Decorating Daydreams

We have been thinking a lot about decorating lately. It is mostly just daydreams at this point since we have already planned the budget into next year, and the budget is almost entirely practical. Ho hum.

BHH has some decorating challenges. The first one is that there is so much surface area to repair or polish that even the old adage, “paint is cheap,” does not really apply here. Painting any room is a financial commitment, and doing a poor job on such beautiful woodwork would feel like a crime.

The second challenge is the darkness of the first floor. The living room, dining room and foyer stay a little gloomy for much of the day due to the orientation of the house, and the large pine trees outside block out a great deal of sunlight. Currently, the dark green woodwork in the dining room and living room makes the space feel even more oppressive.

Lastly, the wallpaper in the foyer which goes all the way through the halls on the second floor, is staying. We love it. It is a beautiful toile, and it is in perfect condition. No matter how much we love it though, it is still a very busy print, and figuring out how to incorporate the pattern into decorating confuses us.

After living here for five months, we know that we really want to play up nature in this house. It was originally built as a summer home, and it is clear that indoor and outdoor living were a priority at the time it was built. That was a huge draw for us when we found BHH.

On a more personal level, nature is an intrinsic part of who I am. I grew up in Zion National Park as the daughter of a park ranger. If I had my way, we would be living in the backcountry for part of each year, and we would be out exploring in the wild as often as possible. That is one of the reasons why living in the frigid north has been such an adjustment. The natural world that I am used to is not as accessible in sub-zero weather. Bringing more of the outside inside may help remedy some of that restlessness that we all feel during the long, dark winter.

With that in mind, we narrowed down what we are looking for in a decorating scheme:

• Cost-effective and neutral: In other words, we need to be certain that we love what we choose because we will not be able to change it on a whim.
• It should brighten up the first floor.
• Make use of all available light since winter is very long here.
• Play up the indoor/outdoor feel of the house, and make the two feel more seamless.
• No stuffy furniture or anything too fancy that will make us feel sad if it gets ruined. Life happens, and people are more important than things.

I have been collecting decorating pins on my Stacy Runs profile on Pinterest for a long time. Over the weekend, I browsed the board, and I found that I did not care for many of the pins I originally saved, and very little of them felt applicable because they felt too modern for our house.

I did find one inspiration pin that made me think, “aha! This is it.” Now, I cannot stop daydreaming which is counterproductive considering our DIY repair list.

We think this pin is “the one.”

(source)

We are looking specifically at the paint combination, and the welcoming, informal feel of the room itself, not necessarily any specific decorative piece (although I would take that wreath!). The paint is Dansbury Downs from Pratt & Lambert.

The darker paint color, which is more brown than gray, would go with the toile wallpaper. The colors are neutral enough that we could change furniture or rugs over the years when it is necessary. I did notice that the color looks brown on my monitor, but it looks gray on the Pratt & Lambert color card. We are interested in brown vs. gray, so we may have to choose another color to adjust for our preference. Monitors vary, and colors are not always true.

So, now we turn to you. What would you do if you lived here?  Does our daydream pin feel welcoming to you? What are some of the challenges in your space? We would love to know.