October 6, 2011

A Blank Slate

A friend from college, Hellitz, and her boyfriend Pablo moved into a new apartment. It will be the first time they will get to decorate their place together.


In my opinion, that's the biggest challenge in decorating: finding the middle point in styles between a man's and woman's ideas of what they consider home.

Especially when their personalities are almost polar ends. It works for them. He's the ying to her yang. She does all the talking for a man of few words. He's the retreat to her party.


Hellitz and I talked at a get together and I told her how much I loved decorating, she seemed stuck on how to start and soon she'll have an out of town guest. I was more than happy to help. Eventually the mister and I would need to do the same thing so why not get some practice. Besides, I love to shop when I'm not spending the money.


One of my favorite couples had a lucky advantage:

They had a blank slate. 

No furniture. Not much art and what they did have they were willing to sacrifice for a new start. No talking fish or porcelain doll collection, phew.

The first step they wanted to take was decorate the living room. When she bought this apartment she saw herself hosting parties and so she wanted to make sure her guests were comfortable yet not overwhelm the room with too many pieces of furniture. 

So I googled and searched different color schemes. For me, that's where it all starts. Once again, Rate My Space came to the rescue and a new site that I stumbled upon, Apartment Therapy


She fell in love with the gray schemes. It's sexy and grown up and it's the new neutral. Just like brown, you can play up gray with different colors. She's considering yellows, blues and silvers. 

So a hunting they went and found this beautiful sectional from American Signature.



I think it's a great start. We'll be working on some projects to accessorize this weekend. Wish me luck!