Finding Our Style

I've always been a tad schizophrenic when it comes to interior design. Even in this post from over a year ago, I agonized over the types of design blogs I'm drawn to -- from fun and modern to eclectic to clean cottage, I'm all over the place. In an attempt to nail down my opinions and to see where my husband stands (I'm one of those ladies who likes to design keeping in mind everyone who shares the home, not throw flowers and frills everywhere and relegate the dude to a man cave; besides, mine would be more like a Batcave or something, anyway. And, yes, I'll probably quiz my son when he's old enough to answer questions, too.).

The results were a bit of a shocker, in more ways than one.

Your Style is Mid-Century Mod

Open, airy, organic spaces, all about form and function.
Sophisticated and sleek yet approachable, alluring.
My home is Mid-Century Modern.

Dude. Our house isn't Mid-Century Modern in any way. MCM is downright impossible to come by in the Mohawk Valley, to be honest. When you look on Craigslist, you'll mostly find over-priced antiques and outdated couches from 1989...also over-priced. (We live in a long since financially depressed area, which means wicked low priced houses. Why people think their furniture should fetch such a pretty penny eludes me.) So, of course, our house is filled with hand-me-downs (grateful for 'em!), re-purposed thrift store finds (again, hardly any MCM), and the occasional transitional piece (because, as I said, I had no clue what our style actually was!). Nary an Eames chair to be found.

This does, however, help me to obtain a focus. I know what our personalities are as a duo. We're both creatives; in general, writers, but we dabble in sketching and painting (poorly, but it happens) and, of course, acting. We have a huge dorky fandom for the old, be it black 'n white movies, classic music, vintage books and comics, antiques, and so on. On the whole, we're pretty eclectic ourselves, appreciating the past in a big way but very much living with modern sensibilities and priorities (yet adhering to many traditional social restraints).

But, as I sit and look around our living room, this $#%& ain't sleek. Organic pieces, maybe. Approachable? Hopefully. Perhaps there's a touch of sophistication mixed in. But, without certain cheaper options (such as the elusive Ikea) around to help us fill our spaces with more modern pieces, we're kind of S.O.L.

It's refreshing to know what my man likes, though. Seriously, watching his selections as he took the quiz, my eyes were opened. A light fixture that hovered like a spaceship over a dining room table had me going, "Seriously?! I mean, if I'd seen that in a store, I wouldn't have said I liked it because I would've assumed you'd HATE it." He shook his head. Well, I'll be damned! One thing about life; the surprises never stop! And, in this case, it was pretty awesome to have my eyes opened.

So, I'll be doing some more research on what it actually means to be a fan of MCM (we're still mostly transitional, I think; heck, I'm gonna, SOME day, inevitably throw some chevron in here SOME place...can't be afraid of the trends, folks, embrace 'em) and analyze how to add a little here and there on a budget such as ours. After all, our surroundings help to sculpt how we live our lives; they can alleviate stresses, inspire change, and invigorate our souls. They can also do the exact opposite when they suck.  

Oh, and I'd love to hear where y'all fall in the spectrum of design!! Are you a country girl? Funky? Old school Italian? Take the HGTV Style Finder quiz to find out and let me know in the comments.

And since when did it become FUN to take quizzes? Weren't they quite the downer in high school??