Finding my style

When we bought our house 5 years ago, I was so excited to get to decorate a place of my own (and Aaron's, of course...he's just not that into decorating).  There were a couple little problems, though.  One, we didn't have much money to spend on decor and I was not in the mood to be crafty and creative at that point.  And two, I didn't know how to decorate. 

Thankfully, most of the walls in our house were painted biege, and the ones that weren't beige, I took the liberty of painting beige or brown.  Then we bought furniture: beige couches and dark wood tables.  I did have enough decorating sense to throw in a little color, and found myself drawn to deep reds and sage green (and more beige).  So every room in our house is some combination of beige, gold, brown, dark red and sage green.  There is a little purple in the pillows in one guest room, but only because the bedding was hand-me-down from my sister.

As we have been searching for our next house, I have been thinking a lot about how to decorate it.  I have been browsing lots of blogs and magazines to find styles that I like, and I have discovered that I'm not nearly as fond of dark red, sage green, and beige anymore.  In fact, I'm not sure you will find those colors in our next house (this might be an exaggeration.  I'm too practical to justify tossing a 2-year-old bedspread because I'm tired of its color. 

I have realized that my taste is classic and simple, and that I really love rooms that are white, bright, and clean.  I might even paint some walls white in the new place!  Can you imagine?!  I've also been drawn to the color blue, either a very light, grayish blue or dark navy blue (anything but KU blue!).  Here's a couple living room inspiration photos:


Source: Pawley's Island Posh



Source: Traditional Home

My new favorite blog is Pawley's Island Posh.  I have very similar taste to the blogger, and I am IN LOVE with her home in Pawley's Island, SC.  Coincidentally, her home is on the market right now, and I'm trying to figure out how I can justify adding the Pawley's Island zip code to our house search.  Or possibly move the house halfway across the country.  Do you think that would be expensive? 

One thing I would love to have in our new house is a crappy kitchen.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I would love to design my own kitchen, but if a house has a nice kitchen that isn't my style, it probably doesn't make sense to change it.  My dream kitchen (as of now) would have white (or off-white) shaker cabinets with white carrara marble countertops, a white subway tile backsplash, and dark wood floors.  Yes, this plan would probably change once I saw a price tag, but a girl can dream, right?


A version of my dream kitchen.  Source: Hooked on Houses


I feel like I am officially an adult: interior design is now interesting to me!