Spice up the Law House

August 14, 2007 1:28 PM

Help decorate my house in a week.

I've seen this thread but it only partially applies. After renting the place out for the summer, I'm headed back to my house and I have a week or so during which to do some decorating. It's a 100 year old craftsman, one bed downstairs, two up, totalling at 1,400 sq. ft. All interior floors, walls, and ceilings are white. I have a front porch, tiny front yard, and medium-ish, shaded backyard.

I want to spice things up a bit; so far decor consists of a few pieces of pottery, books, a couple prints, and lots of b/w photos. Prayer flags outside. The cheaper the better.

Any suggestions for innovative ideas? Or, failing that, good design blogs out there (I know of Dwell; others?).

posted by craven_morhead to home & garden (4 comments total)

I really like apartment therapy.
posted by socrateaser at 1:51 PM on August 14, 2007

the link doesn't work but paint color can make a dramatic change to the way a room feels and it's fairly cheap (plus color on the walls will make the black and white photos pop).
posted by estronaut at 2:01 PM on August 14, 2007

Apartment Therapy is awesome. Some other good home deisgn blogs:
sfgilbybay
decor8
designsponge
House & Garden blogs
modern cottage
uncrate

Flickr is great for inspiration. Check out Domino, fresh new spaces, or corners of my home.

Without knowing anything about you or your style or what you're looking for, here are some cheap, creative ways to decorate things up a bit:
easy photo wall
rasterbator
blik wall decals
posted by logic vs love at 3:01 PM on August 14, 2007 [3 favorites]

If it is a 100 year old Craftsman, you will have a lot of things going for you. Including a pre-existing color palette (also here). Is the interior trim the original color or did someone paint it white at some point?

I think some well-decorated homes of that era include the following:

House Made in Portland

Fixer Upper in upstate New York (okay, it's an Italianate, but still close in time)

Bungalow '23 in Minneapolis

1912 Bungalow in Los Angeles

The folks at House Made also have a design blog called Modern Cottage which is mixing modern design with vintage houses. Prairie Mod marries the modern design aesthetic with the Prairie Bungalow era.

Other blogs/sites which emphasize design and small, vintage houses are Liselotte, Cottage Living, Hygge House and Yvestown. Bungalow resources include Arts & Crafts Homes, the gallery of Bungalow Style and American Bungalow magazine. Sarah Susanka's books on the Not So Big House concept also have lots of eye candy and ideas, as well as Carl and Karin Larsson's book on the Swedish Style.
posted by jeanmari at 3:07 PM on August 14, 2007 [2 favorites]