Resist the urge..

..to overdecorate. I have a real problem with this. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am very affected by my surroundings, especially as far as color goes. I always want pretty surrounding me. I HATE plain walls. I'll say it again: HATE plain, white walls. God, it was so depressing living in New York where I wasn't supposed to paint the walls in my apartment (I like all the other aspects of living there, though). Finally I decided it was worth it to paint my second apartment yellow. Wow, did that make a difference. If you're going to live in a 400 square foot studio, you best have some decorative interest on the walls.


I am constantly pulling in the reigns on wanting to add just one more thing to a setup I have going. Like the above sideboard. It looks perfectly fine with just the dancing couple and vase. But I so want to fill up the entire surface with some kind of arrangement. That can work, too, but sometimes simplicity is the way to go. Here are several surfaces in my present living situation where I have resisted the urge to overdecorate. It's looking more adult. You have to keep that in check. It's okay to have feminine things and artistic things, but let's be a big girl, too. It's about balance, ya know. I can really get carried away with non-relevant tchotchke (never written that word before, took me forever to find the spelling) stuff.





And if you do put a lot of stuff on a surface, it's important to make it look like there's a rhyme to the reason. An order, if you will. I do that by putting like objects together to give continuity or using a color theme. For example, I have a lot of jewelry and accessories and I like to be able to see it all. Here is how I arranged my dresser. It's not perfect, but it looks less cluttered than it could look.


I am in love with color. BRIGHT! color. So when you only have a bunch of colorful pieces, one must arrange them in a logical way. Thus, I've gotten pretty good at layouts for gallery walls. Gallery walls are also a good way to get some cohesiveness if you have a lot of wall art, like me. I put them all together so it looks like they're a family and then use a lot of neutrals as far as the furniture and other miscellaneous items go so it doesn't look like a rainbow threw up in here. It kinda still does, though. But I'm into it.


bye,
jayteewo.