Throughout this project I've had a mantra. It's "simplify and black". With any decision that needs to be made I think of ways to simplify the look which I believe will give me a more modern feel or I wonder if black would be appropriate. The doorknobs are all black enamel and that inspired the black thinking. Example: Picking wall colors. Black is not appropriate. So I thought of ways to simplify. In the end we are painting the trim and walls the same color (different finishes but the same color). This cuts down on the number of color decisions that need to be made (simplifying my life), and it unifies the rooms making the space feel larger. This is pretty common in "modern" homes and I think it'll make our historic home feel more contemporary.
I also needed to make a decision about tile for the entryway. We had all of our wood floors refinished, but there was a space next to the front door that had different flooring that had been removed. I thought of my mantra and it made the decision easy. I ordered some flat black ceramic tiles with onyx colored grout. In the end it will be very elegant and tie in with the black floor in the kitchen at the back of the house. In a future project I'll probably have an alternate mantra (sunflowers and shiny? rectangles and stone?), but having a simple plan helps keep the project cohesive.
Personally, I think this is GENIUS! Not that I would have the same mantra (I wouldn't), but a mantra would definitely help, since without one we are pretty much all over the map. For the wedding, we were shooting for "classy, fun, and relaxed," and I think it worked pretty well. I don't know how one goes about determining one's Design Mantra, but I'll have to figure something out. (HGTV's "Find Your Style" page only yielded pretty generic information.)Thanks to Mike G and his "making of a parent" blog: http://glodeck.blogspot.com/
