If you have been following my blog for a while, then you know that in the past year we sold what we deemed to be "our dream home" We truly thought this would be the last home we would build/buy.
But life happens and things change. A crazy thing about the sell of this home.....all our furniture was also bought in the sell!
So, I'm starting all over again.....that is....furnishing our new home.
(I think.... May will be our Happy month for starting construction, fingers crossed)

Starting from scratch can be fun...but also a lot of work.
I thought just for fun I would share with you how I have in the past and plan to in the future- furnish our new home.

I do not like to match- I prefer to say… “I like things that go together.” Retail stores love to perpetuate the fallacy that everything has to match….they would love for us to buy everything in sets, but don’t do it!
For my Home I believe a few pieces with the same styling are fine, but any more than that and I feel like my home has the lifeless, generic look of a furniture showroom.
Disclaimer-
(when we were first married I dreamed of having a beautiful matching set of furniture from a well loved furniture store....and dreamed of that often....but because of budget restrains, that never happened. So, I learned to collect pieces over time and just make them work together. I kept telling myself "someday you will be able to walk into a store and just buy it" Well, that didn't happen....and that's okay, because really I like the "collecting" way better....more fun and I think it makes a home feel more like home.)
So I collect over time…and buy from so many different sources. Vintage stores, family hand-me-downs, flea markets and of course major furniture and design shops. (smile)
I've started the process of collecting. In the last year I have picked up a chair, dresser, hutch and a few art pieces.
(when we left our CV home...I kept all my "treasured art" ...just left behind what I like to call- "store art")

Here are a few steps that have helped me design a room.
- Create a pinterest board- only stuff you really love is allowed in. Here is my creating a home board
-
When thinking of a particular room you are designing....find a "lead" piece that will be the lead/anchor for the room.....for me the lead piece is not paint. Lead items I like are- fabric, furniture, rug, art or a pillow. (then just decorate using the lead piece...find pieces that play nice with that piece.)
- Play with patterns
- Create a budget
One of the tricks I use to get every-one of these pieces to play nice with each other- I tie everything together with color.
I find curtains, rugs or accessories in a common hue and see how the pieces begin to complement each other.

This is a little chair I just picked up....planning to add a little pop of color to the back of this chair with some fabric ....not sure what fabric yet.
Sketch out a floor plan. I know this sounds like a drag, but I do this all the time, and I find it really does help!
You’ll find free floor plan programs all over the Web. My personal favorite is the room planner offered by Jordan’s Furniture in Boston. It is relatively easy to use, is flexible, offers a good selection of furniture templates and doesn't limit you to proprietary furniture brands.
If you want to see how your floor plan translates to real life, make footprints of each piece out of newspaper, towels or blankets. (smile) I've even used tape.
Just sharing- do you have any trick/tips on how you go about planning your homes decor?
Happy Day
PS....if you ever hear of a great estate sale etc. please share.
Here are some wonderful places where I've found treasures.
Remnants of the Past Their next event is in Pleasanton Ca April 24-25. Oh how I wish I could go! Life is so full! If you go....have fun for me. =)
Vintage Market in Turlock....Just picked up a chair and hutch from their store!
And on a really exciting note-
My Daughter and I will be having our annual Mother/Daughter getaway here!
The Farm Chick show!

I wonder if I can ship a container home? =)
Happy Day