lindey - *fist bump* Yes. And I've witnessed the death of enough Sauder pieces and things bought at Art Van to understand the value of quality. Even if I really have to hunt for it, or there is a lead time of 12 weeks because it's "special order." I've even found a custom woodshop in the area that I may hit up for dining chairs. And then there is Leonard's Beds. I blame Martha Stewart for my lusting over something in tiger maple, ever since she did a piece on his shop.

I was wondering if I was the only one who's eye started to twitch when entering Home Goods because it all looks the same.

It took me five years to furnish my current house. Maybe a bit longer. Don’t regret it for a moment nor during those five years. BUT, I’m a perfectionist so personality could probably play a factor. It would drive me nuts if the painting over the mantle didn’t go perfectly with everything else.

I think many of us are into slow decorating because we never have the cash to do fast decorating . . . a piece here, a piece there over many years, always evolving. The best thing about this approach is that a slowly decorated room is never dated because everything comes from different time periods. Of course the room may never look good either but that's a different issue.

I'm not sure that a room that comes together over time doesn't look good. ;-) Think English Country decorating. It just has to be done carefully. And requires editing. Also a mental divorce from HGTV.

It will definitely be slow decorating for us due to not having the money to do it all at once.

We went from this:

To this:

Very different styles. We sold some of our stuff before moving(dining room furniture, kitchen table and chairs, kids bedroom furniture, living room furniture) but also used some stuff from previous house that does not scream log cabin at all( master bedroom furniture and great room rug). We will eventually get there over time.

Yes, but we've always lived this way. Now, sometimes I do get "place holders" because I NEED something (like a table to eat off of) so I find something cheap that "will do" until I find the perfect piece. And we've upgraded over the years. But quality comes first although occasionally we've had our head turned by a shiny bauble!

And because of this, my house is not trendy nor ever was. I'm not always chasing the latest trends like replacing my granite with quartz or my 4 inch square tile with subway. Had marble countertop before they were "In"! Not a speck of grey paint in her . . . LOL!

OOhhh don’t even get me started on custom real wood pieces ...I die! It’s quite sad that it’s come to that, though. I’m one of the crazies who longs for real SOLID wood, which used to be the standard years ago. Needle in a haystack trying to find quality these days.

You’d probably come close price-wise for those dining room chairs through a local wood shop vs mass-produced actually! I think there’s a misconception that custom costs more but people also forget that mass-produced costs around the same with little to zero longevity.

I remember an open house one time that looked like Hobby Lobby threw up all over it. Looked like they ransacked the entire decor section!

Ps, I’m a big fan of spalted maple.

I did fast decorating when I bought my first apartment. I had been overseas, had some art, a few rugs, and a bit of bric a brac, but not much furniture, so I went out and bought a sofa and armchairs, a dining set, a little kitchen bistro type table, bookcases, and a bedroom set. Slow forward about 35 years, and I still have a lot of that original furniture. So now, I'm into slow decorating. The sofas were replaced about 12 years ago, the bistro table has new legs and is now a coffee table, and I've added some new, mostly solid wood furniture, but the bones of that first apartment are still with me. Then there's a china cabinet I inherited in the meantime from my great grandmother, a couple of rustic pieces from India and Pakistan, and a whole lot of additional rugs, art and bric a brac accumulated over those 35 years. When we moved to what I devoutly hope is our last, best house three years ago, I only needed to buy a credenza for the TV. And a new TV. I have replaced a couple of chairs with Stressless recliners since moving in, and oh yes, I've had some old art reframed. That's about it. So, three months of fast decorating, 35 years of slow.

My people! I have always identified with English Country rooms (think of almost any room that Ben Pentreath shows) and I am delighted to adopt the term "slow decorating" to explain the way we furnish our home. With the exception of couches and beds, most of our furniture has been purchased at auctions and vintage stores. We don't aspire to a style, rather we choose things that make us happy to look at and use every day despite its age, patina, or provenance.

Yes, not because of money but because I am a bit anal and want the right pieces. I am "slow" but not "sloowwwww". When we move into a new house, it may take me a year or two to get a space 95% done (some spaces come together quicker), and then I don't touch it for a period of years. So it's not a 12 year ongoing process or anything.

I have always found it weird when people go to a massive furniture store (whether expensive or not) and buy whole rooms at a time. Same thing even with using a designer who sources all the furniture at once. It just looks, too, well, planned for my liking.

But i really like decorating my house, and i get that other people don't, so that works for them. I do the equivalent with my landscaping (i hate landscaping, so we just pay someone to do it in big fell swoops).

Slow decorating is definitely the only way to go for me, regardless of financial issues. Right now I am in the process of furnishing a ski house. I have nothing for this house. I am starting at zero and I can afford to buy anything I want for the place. There is no way a house decorated overnight will every feel right though. How could it? It would be like a nice hotel, perhaps, but not like my house.

Maybe if you don't like to buy things, you could just fix things up once and be done. I like to browse art galleries, antique store and craft fairs. I like to collect shells and stones and photographs. I make needlepoint pillows occasionally and my children bring home pictures they've painted in class or treasures they've picked up on their travels. Those pieces make a big difference in how a house feels to me. Even furniture can't all be bought at once. Special pieces are waiting for me someplace. I just don't know where. The perfect chandelier might be lying in wait for me at the quaint antique store next to the restaurant where I am waiting for my table.

Yes. I'm a slow decorator.

(with last house where I also had to put in semi-permanent stuff, drove my GC crazy I guess. He tried to be really patient with us. Well we tried to be patient with him too. It was a great long lesson in mutual patience..LOL)

I've a mind of somebody who got stuck in "everything is animated" stage..I realize it, so I decided-why not to use it, if I'm still there..

Everything should bring out a reaction in me(which can be everything from making me laugh to making me cry), tell a story, have a story, talk to other pieces (at night when we sleep lol), be comfortable in the house..not to feel offended..lots of irrationality goes on.

If I compromise I dislike the result. Sometimes it's fine, I just let go. I understand that I had to go faster for reasons such and such. Or that I plainly didn't have money. To get it right. Sometimes it bugs me.

Most time I don't compromise..it just waits..until I'm sure it's the right thing..

I usually make a whatever we move into pretty livable very fast..if I can..

(sometimes I can't. You move to a new country lets say..no money..you go to yard sales..blahblah. You live without furniture for a while..

Or-you move to a different state..for some good reason you don't own anything like furniture. You start anew..)

But les say I have something. I'll make it livable, I'll try to reuse everything I have. If possible. The rest, I'll slowly hunt..weeks..months..years..))

If it's decor...can take me ages.

I can fall in love and get impulsive too..that can happen. Easily.

Usually with smaller pieces:)

I prefer old and vintage. and custom made if it's better solution. Gives me a story..connection to others..which is very important..and is usually better made..and for better price too.

Takes much longer of course

Art can be an issue. Some, I know where it wants to be right away. Some..I take months to decide. I lean it here, there, next to this, next to that..at some point I "read" from it where it wants to be

But yes it gives a feeling of "unfinishedness"

Which I like btw

There is this vague promise. In unfinishedness..

I like it in many things. In movies, in books..

I'm okay with it in my house too

If I really love something-I love it. That's it. That's a lifelong thing..

Something very personal should happen, very shaking,to change my attitude to something I love. Not that it never happenned. But it happens so rarely it shakes me twice. Very untypical..

I am slow too : ) . In both senses from the blog post you linked to, Holly, the speed and the prioritising, and also in terms of saving up to spend --

really what the term ‘slow decorating’ is talking about isn’t the speed at which something gets done, but the intention and purpose behind your choices and decisions.

It’s about prioritising the long term rather than the short term. Buying pieces of furniture that will last, instead of following a fashion led impulse buy, that you might go off in 6 months. Picking quality over quantity, and knowing confidently that the choices you are making will work for your family in the foreseeable future.

And I come by it honestly and easily because my parents were like that too, in all three senses. Of course, it helps here in the back of beyond in a very rural area six hours north of the US border, having to wait for just the right piece to present itself. For years I'd been looking for a large Chinese blue and white fish bowl planter; my parents had one at their vacation home, but there was no way to get it back here from there, at least not in one piece. I couldn't find anything with reasonable shipping. Then I went to a neighbor's garage sale, and lo and behold she had a pair.

Not only am I a slow decorator, but we're also slow builders, since it took us four years to complete our new house, which we built ourselves. There were times, though, where I had to be fast in sourcing and getting things, which I often found nerve-wracking. There were a few misfires, especially with light fixtures, where I thought I found something but then ended up finding something better later on.

We moved into the house in June, and most of the rooms are "mostly" finished. I'm still waiting for a number of things -- for blinds dot ca to bring in a nice blue and white printed fabric for reasonably priced Roman shades (I bought them in June for my bedroom and bathroom, and they day after they arrived and we installed them, I went online to order more for the dining room and the fabric was gone. Argh.). I have pictures to hang, and others that need framing. I just found a small rattan coffee table I needed for an area of the living room, and now I'm going to keep my eyes open for a round tray to go on top. There are some more lamp shades I'd like switch out -- I found someone on Etsy who made some lovely William Morris shades for the sconces in the unpowder room on the main floor, and think I'd like to get her to make some more for the sconces in the foyer. And there is a plain beige shade on the living room floor lamp I'd like to replace with a pleated block print shade. I still have to decide on, and order, blue and white backsplash tiles for the kitchen.

I will say that for me an important element is that I have always loved the hunt : ) , even when it means just window shopping instead of actually shopping.

The best thing about this approach is that a slowly decorated room is never dated because everything comes from different time periods. Of course the room may never look good either but that's a different issue.

I think for those of us who are interested in design, who are interested in a particular style, whether it's English country or Ben Pentreath's eclectic English or MCM, we do tend to stick to furnishings that fit that style, so that rooms do end up looking good. And I think the oddball items that don't fit are often what gives a room personality, that sense that everything wasn't bought in one feel swoop from HomeSense or Ethan Allen. One of the things I love best about English country/eclectic English is that rooms in that style often look comfortable and well-used. Which I know is anathema to the North America highly styled look that blogs, Instagram, and HGTV push.

april, I like unfinishedness in my home but not at all in books or movies. I've never liked an unclear ending.

All that said, if one of my dream designers (Ben Pentreath, Schuyler Samperton, Robert Kime, Tom Scheerer) turned up at the front door and offered to do the house, I'd be willing to risk the "all at once" look. Though at this point, I'd have to ask them to use some of my existing furnishings lol.

Fun topic, Holly, thank you!

Slow. Since I married 30 years ago, we've owned or lived in 12 different homes. I save my money and buy very classic or antique pieces. Years ago, I started with jewel tones. But, I have gravitated to upholstering with neutral fabrics and picking up colors with pillows. When it does come to color I've always used navy blue as the base color.

When we move into a new to us home, it's just a question of where to put it. I've got things in a bedroom that used to be in the living room and vice versa. I just bought a pair of antique Chinese pots that were converted into lamps. As soon as the new lamp shades arrive, I'm going to start a lamp round robin through out the house and see where everything ends up.

I just got some of my mother's furniture. I'm in the process of reupholstering those pieces mostly because of wear and tear. Mom was a go slow, too. I just imitate what she did. It seemed to work.

Yes, my sisters in decorating! I agree with everything that's been said. I have always been a waiting until I find the right piece instead of buying filler. The hunt has always been thrilling. We still own pieces purchased when we first married and throughout the years. I did sell some when we moved last year, since I also wanted to use inherited pieces. I am (always have been, always will be) a house person. Making our house a home that is comfortable for us and our family and friends, as well as visual pleasing to me. For something to come home with me, it has to speak to me.

I think there’s a misconception that custom costs more ...

I saw a table in AD that I liked for the breakfast room...until I found out it was $$$. While that wasn't unreachable, it would have made me feel uncomfortable. So I had a similar table made locally for 1/8+ the price. Real wood, so heavy I couldn't move it an inch if I wanted to, and big enough for our children and grandchildren to fit around.

I'm not a sister, but I do decorate slowly and thoughtfully. I like to change certain elements over time without doing a complete makeover. We have paintings, tapestries, and tribal masks that we rotate or rearrange over time. A couple of years ago, we moved our sofa into storage and replaced it with two lounge chairs, since no one ever sat in the middle of the sofa, and we decided that we wanted a side table between the lounge chairs instead. This has worked out very well for us. The sofa is in the guest room now (making that a bit awkward), but we will move it to our new vacation house, once we purchase that.

I've always wanted a brother, Lars. :D

When you move to Palm Springs, check out Coyote Stageworks. The founder is a friend of mine, and they have fabulous plays during the season.

Definitely a slow buyer here. We’re working with a designer who understands my pace. Bought a new 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath house last July and have only completed “most” of the dining room and family room. Our living room will be finished next month.

I prefer to buy timeless pieces that last. Additionally, my husband and I are wise with our money and do not like to spend too much of our savings in one go.

For example, our designer found a beautiful rug that costs $3400. I waited until there was a sale and bought it for $2500. Only issue with waiting is that the item may be discontinued or sold out, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. There will always be more rugs, wingback chairs, etc.

It's interesting that this thread popped up again just now. :-) At least in my neck of the woods, this is a big weekend for vintage sales, flea markets, etc. Which is entirely my poison.

I am learning that patience definitely has its virtues. I missed out on an antique oil stove that had been turned into an adorable lamp last fall. (It had a flickering bulb that made it LOOK like a working heater, but without the hazard). I'd been a little hesitant about the price, then kicked myself when I went back and it was gone. Two weeks ago, I happened into the same little vintage heater, same color, but it better condition and the price was teensy. So it's now at the lighting store, being converted. Yay, me!

Often, when I miss out on something, I find something I like even better if I just wait a bit.

Lars, I've always wanted a brother, too. Pull up a chair, I'll go fix you a drink.

Holly, oh yeah. The "you better buy it when you see it" rule of vintage shopping! Glad you found an even better object. The local lamp shop I use (to have lamps made, buy shades or purchase lamps she has made) made a small desk lamp from a loose warrior riding a horse. She's not even using it at the shop or at her home, and I've tried to buy it several times the past few years. Low and behold, I ran across a lamp that needed some work on etsy. When I took it to the shop for repairs, she was not there, but when she saw it, she immediately thought I would like it - then she saw it was mine! LOL I picked it up last week and it's fantastic. She likes it better than hers.

I was looking at threads you had started while I was away, looking for updates on your build, when I saw this one. Do you ever look on etsy? I like browsing locally, but the reach to far away places (in the US and Europe) can be good. I avoid the onslaught of mass produced on etsy by just looking in Vintage.