Proud Oldstyler or feel like a rag bag?

dandy-candy

quintwins wrote: »

your less likely to see someone with the same dress

Yay that's a great positive remark! Made me smile

I suppose i'm in the middle ground where I could spend more on making things nice but I find it really hard to do this. I went through a patch when I was increadibly skint and miserable when I was a single mum, and now even when I can spare it I don't like to incase I ever need it one day.

A problem I have is that I have no vision in making things nice, I look at colours etc and can't figure how to put them together. If you buy stuff secondhand you are working from a limited palatte already! I know some people are really good at working with what they have to hand - I need to learn the secret!

quintwins

If you need insperate go look at fancy showrooms, and google online (i never buy home magazines but my mil does she must spend £15-£20 a week on them)

Remeber this is your home not a showroom, if you see something you love then it belongs there even if it doesn't match everything else perfectly.

My kids are still young so i very much go for functional and we're saving to build so it's cheap all the way, i'm sat in my livingroom/kitchen/dining room, we have a purple and grey sofa (nicest thing in here i got it at cost price when my old one broke and it's really good quality i'll never buy cheap again) the seat cushions of the dining chair are a burnt red we were given, and my curtains are brown as i made them, my kitchen appliances are a nice bright red as they came from my old kitchen, but it all works and will all last.

mumonashoestring

cyclingyorkie wrote: »

the question is not whether it matters that your dress was fashionable 8 years ago - it's more a case of :-

1. Do you like the dress?

and

2. Does it suit you?

If you answer yes to both - NO PROBLEM..

If more people followed this rule then the world would be a better dressed place :rotfl:

I've never bothered about what's 'in' - just about what I like, and what is comfortable.

Occasionally I look at those 'Everyone else has a nicer house than you' magazines and think it would be lovely to live in a house full of white cane furniture, scrubbed oak and cotton patchwork rather than a rented mid-terrace full of odds and ends of furniture and accessories, but most of the furniture we have is either hand-me-down (in which case it has lovely memories attached to it of the people we got it from), or picked up from auction houses or boot sales (in which case we had fun finding and buying it), or skip-dived for (in which case my husband looks at it and thinks 'why did I marry this !!!!!' and I look at it and think 'hooray for recycling' ). I can buy furniture and ornaments from anywhere because I don't have to worry about things matching.

I buy my clothes according to what suits my shape - which is never going to be anything that appears on any catwalk - and what I feel comfortable wearing, which means I walk confidently in what I wear and look better for doing so, instead of constantly fidgeting and wondering if I need to hike something up/pull something down/tighten/loosen...

valk_scot

I think there's a middle ground between buying everything matching and new, and buying just anything because it's functional and cheap. You can buy to a theme or colour scheme for home furnishings, such as a neutrals/naturals theme for a room, or country kitchen, or retro 60's. Similarly you can buy very classic clothes in styles that won't date or go for a hippy look, or 50's era or whatever.

I actually think there's a bigger choice second hand, not a narrower one. If you're buying new you can only buy what's in the shops and they only stock whatever they've decided are the current styles, whether that's in home furnishings or clothing. Whereas once you know what you want style wise, you can almost always find it on Ebay or charity shops or car boots with a bit of persistance and willingness to alter/repaint/remodel something. Having said that I don't have a Homes & Garden house or a designer wardrobe either, but I have what I like, it all works together and I'm more proud of my unique home than I would be if I just copied it all out of a "New Homes!" magazine.

There's the other fact to that I have one untidy OH, two kids, two cats and a LOT of hobbies. There's no house design mag that allows for normal family junk and proper hobbies in the average home. They all seem to think your hobbies and interests should fit neatly into one cupboard or drawer, lol. Or that we all have an extra room or two to convert!

poet123

You could if you wanted still have everything matching bought on Ebay second hand for a fraction of their original cost. You can search and match stuff up much easier than going around the shops, and it is unique. I have a friend who shops in next for all her furniture and soft furnishings, but it looks identical to the woman across the road because they have put the look together as they did in the catalogue. That is not style.

As an aside I must tell you about my Ebay bargain of the century. My niece is getting married next year and I was browsing wedding outfits. I noticed a dress new with tags, top designer, price is £745 in the shops (i know because a friend has just bought a similar thing for her daughters wedding) starting price £75 and I bid thinking someone would snipe at the last minute, but as it finished at 11.50am on a Monday no one else did bid!!!! Bargain, I have been smiling since yesterday lunchtime.

I also agree clothes don't really go out of fashion unless they are very trendy to start with. Classic clothes age well. And if you like it who cares.

pelirocco

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

DANDY - what they don't tell you in the glossy magazines is how much debt it would put you in to if you had a shiny new everything and all it had to do was look beautiful. I love our home, it's not pretty but it's comfortable and it works for us. Everything we have has been rescued or passed down from friends and family and somehow it works. It is HOME!!!!!

Why would it put you into debt ?, many people are able to buy stuff without going into debt

fuddle

many aren't though pelirocco. I have to save for everything, whether it be a new lamp or a kids bed base. If buying new I have to buy basic whether I like it or not... which is why I don't like to buy new and buy second hand.

I buy second hand because it's likely to be much better quality than new cheap, is cheaper anyway and because it's old I can prime and paint it to fit in my home. Paint and fabrics are your friend when you have to make do physically, but can make items look stunning for next to nothing.

[Deleted User]

Most of us have to be sensible about what we fill our homes with, I know I do. What I meant was that a magazine with an article to produce probably would only consider how well the photographs would look and not have to consider cost too much. It's so easy to get carried away and overdo things. No offence meant. Hope none taken!

Gigervamp

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

What I meant was that a magazine with an article to produce probably would only consider how well the photographs would look and not have to consider cost too much.

I get Country Living magazine and there have been loads of times where I've seen a fabric that I like, only to be shocked to read that it's something like £75 a metre. :eek:

The thing with magazines, even the readers homes featured get styled before they're photographed. Notice you rarely see TV sets and the only radios are either vintage, Pure or Cath Kidston .

My home is a mix of Ikea new stuff and old wooden stuff. I like Ikea stuff, but I would like to get rid of it eventually and just have a mish-mash of old bits. :rotfl:

meritaten

I agree with Valk - if you buy evrything new, then you HAVE to have what the shops/designers want you to buy. Buying secondhand (or third or fourth or even antique) means you can have a totally unique look! I recently went down a friends and then went into another friends and I could have been in the same house! it just looked so 'samey'! the colour schemes were identical! even the furniture and ornaments looked the same!

naw, I will carry on buying what I like and not giving a fig if it isnt 'fashionable' or new!