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lavender_lass

If your garden was a house....

lavender_lass
13 years ago

I've been over on the home forums lately (too much snow to garden) and I've been planning a remodel of our farmhouse. So, as I'm trying to figure out the best use of space...and my overall style...it occurs to me that a lot of what I need to know is in my garden.

If you had to describe your garden style...in terms of decorating style...what would it be?

For me, I would say that I like traditional style. My gardens are all very carefully laid out and planned. I plant everything in mirror reverse or balanced off a central focal point.

All my gardens have clearly defined paths and seating...and they all have a view of another garden or vista.

Now, while all these are very traditional elements...all my plant choices are very cottage style. I use shrubs, fruit trees, shrub roses, butterfly bushes, easy care perennials, annuals and bulbs. Nothing looks very fancy and they're almost all old fashioned type of flowers. I even use strawberries as ground cover...and alyssum grows everywhere.

So...very carefully planned out, but very casual furnishings. And, the planning goes unnoticed by almost everyone, since the overall effect is a bunch of happy flowers living together in a seemingly chaotic jumble :)

So, what would your style be? Thanks for playing...and keeping me company while I'm stuck in the house...more snow expected tomorrow! LOL

Comments (16)

  • Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
    13 years ago

    hmmm, there is an interesting connection between the two! I quickly realized i have all the rooms in my home painted in the same family of a grey blue. I do have some accents of a light mocha color and bright white. But it flows thru the house so it dosnt feel broken up. And thats how i garden! I would say pink is my main color with blue purple and white accents. But they flow from garden to garden to pull them all together. i would say the clutter in my house of knickknacks ( bird figurines , candles and glass things) also ties in with my garden as i love little garden figures and such. And my house is messy as is my garden , i cant find my car keys inside, and i cant find my trowel outside!
    Im not sure what kind of house style that makes me but thats my comparison. I hope this is what you meant ll, otherwise i just admitted my house is messy for nothing! lol

    I have to add that both the colors in my home and garden are very relaxing to me, So perhaps my house style is a comfortable retreat? Maybe i need to visit the home forum ...

  • lavender_lass
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Lilyfinch- LOL! Yes, that's what I meant :)

    You are so funny. Believe me, my house is a mess, too. I have to go finish putting up my Christmas decorations and get all these boxes put away.

    I like the way you compared the colors and how they make you feel in both spaces. I forgot all about the little garden decorations...I have those, too. I also have a fairy garden...and Fisher Price fairy toys...both for the nieces...or at least, that's my story! :)

  • squirejohn zone4 VT
    13 years ago

    Condemned!

  • ianna
    13 years ago

    ha! Where would I put in the TV?

    Seriously, the way I envision my garden is something that's exciting. Although I like serenity, I'm one who likes to be curious about things and to feel and to touch. So I prefer my garden to be something exploratory which means there must be things that are mysterious, things that are imperfect.. My major next project would be to undo the pond and redesign it to be more modern. I will plant a cherry or crab apple tree on my front yard. I will try to tone down my flower selections so there's a bit of harmony on my front yard. Unfortunately, I tend to succumb to one of this or that flower and the results can be too wild.

  • organic_kitten
    13 years ago

    Overstuffed. I am currently involved in weening out accumulated "stuff" in the house, and find that I am much more comfortable with a lot less around.

    I'm doing one area at the time.

    kay

  • luckygal
    13 years ago

    My garden *is* the same style as my home and I think could be described as Eclectic Cottage. In my home I have antiques as well as new things, collections as well as one-of-a-kind. I have collections of glass objects indoors and outdoors have *a lot* of glass garden totems I've made. Almost everything I have indoors are things I really like that are easily available to me and I do the same in my garden. I don't search out things I must order from far away. Part of the fun for me is to keep things simple and many things in both places are things that have found me. I have many 'serendipitous' finds in both places and it is comfortable and unpretentious. However, definitely a more-is-more style in both places.

    While I am a planner and do often make extensive written plans I always change the plans during the actual execution of them. I regard planning as brain-storming with myself. For my Christmas decorating I actually had 2 pages of ideas I'd collected over a few months, just writing them on the computer as I thought of them or saw pics on the net, in books or magazines. Have used many of them but in different ways to what I had planned. I've made similar plans many times for my garden. I constantly collect ideas and pictures for inspiration for both home and garden. The only thing I am careful about in both places are colors altho in my garden it is a looser scheme.

  • christinmk z5b eastern WA
    13 years ago

    This is sure an interesting question LL!

    Inside doesn't have any definable style at all as a matter of fact. I do enjoy leafing through the occasional interior design mag and picking out favorite 'looks', but have never gotten around to incorporating any theme indoors. I guess you could say the same of the garden. I follow my own tastes and just hope the end result turns out well. It is a little bit of this and a little bit of that- no one set style. Didn't start out gardening with any plan or idea in mind for the overall look. I suppose that haphazard approach is why it does look "cottage-y"!

    For colors inside and out- I don't like anything very bright. Although I have rarely been able to resist a plant (no matter what the color, if it is neat I want it!) so there is a good deal of bright colors going on in the garden, especially in summer. If I could do it over again, this time focusing on composition, I would do everything in a muted or pastel colored theme.

    A couple things that are totally opposite- inside I am kind of a minimalist. Too much clutter and unnecessary knick-knackery kind of disturbs my equilibrium, lol! Exact opposite in the garden. It is a riot out there with so many colors and textures. Not coherent in the least.

    Another thing, I don't have any indoor collections, excepting books maybe. In the garden world I have tons of plant collections!

    Fun topic LL ;-)
    CMK

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    13 years ago

    My garden, eclectic, serendipitish, hmmmm, I don't think that's a word but I think you get my drift, kind of nonconformist like me LOL.

    Eclectic is also the only way I can describe the interior of our old house. I follow no rules, I do what I like and if I get tired of it, I change it (just like my garden). A couple of years ago I had the kitchen, diningroom, livingroom and bathroom tiled. I absolutely love these floors, so easy to keep up, no they're not heated and not a problem for us.
    I changed the mirror we had hanging over the fireplace to a picture (french bistro I think) I picked up at HomeSense a couple of weeks ago, also stop at a lumber store (picked up a plank for a mantlepiece and painted it black). I quite like the look with the rattan and wicker I have in the livingroom but the limited edition on the back wall has to go along with the metal wire shelving as soon as I find something I like.

    I have a weakness for colored glass and pottery, DS1 gave as a a lovely piece of venetian glass for our 50th he bought in Venice and I have some Fenton but.... I also have lots of flea market and garage sale pieces I quite like.

    If I had a choice of what I could really have it would be a toss up of an old english cottage or a house like the one in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun and I guess I'd like the same feel in my garden :)
    Annette

  • girlgroupgirl
    13 years ago

    Collectors garden and collections inside. I plan areas of the garden very carefully, however, what I enjoy is that happy, chaotic jumble that is the garden and plants adding their own artistic bit to the whole picture. I am not the creator, merely a co-creator.

  • tkhooper
    13 years ago

    Well I definitely don't have a style lol. The plants are where they will do best as far as soil, sun and water are concerned. And there are 7 beds plus individual trees and bushes that are lining the drive or just out in the middle of the yard. Someday the entire lawn should be flowers wild or otherwise. Except for the septic system of course. My beds are mixed fruit, herbs and flowers. And I'm still moving them from place to place.

    Inside the livingroom is blues, bluegreens and copper with a touch of yellow. The dinningroom is a combination of creams, browns, and greens with a hint of burgandy. The kitchen will be cream with harvest gold, brown and touches of green. And the bathroom is cream with dark brown woodwork and when I find the correct stencil an hankerchief hemline silouette from the ceiling down about 18 inches. I also plan a small chandelier and an over the mirror light for the master bathroom.

    One thing is always true. What I have I have been given by others and that's what makes it special. I love the memories that each thing brings to the garden or the house.

  • lily51
    13 years ago

    Good question!
    If my home and garden could be said to have a theme, it would be "comfort". Our home is one in which we and anyone visiting, can relax, inside and out.
    Inside colors that predominate are blues and greens; there is garden art, paintings, botanical tile, dishes,photos of grandchildren and travels. There are new items living comfortably with furniture my father made and accent items from my family.
    The flower gardens are a mixture of plants my mother, father and grandmother loved with new ones I have discovered. The vegetable garden is a mixuture that includes herbs and annual flowers.
    If I could have anything, it would be to look out my south-windows and see rows of lavender growing up the hill toward the house. With Ohio weather, and clay soils, that won't happen! But that's the feel I like. Instead, I have beds of statice, which has a lavendry look, just no fragrance

  • loisthegardener_nc7b
    13 years ago

    Inside, we have mostly hand-me-down furniture, so I guess I like antiques, LOL. My decorating style would be Early Attic, with an emphasis on bookcases (we both have lots of books).

    Outside, I like blues and pinks, and definitely a cottage style, but struggle with design because I am one of those 'must have one of this and that' types.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    13 years ago

    Oh man! Never thought of it before, but my house and my gardens are really quite similar. Sort of scary actually in that both are basically wonderful as far as the underlying concept, but really need work as far as the execution. I need to be better about cleaning up the clutter in both the house and the outside. Too much stuff after cleaning out my parents' home and no where to put it all. Time to start tossing/selling/donating/organizing. Too many weeds in the gardens (going to try Preen this year) and leaves never raked until spring. Alas. Colors? Blues, purples, pinks, whites, and of course, green outside(shade gardens) and greyish blues, blue, blue/grey greens, sage, and straw colors inside with comfortable, traditional furniture and antiques. A few funky touches to liven things up in both places. And, of course, a couple of dogs to make sure nothing ever looks perfect! :)

  • bungalow_house
    13 years ago

    Wow, this is interesting. I've never thought about it before. There is often talk on the home decorating forum of "the layered look". I think that probably translates pretty well into a cottage garden. And I like both! (I don't post much here because my borders are relatively new and just starting to plump up, but I do like to read here and jump in on occasion.)

    LL, you should cross-post this on the HD forum. I think there are plenty of gardeners there.

  • loisthegardener_nc7b
    13 years ago

    LL, I lurked on the small homes forum last night, and they seem like awfully nice folks. Thanks for mentioning them.

  • seamommy
    13 years ago

    Garden and house both might be best described right now as best laid plans that somehow went horribly awry...

    Cheryl

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