May 31, 2016
Think of your closet as a canvas for your home choices
Each month I offer helpful tips and hopefully meaningful advice about how to create a home out of a house.
I have addressed a number of topics covering both the inside and outside of the home. But of all the advice I have offered, none has struck a cord with readers as much as last month’s tip on finding your style.
I said, “Head into the closet! What colors do you love to wear? This tells me volumes about my client. Do you like pattern or are you more of a solid person? Your wardrobe can be a very telling place when figuring it all out.” I have heard from many of you that this statement was a “revelation” In helping you to move forward and create spaces that you love.
• Style is not something you apply separately to your home and then your wardrobe and on and on.
• Style is something innate, it can be honed but essentially it is something inside of each one of us.
• I believe that every choice we make, good or bad, tells the story of who we are. Whether you put it in your home, on your back or in your mouth, the choices we make are all a question of “lifestyle”.
I am not just an interior designer. In fact, I chose to call my company a “lifestyle design” firm because I believe that style is the common thread connecting each facet of our lives.
Think of your closet as a canvas for your home choices. I am not suggesting that everything you wear is meant to be on a sofa or chair. My hope is that you will realize how the choices you make about your wardrobe can help you to define how you want to live as well.
This is where this month’s tips come into play…
• If you are the more tailored kind of person in your wardrobe, if you are more Audrey Hepburn or Cary Grant in your style, I might suggest luxurious fabrics like woolens, cashmere and silk. Tailored fabrics in pinstripe, checks and sophisticated plaids add a statement of confidence. Your neutrals would be navy, camel, silver grey and black.
• If you are more the adventurous outdoorsy kind of person in your wardrobe, like Jennifer Aniston or David Beckham, I would present you with neutrals in canvas, cotton, ticking, leather and washed linen. I would accent those with simple stripes both wide and narrow that add a bit of color to your colorful life. Your neutrals would be khaki, saddle, olive and taupe with ivory as a base.
• If your personal style leans toward the sexy (50 Shades of Grey) side, like Sophia Vergara or Joe Manganiello, I would bring you sensuous fabrics of silk satin, sheers, glazed leather, embroidery and quilting. Jewel tones and colors of the night with a bit of sparkle. Your patterns would include animal prints, damasks and wide stripes in rich colors. Black would be your neutral and your detail color. Black interior doors are contemporary and traditional at the same time.
I am fond of saying, “tell a story” with your style. But, few of us are comfortable enough to write that story. There are tricks and shortcuts to expressing yourself and getting it right. Your own closet can put you on the fast track to figuring it out.
Live Well.