This post goes hand in glove with the one I wrote yesterday on the House Crush column. Figuring out your personal style takes confidence but I speak from experience here, the more you push things and experiment the more successful your pad will be. If you’re in a beige haze coma it can be a little daunting to take the plunge and do something a little more dramatic, but here is how you do it.
Find inspiration
The way to learn about something more is to look into people or styles whose vibe causes your heart to skip a beat and learn from it. Learn how they put things together, layer, accent certain things, play with scale even and use this as a guide. So research is your friend especially the web as you can so easily get to see different styles from all over the globe its like having the best magazine at your fingertips.
Make actual lists on what you like
I know this sounds like a bit of an effort but if you write down the elements that you like it will help build your vision. Why for example do you like that lamp? Is it the shape, texture, colour, size, period, writing down all these elements will help as you will see before long unifying themes shining through. Not just that but keep your eyes open when out and about in cafes, restaurants, galleries make continual notes. I always carry a notepad wherever I go I only wish they did underwater ones as I get my best ideas in the pool every morning!
You can learn taste
I know there is a saying that says you are either born or not born with style/taste but I happen to think you can learn it. Like anything if you want to be good at something you’ve got to put in the hours and build your knowledge. Knowledge is key to everything in life I reckon!
Get critical
I do this every so often in my pad and that is walk through with my critical hat on. What do I like, don’t like, is there anything that doesn’t really work? Doing this keeps me from making lots of mistakes in the future. For example I was once obsessed with really bright shots of colour like Barbie esq pink since I painted the house out in a our range and it’s the darkest its ever been and no longer quite works. It was only stepping back and looking with my critical hat on and drilling into what made me uncomfortable about it did I soften the whole scheme.
I know it takes confidence when it comes to changing colour but I say this all the time in my classes. Paint is the cheapest most transformative thing you can do to anything. Simple as that!