Writer’s Block for August 9, 2010:

Do you have a favorite aesthetic style in terms of home design? If money were no object, how would you change your home?

I do have a particular “style,” although I didn’t realize it for quite some time. It’s eclectic in the sense that it doesn’t quite fit into any particular aesthetic principle, but it’s specific enough to call it a distinct style.

I like clean lines, lots of wood, and color. Some people have described it as a variant of arts-and-crafts, but it’s a little too plain for that. At the same time, it’s more elaborate than some of the acknowledged “plain” styles. It definitely reflects my upbringing in mainstream American culture.

Over the past several years, as money permitted, I’ve been slowly furnishing my home with clean-lined solid pine furniture. I’m a big fan of This End Up’s Classic Collection and have several pieces. (I also still use several original-style Cargo pieces that date back to the early 1990s.)

But my style is clean, not severe. There are plenty of cushions and pillows and I usually have a rug or two on the floor. One of the prettiest items on my wall is a batik-style fabric hanging, and I use traditional cloth lamp shades.

My style also is definitely not neutral colored. I not-quite-facetiously refer to some apartments as plain beige or plain gray boxes. I’ll live in those, but not without decoration, and definitely not without color.

When I had the little basement studio in Raleigh, I used strong primary colors against the near-monochromatic gray. Many people liked that space despite it being so tiny (it was 350 square feet with 6-1/2 foot ceilings). The colors were the reason why: they changed cramped to cozy.

My current apartment is beige and large enough that I use more muted colors, but there aren’t many creams or browns present. Rather, I’m using blue and rust in the living room, green in the bedroom, and red (fruit) in the kitchen. The pine color of the furniture provides any neutrality that may be needed.

The other distinct part of my decorating style involves the walls. I have maps everywhere. This actually started when I began collecting maps for décor in my office when I worked for Prisons. None of my work spaces since then have allowed me to use my own wall hangings, so the maps came home and I started buying more to match them.

Right now I have one of the “Graveyard of the Atlantic;” one of Greenville, NC, as it appeared around 1930; one of the Hawaiian islands that I picked up earlier this year; some items that began life in an encyclopedia; and a large framed poster copy of a 1500s-era world map. I’m still looking for a nice one of Atlanta or Georgia, but I’m sure they’re out there.

Where I don’t have maps, I have pictures. Most of them are my own work, but I have one piece from my grandfather and a couple black-and-whites that struck my eye at a yard sale. I also have a few other odds and ends, including a framed cartoon that always hangs near my laundry.

Would I change this if money were no object? If you want to know the truth, actually, I wouldn’t. I’d use the money to finish replacing or adding all my furniture and add a few decorative items. I might rip up the carpets and put down some hardwood, and replace a couple of my older rugs. Beyond that, though, I’m pretty satisfied with my sort-of-arts-and-crafts, sort-of-American-mainstream, wood-and-color style.

Photo: Loveseat, Pillows, New Cubbies and Old Rocking Chair, uploaded by airnos