Help with decorating tips
 

Hello y'all,
I will be moving to TV in January. My husband and I have purchased a "Natchez" home. I have never owned a home that had this particular type of open floor plan. I don't know how to arrange my furniture without it looking like one big room - or worse, 2 rooms seperated by an aisle. Any decorators out there that can help. Seriously, I may need professional help. I have never utilized an interior decorator so I don't know what the cost would be but my budget is slim right now. Anyone have any suggestions? If you own a Natchez, what have you done with it?:shrug:

I LOVE to talk decorating.
 

WELCOME to you. I hope you will enjoy every day in Paradise.

You are welcome to see how I arranged furniture in our Camellia. It is an open room too, very similar to the Natchez. Our Northern house also has an open floor plan. An "aisle" may not be as bad as you think.

Interior Decorator
 

We are presently using Prince Associates out of Winter Park, FL. Owner is Francie Prince. They were recommended by friends in The Villages who were extremely pleased with their work. They are a top notch company. Phone number is: 407-682-2277. E-mail address is: franpi@aol.com.

Deco
 

Sent you a PM ref above.

Skip, this is a very old thread and I will betcha that Natchez is all decorated now.

We bought and decorated our Camellia and sold it furnished last week. It was light and cheery and beachy and cottagy and I liked it very much.

Now I will be bringing our really kinda dark formal stuff to our new house in TV.

I am going to try to make it work somehow. To all my friends who will visit both houses, PLEASE, if you don't like how this one looks...please lie.

Tony...why can't we have a decorating forum?

All you new people..use this thread and tell me what your decorating goal is and what colors you are using and who can recover my couch for a hundred bucks.

(just teasing on the last one)

I think I will have to try for home on Riviera...that would be kinda beachy...wouldn't it?

Remember about the fibbing.

Gracie,

I loved your Camellia - but you also (unless you lied :-) love our decorating. It is mostly dark wood in the living area.... I can't wait to see your new ideas.

k

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I didn't lie Kate. I do love your lovely home and that will be my inspiration.

Here is what I am seeing in decorating trends this year. A combination of grey and cream as sort of a monochromatic look. Teals and hot coral pinks as accents.

I wish someone would tell us what they are doing...what they are planning to make their new house all pretty for their new life..........

Presently, we are using Prince Associates out of Winter Park, Fl, and we feel they are fantastic. 407-682-2277

um...well......I...am...not rich, and I have never explored having a decorator, because to me...even if I were rich, having a decorator is kinda like...

taking the fun out of it.

Those color choices sound great. It should be wonderful....

That's exactly what my goal is: Taupe, grey, cream, beiges.... you know, like colors you see in weathered driftwood. I will use my paintings for color. I DO rather like pale aqua, also pale copper. (like a soft salmon)
deb

Can anyone provide a ball park figure for the cost of an interior designer? Do they charge a percentage of the total expenditure or a flat rate or hourly fee?
How about the cost per SF?

UTG, we have taupe, cream, beiges, a little gold for warmth and cobalt for color in the main areas. We used those basics plus a little extra color in all the other rooms.

My office is the fun room - coral, magenta, orange, lime green - trying to make work into FUN!

Batman, you can get lots of good ideas and direction for about $60 per hour...at least that what it was when we got direction, about two years ago.

How many of you have taken your darker wood "Northern Furniture" down to TV and not been happy with it after you had the expense of getting it down there ? Did you make it work or start over? We are coming down in Aug to furnish our Gardenia in Buttonwood. My orginial thoughts were Pottery Barn with a touch of Asian BUT now I've gotten sentimental and have the movers taking quite a few of my New England things. So, I don't know what the heck I'm going to end up with !!!!!!!!!!!! My best thought out plans just got thrown out with the stale wine.

That office sounds wonderful!

Sometimes you just gotta go with what makes you FEEL good to surround yourself with. People mix styles by trial and error, so if you have something you're especially fond of, give it a try and bring it along!
Eclectic mixtures can be so interesting.... just think of people who artfully collect antiques!

Decorating
 

Both of us have the same taste but every home we have bought or built has been soooo different that we have sold every house we have owned FURNISHED.....Living in NC, the furniture capital of the world, made this easier. Our home in TV is spanish as so many of the homes north of 466, so we went with that theme...

A friend took a decorating class at Lifelong Learning College and the decorator said that dark wood is accurately the "old Florida" style and fits very well with the white wood work. The earlier homes were furnished by well heeled people who brought their dark wood furniture with them. She said to make it blend by adding some touches of tropical and beach. I would like to take that class.

Well I should have listened to my innerself and sold my furniture up north. Now that I am here I would like to sell and start new. I realize it sounds crazy but I just want a different look. We have a Gardenia and are in Buttonwood. Love the model. I don't want to rush things but would love to get some ideas.

Gracie, I love the idea about taking the decorating class. Once I get going on decorating and can visualize the room I'm ok.

You can also join the Home Decorating Club which meets at Bridgeport Rec Center on the 4th Thursday of the month. They have speakers and various activities..often local professional designers speak and some are members of the club. You can get inspiration and help there.

Decorating advice
 

If you go to the furniture stores - not resale shops - you can get an idea of what is popular now. Dark wood is in, as is lighter tones. A neutral scheme with pops of color that you can change when you feel like it seem to be the trend. Also, hit the open houses at TV. They've already paid decorators to do the job. Great ideas come from there. When you're ready to go for it, then hit the resale shops. And really, is there a hurry? That's also part of the fun of a new place. When moving here and trying to decide if you should bring what you have, I say bring along any piece that makes you happy. It still will when you're at TV!

Thank you Cricket 1!

As I am up to my nostrils packing my wedding china to give to my ex son in law, I needed a little shoring up. I grew tired of the pattern about 25 years ago, but I am getting real possessive of other things and we are downsizing a LOT in this new house.

I know the guys at GoodWill really well now, been visiting them every day for at least three weeks..........

Big girl move getting rid of your china. I packed my Grandmother's china that I haven't used in 40 years and I am hauling it to TV with us. I don't think I will get another 40 out of it so I guess my kids will dispose of it and not look back.
What are you're thoughts on silk flowers? I've always liked them but I notice my friends stay clear of them. I know we "gotta do what we gotta do" with our own style BUT are there some things that are really out dated and no one has the heart to tell us?

I packed some silk flowers but they probably will be crushed and I will have to throw them out anyway. Silk flowers are supposedly an awful no no to the real decorators.

I brought two other newer sets of good china and two everyday...

Thanks for the advise on the silk flowers. So, if someone knocks on my door I will have to ask " Are you a real decorator?" before I let them in or at least be really quick to find a place to hide them.
I will be glad to get to TV and start the process of putting things together. My husband says that some woman actually have fantasies when they go to bed at night. I agree that for the last 3 years I have had fantasies of furniture placement, color swatches and I could go on and on.

Many of the decorating sites on line - such as One Kings Lane - feature quality silk flowers. There are some there in one of the boutiques open today.

We have quite a few - but I am picky about what I buy. If the color didn't exist in nature - then I don't own it!

k

When we bought our house, it was empty and beige. Knowing we would be renting it for awhile, we went to Showcase Direct with the idea of getting furniture that would be the opposite of what we thought we'd like so that we wouldn't be upset if "something" happened to it along the way. Worked with a wonderful woman, Heather, and went for a package deal to fill our floor plan. We added a piece here and there, changed this and that, but still managed to get a nice comfy look. We went with darker furniture, which actually looks great against all the beige. We have another great woman from our realty co. who filled in the empty walls, kitchen cabinets, got all the necessities and yes, added lots of silk flowers and guess what? We LOVE it!
Just makes us want to move down sooner than later.

Designer
 

Possibly watching the interactive model home tour at Properties of the Villages would help you. Remember that you do not have to arrange everything against a wall. Create conversational groupings around focal points. Get some graph paper. Get the exact measurements of your home from the website for new homes and measure your furniture. Arrange and rearrange it ubtil you feel comfortable with the way it looks on papar. The measurements must be exact. At least 36-40 inches is need for pathways through rooms. Good Luck. :thumbup:

Glad to know I am not the only woman going to sleep with decorating fantasies cruising around in my thoughts! We are here just over a year, and I am still in the process of creating a home we enjoy. Other than a pub table in the kitchen area, everything we have came with us--after months of down-sizing (if Goodwill gave awards, I would have a crown. A jeweled crown...). Mostly ours, some handed down from my family and my husband's family. My in-laws, bless their hearts, left every blessed thing they had ever owned, and we still have some of it here in storage (after 9 years). We want our home to be pleasing and comfortable to us, so that's my goal. If you like silk flowers, then have them (though I agree with other posters that I am very picky about where I buy them). If you love your dark (or light) furniture, then have it and enjoy it! But would someone puh-leez let me know what you've done with the sliders to the lanai in terms of window treatment? Having trouble visualizing what would I would like most: side panels w/valance, valance alone? Thanks to anyone with suggestions, and I love reading about what you all have done.

Decorator
 

Am new to TV and saw an ad in the paper for Katie Green. She has done work for some friends and they were very pleased with her work and price.