/“flavor” - which I mix up depending on the house.

I’m posting a link to a black and white bathroom. You have to scroll just a little to see it. I think it’s beautiful.

I like the new look of gray with bronze accents. Though I’m sure it will be dated in a year or two.

I don’t understand what’s so wrong with having an accent wall.

Hate ‘open floor plans.’ One big room with a ‘kitchen’ and ‘dining area’ at one end and the rest consisting of a ‘great room.’

HATE.

I bought my dream yellow sofa recently. Now I can't bring myself to sit on it.

I'm 50 this year and in my 7th home. I've redone them all. My new thing is, build a neutral envelope and let trend show up in other ways.

I put trendy patterned concrete tile in a guest room in our country home a few years ago and I am already sick of it and wanting something different.

When I redo my kitchen soon it's going to be white cabinets, honed dark black soapstone countertops, plain backsplash of some kind, and concrete floors. I don't even think I'd do subway tile - too trendy - probably a simple white handmade 4" square tile backsplash. Go timeless and then bring in 'trend' with accessories and less permanent things. Invisible hinges so that the color doesn't matter and then change out the knobs if the metal trend shifts.

Think timeless envelope, trendy sprinkles.

R15, it's not the yellow sofa I'm thinking of, is it? The one a certain British designer owns?

I have an Italian leather sofa going on 20 years.

I love that sofa R17.

I want one myself, R19. Hoping in a next house I can find a spot for it.

Thoughts on recessed lighting?

I'm tired of white trim - its overdone. I think it's more classic to paint the trim the same color as the walls - use a gloss finish on the trim and eggshell finish on the walls.

All the re-builds around my NW Dallas neighborhood seem to go for the same, boring, WAYFAIR look, with white everything and a "POP" of colored cushions with chevrons all over the place. And the dumb shits leave their blinds up and lights on all the time so everyone can admire their good taste. The stuff looks flimsy and junky and it'll be out of style next year if it isn't already. No one seems to have any creativity -- they just copy looks out of magazines and Pinterest.

Gurls, just don't make it too precious where it's all show but uncomfortable. Or a tableau around every corner.

Agree with R16 - neutral envelope. I also believe in cheaper furniture that can be replaced. The idea of spending thousands on a sofa is crazy to me. Art, sculpture and lighting can get changed every few years.

I used white subway tile in a herringbone pattern in my 3rd floor attic bath which has a cast iron bathtub with feet. The body of the tub is painted a dark green, matching the bathroom window blinds. My house is from 1893, and the look is simple but fresh. (The tub was already green when we bought the house 10 years ago.)

My favorite house in the USA is the tiny federal jewel box Boscobel. Hardly a mansion. 2nd place - Wilderstein. 3rd place - Rosecliff in Newport - though it's quite femme.

R27: Boscobel is lovely, though tiny? The two principal stories have over 6000 square feet, there's a basement that's half that and a partial third floor as well.

You lost me on the other two, though. Wilderstein is a more interesting story than an interesting example of architecture; its romantic ruin is outdone by places like Hyde Hall or the Aiken-Rhett House; plus it has that wretched front parlor in the white painted French taste. Even worse us Rosecliff with its vaginal stairway as if meant for some monstruous pipe organ. It's very near the top of the list of McKim Mead & White's worst work and in Newport, a place that has some of their best.

It's fabulous, r28!

Rosecliff has an excellent setting, with those party rooms opening to the sea. The surface treatments are light touch. It's quite perfect but again, quite ladylike. I don't think Wilderstein is fantastic architecture, I just think its a great house I could have been at home in. It needs outbuildings including a greenhouse. Boscobel is modest in size. A perfect villa. Compare it to the Providence mansions. John Brown house is 19K square feet.

The flips are becoming so boring. Every “completely renovated” listing has the same exact look. Which is why I want a fixer-upper - so I can make the design choices. Though agree with the neutral envelope concept, the white on white on white kitchen and bathrooms are boring. Some earth tones are nice. Nothing too specific - just not the same bland white everything with super shiny floors.

R9 I'm with you. Benjamin Moore's Linen White is the perfect shade

R23 Before that it was West Elm. Before that it was Pottery Barn. People think it's easier to buy a look (however execrable or just pedestrian) out of a catalog rather than to train their eyes and develop taste.

Not your taste, not mine, not some stylist with a lot of crap from China to sell. Their own.

I don’t think of Wayfair as a “look” like West Elm, Pottery Barn, etc. More like an Amazon for furniture - lots of styles, prices and quality. I like Wayfair - as I refuse to pay a lot for most furniture because I know I will be moving in less than 5 years and it probably won’t match the house.

What do you all think of Ballard Designs? They have some good pieces, although I'm not fond of the overall "look" of a lot of their rooms.

Beware Ballard Designs! I ordered the Bunny Williams Brookhaven cabinet TWICE. Both times, it was a MESS! At their prices, one does not expect a fine piece of furniture but the size and style fit well in my foyer. However, both cabinets were so shoddily constructed that even the delivery man encouraged me to refuse them, Also, their customer service is awful.

This is the only thing I've bought from them, and I love them:

(I got the moss ones, because they were half off. They're rather retro-looking but they work in my lightly MCM-esque living room):

Moss:

Oh no! I killed the thread :-(