LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

The dental assistant had a question.

“Is Teal in?”she wanted to know.

She went on to explain that she wanted to repaint her Master Bedroom and the color teal really appealed to her.

She just wasn’t sure it was the “in” color to use.

While I generally don’t hand out free advice, I couldn’t resist this one.

I told her to forget what colors are “in” and to paint her bedroom whatever favorite color she wanted.

It was her bedroom, after all!

A few days later, another acquaintance was lamenting the large amount of dark wood in her home – dark oak floors, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and walls.

Her husband had suggested painting them.

“But,” she wondered aloud, “What happens if ten years from now dark wood is again back in style?”

She wasn’t asking my opinion, so I didn’t provide it, but here’s the thing.

Fads are just that.

They come and go.

What your heart and your gut are telling you – that’s what you want to pay attention to!

Your home needs to be about you and the things you love.

Whether you love teal, or your home is too dark and you want to lighten things up, I say – go for it!

Here’s another example.

When I first met my mother-in-law, she was living in a home that had been custom designed by an architect.

It was a beautiful house, with a spectacular view of the distant mountains and Puget Sound.

However, the architect had designed the house to fit an awkward site.

As a result, many of the rooms were small and oddly shaped, although not lacking in comfort.

With a custom house, that’s perfectly OK, because it can be anything you want – the point being that you are doing this for you, and no-one else!

In my mother-in-laws case, the unusual design didn’t faze her a bit.

The family realtor, however, was horrified.

She was looking at the future re-sale value of the house, and knew that trying to sell a home with awkwardly shaped rooms would be difficult.

Who would buy it?

My mother-in-law lived in that house for twenty years.

She was not concerned about who was going to be the new owner 20 years into the future.

Nor was she concerned about that hypothetical person’s tastes or preferences in design.

And that would be my advice to you.

Never mind the current fads, or what’s considered “in”.

Just listen to your heart.

 

POSTSCRIPT:

If you found this tip helpful, I share plenty more tips, professional advice and trade secrets in my newly launched interior design program – DESIGNER IN A BOX!