Out Of Curiosity:: Does Your Home Reflect Your Wardrobe?

Have you ever seen a design show on t.v. where the designer goes through a homeowner’s wardrobe to get an idea of his or her tastes, and then decorates a room based upon what he found in the homeowner’s wardrobe?

For some reason, I started thinking about this last night as I was perusing Pinterest and viewing some of the clothing items that people pin, and then viewing my own (very sparse) fashion board.  It got me to thinking, if someone were to glance through my wardrobe and then decorate my home based upon what they found, would I like it?

Okay, in all honesty, at this point they would find mostly jeans and paint-splattered t-shirts.  Yeah, I’m gonna start working to improve that situation.  So I should instead ask, if they were to glance through my Pinterest fashion board and through my “style file” folder on my computer to see the clothing that I really like, and then if they were to decorate my home based on that, would they get it right?

I’m inclined to say absolutely, positively NO!

Here’s an example of an outfit from Polyvore that really caught my eye.  Sure, the shoes are red, but everything else is pretty neutral and tame.  And I’d actually swap out that plaid blazer with a black one.

outfit from polyvore with jeans white shirt and red shoes

Next is this outfit put together by Life’s A Journal, which I absolutely love, and is clearly filled with neutrals, neutrals, and more neutrals…

outfit from lifes a journal

This photo of Garance Doré taken by The Sartorialist is another favorite of mine.  But you’ll notice, the colors are dark, and the style is classic.

photo of garance dore taken by the sartorialist

I could go on and on here, but the bottom line is that when it comes to clothing, I’m drawn more towards neutrals and classics.  I love color added in small doses, like a punchy color on shoes with an otherwise neutral outfit.

But there’s absolutely NOTHING in my wardrobe, or in my wardrobe wish list, that would suggest that I would want a kitchen with teal cabinets, yellow walls, an apple green chandelier, and an orange, teal, green, and yellow striped rug.

my-kitchen

my kitchen--dining area

If someone were to design my kitchen for me based on what they found in my wardrobe wish list, my kitchen would probably end up looking something like this one designed by Jimmy Stanton of Stanton Home Furnishings (via Atlanta Homes & Lifestyle magazine).

neutral kitchen with industrial elements designed by Jimmy Stanton of Stanton Home Furnishings in Atlanta

And if someone were to design an office based upon my wardrobe wish list, never in a million years would their design board look anything like this…

fabrics for office

Instead, they would probably design something more in line with this office from Better Homes & Gardens, which is mostly neutral with small touches of color here and there.

home office from better homes and gardens

Don’t get me wrong.  I really, REALLY like both of those neutral rooms above, but I like them more in pictures, magazines, and in other people’s homes.

So while I know that I might be the odd duck here, are there any more of you like me, whose wardrobe preferences and decorating preferences tend to trend in completely different directions?  Or would a designer be completely spot on if they designed a home based on your clothing preferences?

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12 Comments

  1. Well, if you took clothes I've actually picked out myself and bought then yes, lol. I have a whole bunch of stuff passed down through family members. If the design team looked at all the clothes my mother wore and gave to me, i'd probably die when I saw what they did to my house. She loves bling! I wear fairly dark or neutral colors myself. I like simple, minimalistic, neutral rooms like the ones you posted up above. It keeps me centered. I LOVE color don't get me wrong, but I like coming home after my stressful days at work and chilling, Neutral colors are so calming to me.

  2. I think Kelly Wearstler is like you. Pictures on the internet I see of her have her in functional classics and neutrals, but her interior design is anything but tame. Maybe it's odd to dress yourself like you dress your breakfast nook? Lol. I think if a designer looked in my closet and then decorated my house, s/he'd get it spot-on. My closet is a blend of functional pieces, classic cuts, and textures topped off with generous helpings of blue and turquoise — which is exactly how I want my house to be.

  3. This is actually a concept I've struggled with myself.  In the past, I've had the tendancy to decorate my home in the colors and styles that were considered more traditional.  But a few months ago I got the bug to redecorate and I decided not to do that.  I took a look at my wardrobe and decided to decorate using the colors that I love…. aqua, teal, chartreuse green, yellow, gray, brown, plum and orange. 

    I don't care if anyone else likes it… I do.  Color makes me happy. 🙂

  4. my taste to my clothing is different with my taste for my environment though i love it with a touch of my simplicity, wearing simple clothes, really plain or small striped black, gray, cream and brown… your post is interesting specially your blog that made me follow it and every time you have post i saw it right away through FB and google reader… i love decorating too so much!… it's my passion…

  5. LOVE this! I have 4 children and have been living in sweatpants and t-shirts for the past few years {you know due to the puking and changing diapers}. If someone went into my closet and decorated accordingly, my hosue would closely resemble a life size locker….SO not into that.

  6. Hmm. I think mine would line up pretty well! My paint choices seem to rotate around different versions of blue, green, turquise and teal, with black and white anchors…and so do my wardrobe choices! This post actually just made me think how much I would love a dark grey room similar to the colour of the sweater that I'm wearing…fun food for thought!

  7. What an interesting question!  I've always used the accent colors I love best (teal blues) in both my wardrobe and my house, so no surprises there, but when I read your post it occurred to me that my interest in decorating has influenced what I wear in a different way: for the last several years I've been experimenting with shapes and textures both in decorating and in my wardrobe.  In my house, this experimentation with proportion and scale and different time periods has paid off in a way that delights me.  In my wardrobe, not so much, and I'm leaning back towards the classic A-lines and plain cardigans that work best for me.

  8. Nope, I too think my wardrobe is pretty opposite my design tastes.  I like to wear warmer colors, red, pink, purple, some greens & browns as those are what I look best in.  But in my home, I use cooler colors, greys, blues, teals, greens.  I love white in the home, but I never wear it as I would get something on myself immediately if I wore white ever.

  9. My MiL told me about an article she read once that said you should design opposite of what you wear–or something like that.  For instance–I am a redhead–I need to wear neutrals mostly b/c my hair is crazy bright and otherwise it's a lot of clashing!  At the same time, I LOVE color, so I try to have color surround me in my home, even if I don't wear it personally so much.  My MiL is the opposite–she wears color often (and well) but she wants to be surrounded by neutrals because she finds it soothing.  

  10. I think it’s not necessarily the colours that they go for although some can work but it’s the actual style .. For instance most people who have some vintage clothing items in their wardrobe have vintage or antiquely furnishings or an eclectic look, the girls I know that love wearing 50’s dresses have homes that have a retro vibe .
    I personally love the 1940’s and a dress very much in a mix of 40’s style and romantic style and guess what ?, yep my home completely reflexes that.

    Also I’m a redhead too and I personally wouldn’t want my house or clothes to clash with my hair 😉