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I am ashamed to admit that for many years, my decorating (non)sense was about 10 years out of date. I look back at photos of previous homes and cringe and how horrible some of it was.
What makes me wince is...
1. Anything in nausiating excess
2. Mauve, Burgundy or Hunter Green
3. Brass fixtures
4. Most wallpaper
5. Popcorn ceilings
6. Ruffled curtains
7. Huge box-like big screen TV's (they're like furniture)
8. Excessive religeous poems, pictures, crosses, etc......in a room (looks like you're trying to ward off a vampire or trying really hard to convince somebody of your purity)
9. Collections of Hummels, clowns, stuffed animals, etc...unless you're a kid.
10. Throw rugs everywhere
Several of the above items were things I was guilty of doing years ago. I got help for that though!
I agree with everything except the brown trim thing....nothing can beat real quality wood trim.
I assume you are speaking of new construction?
I am thinking of century old homes, when the wood in the homes was still astoundingly beautiful!
Yes, I should have added that as a caveat.
There is a difference between a turn of the century home with beautiful millwork that is all polished and gleaming and rich wood...
...vs. a spec type home where all the trim is blah brown wood and all the walls are vanilla. IMO, then the brown trim on the windows suck all the light out of the room.
It is the difference between this:
And This:
(No offense intended to anyone who likes brown trim).
OK here's another - faux flowers decorating the tops of cabinets, I mean long garlands of faux flowers. (not that short ones would be any better)
Also saw recently, the same flowers cascading around a lighted curio cabinet filled with a jumble of Precious Moments figurines. In addition the entire room was decorated in shades of blue. Surrounding the room was a country themed wall border with pictures of rustic stars,little log cabins, the American Flag and the bible, with bible verses beneath the pictures.
There was a Thomas Kincaid painting over the sofa and the sofa was pine with velvet cushions, printed with pictures of barns, wheat sheaves, and farm implements.
The dark pine couch was flanked with hexagonal end tables with gold stenciling and topped with matching blue hurricane lamp. Each door way was adorned with a swag of blue and white faux flowers.
The woman is my age or several years younger.
Is this a Pennsylvania thing?
Paneling. Just bought a house with dark, distressed paneling glued to every wall of the family room. Removing it will be a ton of work. Painting it will just look odd.
Paneling. Just bought a house with dark, distressed paneling glued to every wall of the family room. Removing it will be a ton of work. Painting it will just look odd.
Before you rip that paneling off the wall, I think you need to do a bit of research. Looking at decorating books and magazines, blogs and online articles that feature painting paneling will open up your viewpoint. The truth is painted paneling can be very attractive.
Here is a photo for you to see (including painting instructions).......tell me if you think the finished product looks odd. Do a google search for painted paneling and read the articles and also look under google "images" to see lots of photos. Painting paneing can look great in traditional, cottagey and contemporary decor.
Before you rip that paneling off the wall, I think you need to do a bit of research. Looking at decorating books and magazines, blogs and online articles that feature painting paneling will open up your viewpoint. The truth is painted paneling can be very attractive.
Thanks for the example.
I painted paneling in our last home. Used Kilz (or some stainblocker like Kilz), then primer and paint rather than starting with oil based primer.
It turned out looking like--painted paneling. Though it did lighten the room.
This paneling is distressed, lots of indentations. Not sure it will look that great painted.
I painted paneling in our last home. Used Kilz (or some stainblocker like Kilz), then primer and paint rather than starting with oil based primer.
It turned out looking like--painted paneling. Though it did lighten the room.
This paneling is distressed, lots of indentations. Not sure it will look that great painted.
I have no idea what your decor is but distressed paneling would actually be a plus for me. It seems you are probably one of those people who do not like painted paneling. If you look at the steps for painting that I posted above, you will see that it is a much more involved process than just paining it with Kilz. I would think the filling and sanding would be a very important step.
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