Years ago I use to have fun by helping people decorate their homes w/o spending much money to do it. I did it often enough to come up with a way to interview my prospective "clients" before I moved any furniture or made any recommendations. One of the first things I recognised when I started working with friends and family was that most of them really didn't understand what they liked and why. I also discovered that many couples have very different ideas about style and colors and really don't understand how they can compromise. Below are two of the methods I used to help people work through understanding their likes and finding common ground.
Start by quickly thumbing through some decorating magazines, a catalog or going to a furniture store. Without giving it any thought go through and pick your four or five favorite rooms. If you're married or have a roommate have your spouse/roommate do this too. When you have finished picking your rooms go back and analyze what you like in them. Are the lines the same, are the woods similar, do the colors all fall into generally the same scheme or are they warm or cool, etc. How do you feel when you look at the room (homey, orderly, clean, etc.)?Then talk about what you like and don't like in your spouses picks. If your spouse likes clean traditional lines and you love the curves and ruffles of romance you might have more serious work to do finding something in common but many people can easily find some sort of common ground - a color, a feeling, a line that they can work with.
There is one more exercise I use to use. Close your eyes. Think about your favorite place on earth. What do you see? What time of day is it? What is the temperature like? What do you smell? When you open your eyes write all of this down and it just might give you the inspiration you need to create a room you really enjoy.
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