Can a tract home be chic? That's the question I'm exploring in today's video.
Tract housing is a type of housing development in which multiple similar homes are built on a tract of land that is subdivided into individual small lots.
There are many pros and cons to living in a tract home. Let's examine those before we discuss decorating strategies.
The benefits to living in a tract home is that they usually are set up with modern conveniences. Many of them contain ample storage and dedicated laundry, pantry and linen rooms. The tract home is designed for the modern family and that is a wonderful aspect to focus on if you feel frustrated with your space. Other benefits to tract housing are the large rooms, ample space, and open floor plan. The fixtures are generally generic and easy to replace. You also feel a sense of community as you are close to your neighbors.
The cons of living in a tract home largely revolve around style for me. They tend to have no originality, interiors tend to be bland and generic, without any special architectural details. Many other houses look exactly like yours. They can also be awkward to decorate and require more creativity in dressing the space.
In order to customize the space, get original with how you decorate. Avoid decorating your entire home from the large chain decorating stores. Seek out unusual antiques, thrift store finds, and special, custom touches that only you have. This will help give your home that special, original quality that it lacks. Use paint, wallpaper, paintings, plants, throw pillows, and unique furniture to express your style. Don't forget to focus on ambiance through music, books, and scent.
Many of our paintings are antiques purchased off of eBay. Here is a link to some of the eBay stores we have purchased from in the past. You can find amazing artwork on eBay for excellent prices.
Cathedral Fine Art, Delphifineart, Unusualfindscompanyinc , Jose Trujillo, and blue and white porcelain on eBay
I recently rearranged the artwork in our living room, creating a gallery wall. We also added a budget rug (from IKEA) and a tropical plant to make the space more exotic and inviting. This entire decorating project was accomplished for under $150. Yes, I utilized a big box chain store like IKEA to decorate, but you'll see that those pieces are mixed with our own antique paintings, and custom sofas, etc. to create a look that is truly our own.
Many of you have seen our kitchen renovation video. We went from our very dark and dated kitchen to a beautiful, blue and white airy space. I adore our custom kitchen that we did on a budget and appreciate it every day. It's custom touches like this that make our tract home stand out.
Featured in today's video: my blouse, pearl necklace
Use code Jennifer10 for $10 off, and Odette 18K gold pearl earrings Jennifer20 for 20% off.
I hope you enjoy today's video.
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My daughters and I are all dressed up and ready for the piano recital.
Comment of the Week
Nancy writes, "Hi Jennifer,
One of your comments about studying dress caught my attention and reminded me of a book I enjoy, "The Lost Art of Dress" by Linda Przybyszewski (copyright 2014) and would like to highly recommend it. It is a book which focuses on dress during the first half of the twentieth century, an interesting and enjoyable book! I have loaned this book out on numerous occasions with positive responses.
I can't help but wonder did you recommend this book years ago on one of your earlier videos ?
Loved your video, as always.
Sincerely,
Nancy"
Hi Nancy, yes! I actually wrote the blurb for the cover of The Lost Art of Dress. It's an excellent book and I did recommend it back when it was published. Thank you for commenting!
I would love to know... do you live in a tract home? What do you struggle with decorating-wise? What tips do you have for us? For those of you who live in original homes, what advice would you like to share? Let us know in the comments and your comment could be chosen as comment of the week on The Daily Connoisseur.
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