The shabin?

eta: I apologize Ingrid, dh and I are just still laughing over the craigslist fail thread. Let me sleep on it. I actually do have an honest interest in decorating. I have much to learn. I actually am very intimidated by the decorating forum. Ya think???

What is unique to us is that we made a lot of our furniture, cabinetry and all our

drapes, shades and upholstered all our chairs. We taught ourselves

to work with wood, fabric and glass. We rather DIY then buy it. It's something

we both enjoy doing; a never ending hobby. It's fun living in a house with so

much of us in it. We scour yard sales and good will stores to find things that

we can incorporate in our woodworking hobby.

I've often wondered about this.... the most frequent comment from new visitors to my home is: "very artistic!".

I don't think anything I do is unique in the true sense of the word, but my decorating/accessorizing is a bit out of the ordinary. When friends first start coming to my house they "just want to stand in a room and soak it all in." Everyone says "You have such unique (or interesting) things." Usually followed by "I want you to come decorate my house" or "I am never inviting you to my house again." Only one has ended up keeping her word on the latter, and she wasn't a BFF but a SIL.

I don't think my style is at all unique. And calling it style might be stretching things, though I do try. I am not sure exactly what you'd call my style. Perhaps eclectic if shooting for kindness. I tend to mix old and new and I tend to avoid pattern.

I can't say my style is unique because one of my sisters has almost the same exact taste. We frequent thrift stores, and a couple of times we've bought an odd piece of a set, without knowing the other bought the matching piece, until one of us spies the item in the others home. She usually gives me the one she found. :)

I furnish and decorate my home with vintage finds from relatives, thrift stores, flea markets--individual, but not unique.

I think my style is unique only in the sense that it speaks to my seemingly unrelated interests. On the one hand, I love English cottage/traditional style. On the other, I remain smitten with Native American culture and my artwork and collections make that apparent. I've even broadened my horizons, so to speak, and over the past few years have included some items in my home of African and Middle Eastern origin.

Like many of those who've commented above, my taste doesn't fit into a neat category, but mixed with my husband's taste it makes up a "style" of sorts. I'm trying to combine things I love that I've found at flea markets and in my parents' basement (they verged on being hoarders and have "rescued" many cool things from curb sides and "dump stores") with things my husband and I have found together. We both like old things with history, mission style furniture, and early 1900's antiques and lighting. I love chunky pottery, gaudy gold frames, bright yellow, black & white, and soothing greens and blues. I'm still trying to find ways to tie the things I love most together in a way that looks more cohesive and less random.

All of our spaces tend to have something wood, something old, something weird and something gold; so if I had to sum up my style in one sentence that would probably be it!

I like Tribal Art and have items that are Mesoamerican, African, Indonesian, NW Coast, and Hawaiian (very little Hawaiian). I think this combines very well with modern and contemporary furniture. Most of the art I have bought in my travels through Mexico, Central America, and British Columbia. I've been to Hawaii once, and the other items I have bought at street fairs and ethnic shops in Los Angeles. My brother paints, and so we have a lot of his paintings in the house, as well as paintings done by friends of mine in San Francisco.

I do, yes. New Mexico has a very strong tri-cultural influence: Native American, Hispanic/Spanish and Cowboy/Western. Instead of choosing one, I've embraced all three in our home. Why? Because here in New Mexico we are constantly surrounded by all three. In our art, our architecture, our food, our literature, our music, our way of life . . . and here in my home, as well.

Lynn, you've also perfectly described Texas! ;)

Now that I've read so many interesting comments I would really love it if we had pictures from all of you to go with your "style". I wish I had thought of that in the first place! Lynn, my brother lives in Las Cruces, which of course I've visited several times, and I know exactly what you mean by your comments. It is a style all its own, although probably the Texas version is not too far off.

Anyone who's seen me post here probably has a good idea of my style. Except for my living room and the carpets, most items have been inherited or bought second-hand. The focus is on art, which does not make it unique, but I think my collection of over one hundred pieces of antique Chinese porcelain with some ancient Tang figures thrown in is fairly unusual. The only people I know who collect are on-line, from all over the world. A lot of them are very rich and the rest will sell their children in order to acquire that one more piece they absolutely must have. The deep scholarship and knowledge they have is impressive and learning about this complex field has been as rewarding as collecting. Fakes are everywhere now, so a good deal of knowledge is essential. Without the porcelain my home would be devoid of meaning for me. In a way they have become me.

Interesting topic. I think my style is a little unique, like some of you, I have inherited pieces of furniture and accessories and that can't be duplicated. Also, my home is different from many, as we live in an area where the seaside look is everywhere and that can be and is duplicated, but not by me.

We collect art nouveau and arts & crafts furniture/decorative pieces/art pottery etc - most of which is sourced on eBay and bricks & mortar auctions and fleamarkets - and our house (and previous houses) here in England is decorated to complement these styles. We're keen DIYers when it comes to house restoration. DH is very handy, having made a few unique kitchen islands among other things and I make all our soft furnishings again in complimentary fabrics, sourcing vintage or discontinued designs where possible.

Amongst friends and family I would say our *style* is pretty unique, but whilst we do have rather an eclectic mix of stuff, in a way we're just replicating an older, historic style that is not the norm these days. Many people visiting our home for the first time are visibly surprised by the lengths we've gone to in order to get it looking just right. We've had many admiring comments but also had references to it resembling "my grandmother's house"......a back-handed compliment perhaps?

Like you Ingrid, for me in particular our house wouldn't feel like our home without everything we have carefully sourced to create the whole it has become. Recently however, we considered selling our collections with a view to having a simpler, less cluttered way of life and a close family member remarked that our house comes across very much as an extension of me (in particular as I'm not sure if DH would be as obsessed if he were on his own!) and that they couldn't visualise us living somewhere without our precious things like a cocoon around us. I think they were right.

Otoh, it does make me sound dreadfully materialistic - I'm not, honestly, although the comment about selling a child to facilitate a purchase did take me back to a more frenzied time of collecting for a moment, lol ;)

Cran, I think it's so refreshing that you haven't bought into the seaside look that I see a lot of here since I live near San Diego. There is even a magazine dedicated to that kind of decor for (rich) people who live near the sea. I'm more of a mountain person and live in the hills away from the coast so that style doesn't appeal to me, but I think there are people who just mindlessly buy into what everyone around them is doing.

Raphaella (I don't know whether that is your name or your dog's), your style is one of the more rare ones and I think it's wonderful that you're doing something that you love. There's nothing materialistic about that. It's not like buying a yacht or a jet so you can let people know what you have. I sense that for you it's a passion, just as it is for me about porcelain. My husband, I sense somewhat like yours, has fostered my passion because he sees it makes me happy. I think many men could be happy just about anywhere as long as it's reasonably comfortable, and it's their affection that makes them go along with spending sometimes considerable amounts of money just to see their wives happy. My best friend has also commented that the house is exactly like me, and your comment about your precious things being like a cocoon around you resonates so much with me. It's a talisman against the coldness and anonymity of the outside world. Isn't that what every home should be?

We have a "mishmash" of antiques from different periods but we think it all works together. It ranges from 1860s to 1920s/30s. As if we inherited furniture from each generation. We've heard guests use the term "homey" and "cozy" and "warm" and "welcoming" when describing our home.

I was active (as WonByHerWits) in 2005 when building a home. I'm back again because I sold that home and have renovated my 1939 fixer. I want to setup my rooms in a way that feels good and looks good, but not over the top. It makes me uncomfortable if my friends or family are jealous.

I like the GW home decorating forum because 1) y'all give feedback 2) y'all have great ideas, some of which I can do and others, I can't do. 3) if we met in person, I think it we'd get along.

My problem is that I like too many styles--modern, vintage, traditional, French, English....and everything in between! I can think of 10 different ways to decorate a room, but then I have trouble deciding which I like the best!

My other problem is I fluctuate between wanting everything done at once and letting the decor evolve/develop over time.

I try to fit in things that have a story or memories. I add things only when I can't get anything I've got to work. I probably hold on to things longer than I should.

This is OT, but it's a reality for me and may be of interest to anyone considering downsizing -- Downsizing has created the most difficult decorating situation that I've ever experienced, financially. I had to give away thousands of dollars worth of furniture that wouldn't fit and am having to spend too much to get even the basics back. I left gardens and hard scape that were developed over 10 years -- and, my husband and I did most of the labor ourselves. Now, I shudder at the quotes I've gotten from landscapers to build garden beds for me to plant. Whoever says downsizing is cheaper, hasn't gone through the sell-down/buy-up experience. Operating expenses will be less, but this start-up is painful! Going it alone is also emotional and painful.

A definite mishmash. I started collecting English and American Arts & Crafts before I married DH 13 years ago. Even when we bought our MCM house in 2007 and jettisoned many antiques, I somehow knew to hold onto a few favorite A&C pieces, some art pottery of the era, and my 1930s California tile tables.

Now that we're in New Mexico, those things fit in perfectly. But I also still have some mid-century pieces (a ca 1960 walnut buffet that holds the TV is next to a dark fumed A&C grandfather clock; a mid-century china cabinet and a West Elm repro MCM table in the dining room with funky (cheap) modern white metal chairs from IKEA). The sofa and DH's chair are modern, from the old MCM house.

We bought new (or new-to-us) for the bedrooms, with a decidedly western and/or Spanish Colonial bent (but not too, too). My office has IKEA bookshelves, a vintage A&C library table as a desk, a West Elm daybed and a repro Eames desk chair.

I'd exhaust myself if I felt I had a theme to maintain. I like that I'm able to find a piece I really like, and just somehow make it work. Unfortunately, this house is very, very small. There simply isn't room for anything else unless something leaves. Antique stores just aren't as fun with such limitations!!