I'm no designer but have been hooked on design shows for a lot of years. I
can share with you some of the basic principles I've seen taught over and
over again.
Positively the best thing that you can do, as opposed to learning the rules
about what should or not go together, is to find something you like and copy
it. Look in magazines and in furniture stores- both walk-in and online.
Pay attention to any window treatments that you see in a room you like as
well as furniture, wall, and trim color. Your house and furniture will be
different and your interpretation of what happens next will be different, so
there's no worrying about trying to make an exact copy. If you get close to
something that you liked to start, you'll be happy with it. That's how dh
and I discovered that we'd be ok with dark, punch-y color walls. Every time
we saw something we really liked, the walls had real color on them - and
white trim.
As far as where you can go on the computer, google a word like 'furniture'
'sofa' 'armoire' or something like that that will take you to tons of
different furniture sites. When you get there, look for collections as
opposed to individual pieces. They will be set up in rooms - pay attention
to a room that catches your eye. Save that picture, whether you print it or
not, and look through the whole batch once you're done. Take your time
doing this and look at a lot of sites. You can also scout sites like
HGTV. Remember, all you're looking for is a room that catches your eye.
If you're going for a 'designer' look, then things will need to be cohesive.
Your furniture and curtains will also need to fit with the new paint and
carpet, which may mean you need to pull colors from your furniture. The
other and highly likely scenario is that you'll see the old furniture on new
paint and carpet and won't be happy with that either. However, if you are
certain that you're not going to change furniture or curtains, you'll
probably want to go with either neutrals in both wall and floor color or
else pull some colors out of the existing furniture or something else that
you like in the room. Neutrals on the carpet and wall are great anymore - a
long way from plain old white. Taupe, sometimes as dark as a putty color -
is one of my favorite neutrals, especially when paired with white shiny
trim.
Looking at lots of stuff will help you understand what you really like,
style wise, and that will go a long way toward helping you decide on a color
scheme. Some designers say to buy gobs of magazines ( check the library
sales and used book stores so you don't have to spend a fortune) go through
them quickly, and tear out every last picture that strikes you. Then go
through that stack more slowly, and take out the things that really speak to
you. There will probably be a common thread of style, color, or both that
runs through everything that is left. When I did that, the last batch of
pictures was all about old european broken-plaster and gardens. I'm into
tuscan! Tuscan is a style with its own set of colors that brings about the
feel of the room, and knowing this helps focus on particulars. Lots of men
like either clean modern ( think Metropolitan Homes magazine) or 'manly'
looking rooms. A good place to find some pictures of those would be
someplace like the Thomasville site - I think it's the company with the
Ernest Hemmingway collection. In any case, it won't be hard to find.
When you pinpoint a style you like, that will help so much as you choose
colors. With my tuscan leanings, mustard and parchment yellows and rich
fuit colors are what I would look for. If you like a clean coastal look,
you'll like white,sand, and watery blues and greens. If you like an
ultramodern look, black, silver(chrome) and glass. The threads of the theme
will become apparent just by studying the pictures.
I think it's absolutely cool that a 50 year old single male even cares, and
you want to update. My dh is 50 and if he lived alone it wouldn't get
TOUCHED till he absolutely had to, like he wanted to sell it or something.
A lot of your color choice will depend on how far you're willing to go,
because if you go with color, the furniture, curtains, and accessories will
be involved as well as the walls and floors. It doesn't mean you'll have to
go out and buy all new; but the look of those things will come into play.
Denise
Another thing that you should con