I hear it all the time.
“After we get the new floors, I’m going to Swiffer them every day!”
“My mom/sister/friend/chimney sweep told me I should decorate this way, so it doesn’t matter what my opinion is.”
“We’ll be fine with dry clean-only furniture. We’re going to outlaw eating and drinking in the living room after we get the new furniture.”
“I don’t like it, but it’s what everyone is doing right now, so we should use gray too.”
Stop it. No more lying to yourself. It’s ok to be yourself all the time, but ESPECIALLY when you’re in your own home! You pay for it. You live in it. You should enjoy it.
Let’s address some of these lies.
“After we get the new floors, I’m going to Swiffer them every day!”
You’ve fallen in love with ebony wood floors. Or solid black tile. You have three children, two dogs, and you work 40 hours a week. You don’t clean the floors in between housekeeper visits now because ,you don’t have time., Your schedule is not going to suddenly open up. If you get those high maintenance floors, you’re going to eventually start to resent them.
Here I am, cleaning my mudroom floors. Daily.
Yes, there are PLENTY of people who DO clean their floors daily. If that’s your truth, then go for it! I personally have black slate flooring in my mudroom and I vacuum it daily. I love it. I knew it would be high-maintenance going in. I also have a hand vac in the adjacent laundry room, which I already used daily to clean the uggo linoleum floors we had there before.
But if your truth is that you really do not have the time to clean your floors daily, and you’ll hate seeing all the dust, dirt, and other stuff on your floors, then high-maintenance floors are not for you. ,And that’s ok.
Instead of something solid, let’s pick a floor with some variation that better hides “daily life.”
This luxury vinyl plank is way more forgiving!
“My mom/sister/friend/chimney sweep told me I should decorate this way, so it doesn’t matter what my opinion is.”
Your mom/sister/friend/chimney sweep has their own house they can decorate. No more listening to their demands. This is YOUR house. You need to do what makes YOU happy. If you have a loved one that’s particularly overbearing, don’t even share what you’re doing to your house until it’s done. It’s not worth the aggravation. Trust me – I’ve been there and done that with many clients.
This dining room is an awesome reflection of the homeowners’ personalities!
Generally when your home is complete, your loved one will have nothing but positive things to say about your house – especially how much it reflects YOU!
“We’ll be fine with dry clean-only furniture. We’re going to outlaw eating and drinking in the living room after we get the new furniture.”
Are you really going to change your families’ whole routine because you want a white embroidered sofa and a silk rug? Do you really want to change your OWN routine?
Will it make you happy and content to become The Food Police? Doubt it.
Yes, there are plenty of families who don’t eat or drink anywhere but the kitchen. For them, dry clean-only sofas and rugs might be just fine. But for those who DO regularly relax with a glass of wine or enjoy popcorn on the sofa with a movie, it doesn’t make sense to change your whole relaxation ritual for a fussy ottoman fabric.
There are plenty of performance fabrics and cleanable rug materials that DO work for those who enjoy a good beverage or nosh whist outside of the kitchen.
Here’s a great example. There are performance fabrics on the pillows, sectional, and ottoman. This family has 3 little kids. You can have nice things – you just need to make sure you can clean them when they get dirty.
“I don’t like it, but it’s what everyone is doing right now, so we should use gray too.”
No, you really shouldn’t. Especially if you’re only updating one or two rooms and everything else in the home is going to stay gray-free. If you update one room with a completely different color palette, your house is going to look super disjointed. Plus, you won’t actually like it. What’s the point of updating your home if you don’t like what you’ve updated?
Just because a color is popular does NOT mean you have to like it. Let’s explore some beautiful gray-free rooms.
Where’s the gray? Oh wait – there isn’t one.
That sofa isn’t gray – it’s a taupe and off-white patterned fabric. The walls are actually a pink beige color that coordinates really well with the cherry wood floors. There’s no gray in this room. Yet it’s updated and classic at the same time. Timeless designs don’t include a ton of gray. It wasn’t really a color widely used in decor until 2010 or so.
“But Lindsey, my house is contemporary! Clearly that means when I update it, I’ll have to go with whatever color is popular that day!”
In case you think all contemporary designs need to include a bunch of gray…
Nah. Here’s a contemporary room with no gray. There are many, many rooms out there without gray. Yours can also be one of them.
Here’s another contemporary room with very little gray. The bold neutral is black. It’s stunning and current and exactly what my clients like.
Gray walls? No. BLACK WALLS!
In summary, stop lying to yourself. It’s okay if you can’t handle high-maintenance stuff in your house. It’s okay to ignore what your well-meaning-but-overbearing aunt has to say. It’s okay if the current trendy colors are not your jam.
When we work together, I’m going to ask for complete honestly, and I’m going to reply in kind. I’ll let you know if in my experience, your lifestyle can’t handle fussy stuff. I’m not judging you. I just want you to be 100% satisfied and happy with your new décor.
I’ll very respectfully and with the utmost tact ask your mom/sister/friend/chimney sweep to back off, since we’re designing your house, not theirs. I’m your number one advocate! I want you to fall in love with your home. I frankly do not care if anyone else loves it. Your home needs to make you happy – that’s all that matters.
