I envy those people with natural style. Those people who can nonchalantly throw on a scarf and something they ‘found at the back of their wardrobe’ and immediately look effortlessly chic.
They are the same people who, clad in a pair of skin tight white jeans, can look as unstained and unrumpled at the end of the day as they did at the beginning.
Their houses too, have a story to tell. Things magically put themselves away after each usage. There is never a coffee cup gathering dust or, worse still, mold, up in their bedroom. They have all of the appropriate utensils with which to magic up a Michelin star quality meal, and are never forced to resort to the back of a knife instead of a garlic press. Heck, they probably even know what to do with those pasta making machine thingy whatsits.
As I survey my colourful yet decidedly mismatched surroundings, I resolve that that the key is classic design. That’s what these people go for. Their taste is understated and, dare a say it, a little boring, yet they have a plethora of accessories with which to draw the right kind of attention to give things a lift if required.
Their homes are a muted backdrop for whatever fashionable style they choose to assign and in much the same way as a carefully placed broach draws the eye to a finely boned décolletage, an expensive scatter cushion on an otherwise also-ran sofa is simple and stunning.
These people buy basics (high quality ones of course) and apply a look on top. A glance through my wardrobe will tell anyone that this concept has, until now, passed me by. Foundation garments, to me, are something entirely different, which is probably why I have let my eclectic taste run so riot that not a single item of clothing in my wardrobe matches. I never buy complete outfits. I buy individual items that I fall in love with at the time, before coming home and finding that I have nothing whatsoever to go with them, yet still I can’t bring myself to take them back.
Obviously those stylish types have a vastly different approach and I felt the need to investigate further.
Having gently and I hope subtly quizzed my chic friends (yes I do have some, surprising as it may seem!) I soon discover that I am, in fact, right. They go for vanilla (ideally yogurt rather than that fatty ice cream stuff) and I am very definitely a double chocolate in a waffle cone with sprinkles and nuts kind of a gal. It may clash horribly, but at least I have all the bases covered.
My home closely represents my inner nature and looks like someone has let (very) loose with the sprinkles, making it all but impossible to pull off a bit of sophistication when the need arises.
Now I don’t have an exhaustive budget with which to fix this, but this is the New Year and that means sales. I can’t convert my whole house to the kind of pad my friends would feel at home in, but I could concentrate on one area and give it a bit of a face lift. Who knows if so a whole new style might find its way leaking elsewhere into my house!
So I eye the conservatory. Sure enough a tangled mess of old and new (and not in a good way) and not a single stick of furniture that matches. I do quite fancy the shabby chic look, but you can probably guess by now which of the two I have managed to achieve.
With comfort as well as style on my list I have a bit of a Google and find a banana leaf suite that seems really quite me (well, the new improved version at least). Somehow it manages to do lived in and quiet sophistication at the same time. Best of all it had £500 off!
Only time will tell if I manage to pull off this change of outlook long term, but right now I am feeling really rather grown up. Now where did I put that garlic press?
Nicola Wilson is a mommy blogger from the UK, she is currently working for www.homelifedirect.co.uk part time whilst running a family and looking after her children. Nicola has a huge interest in home design and decor.
