A Decorating Quiz: What's Your Style?

If you've been reading BNOTP for very long, you probably know I have a little decorating book addiction. A while back I ordered a book on eBay and just to be nice, the seller threw in an extra book for free. The extra book she included was Decorating Rich...subtitled...How to Achieve a Monied Look Without Spending a Fortune, by Teri Seidman and Sherry Suib Cohen. That subtitle grabs your attention, doesn't it? :-)

The foreword is written by Mario Buatta...and it is one of the better forewords that I've read. It really whets your appetite for what lies ahead in the book; but then, isn't that what a good foreword is supposed to do? Mario Buatta briefly mentions the effect known as "puddling," and I had to laugh when I read, "Nothing is worse than curtains that just miss the floor, looking as though they shrank in a flood." :-)

Not too far along into the book, specifically beginning on page 10, there's a neat little "decorating quiz" that the author states will give "clues to the textures, colors and accessories to which we are really drawn." She says, "They include the architectural lines you most admire, the era in which your soul really lives and the essence of the decorating signature with which you'll probably be most comfortable."

There are twenty-one fun questions...what say we take it? Remember, there are no right or wrong answers...it's not that kind of quiz. :-) After you finish, I'd love for you to leave a comment telling me your decorating style and if you thought the quiz hit the mark for you. This book was written quite a few years ago, so you'll notice the t.v. show question is a bit dated...but it's still a fun and informative quiz. :-)

Here we go! The analysis is at the end...no fair peeking ahead!

1. On Weekends I’d best love to
A. Browse at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, if I can’t be at the Louvre
B. Walk in a big city
C. Meditate in a simple garden
D. Sink into my wing chair and read history
E. Pick blueberries

2. You wouldn’t be wrong if you called me
A. Old World
B. Forward Thinking
C. Contemplative
D. Patriotic
E. Bucolic

3. My Heart could sing if you gave me
A. Scones or croissants
B. A bagel
C. Sushi or Peking duck
D. Turkey and yams
E. Oatmeal

4. The television series I would hate to miss would be
A. Upstairs Downstairs or Dynasty
B. Kate and Allie or Nova
C. Shogun or The Art of Ikebana
D. The Adams Chronicles or The Constitution with Bill Moyers
E. The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie

5. The magazine to which I’d most likely subscribe is
A. Connoisseur
B. Architectural Digest
C. Oriental Antiques
D. American Heritage
E. Country Living

6. I’d never get up if I could sleep on
A. An Elizabethan gilt-painted bed with a brocade canopy
B. A huge (almost endless) platform bed
C. A futon
D. A Federal mahogany four-poster
E. A plain, wooden Shaker-style bed

7. Check me out walking down the street with a
A. French poodle
B. Greyhound
Cl Shar-pei
D. American foxhound
E. Collie

8. You’ve been invited to a dinner party. When you arrive, the house knocks you out because
A. It’s white fluted columns are smashing; its lawn manicured.
B. The entire house seems to be a vista of glass.
C. You think those are shoji screens at the window, and you know that’s a Zen rock garden at the side of the house.
D. Brownstones, after all, are your favorite
E. You just know there’s a roaring fire and a braided rug behind the yellow clapboards and black shutters.

9. If you put up a screen to divide a room, it would
A. Have hunting scene panels
B. Be free-formed and flowing
C. Have Mother-of-pearl lotus blossoms floating on black lacquer
D. Be wallpapered with a Revolutionary War motif
E. Be stenciled with charming flowers or maybe an art naif design

10. The best view is framed by
A. Marvelous velvet drapes, lushly spilled onto the floor
B. Floor-to-ceiling picture windows...no curtains at all
C. A shoji screen
D. Colonial double sashes, each with twelve panes
E. Dormer windows under gabled roofs

11. Staircases should
A. Have intricately carved balusters
B. Be stainless steel
C. Be nonexistent
D. Be massive and dark-wooded
E. Be spindled

12. An exhibit that would really speak to me would feature
A. Van Gogh, Rembrandt, or collection of gorgeous Georgia silver
B. Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright architectural drawings, or Bauhaus
C. Decorated scrolls or flower arrangements
D. Early American samplers, Chippendale furniture, or primitive art
E. Quilts or wicker

13. My favorite novelist is
A. W. Somerset Maugham
B. Issac Asimov
C. Yukio Mishima
D. Henry James
E. Mark Twain

14. For just a little while, I’d love to go back to
A. Ancient Greece or Rome
B. The early twenties right here
C. The Sung Dynasty
D. Visit George and Martha Washington
E. My Aunt Dotty’s cottage

15. The colors that make me feel happiest are
A. Jewel tones--deep rubies, dark sapphires
B. Black, white, and gray
C. Jades, Carnelians, lacquered blacks
D. Red, white and blue
E. Yellow, barn red and dimity whites

16. The fence around my ideal house would consist of
A. No fence at all-I’d like a moat, though
B. A colorful grid
C. Bamboo trees
D. Elegant ironwork
E. White pickets

17. My favorite clothes are often made of
A. Brocades, velvets, taffetas
B. Leather, outrageous metallics, soft and natural fabrics
C. Embroidered silks
D. Tweeds, wools, cashmeres
E. Denim, organdy, cotton

18. This gives me such pleasure
A. The patina of much-touched wood
B. The smooth sheen of steel and glass
C. The gloss of lacquer
D. The depth of polished brass
E. The luster of copper and pewter

19. Give me a mirror with a back made of
A. Hallmarked silver
B. Lucite
C. Mother-of-pearl and semiprecious stones
D. Solid, carved maple
E. Quilted chintz

20. I’d like the status feeling I’d get by driving in a
A. Mercedes
B. DeLorean
C. Honda Prelude
D. Vintage Edsel
E. Jeep

21. If I had a mantel, over it or on it would sit
A. French Landscape
B. Henry Moore sculpture
C. Pair of blue and white urns porcelain urns
D. Brass eagle
E. Rooster weather vane


And now for the analysis, taken verbatim from Decorating Rich. (All photos are from the back cover of Decorating Rich, as well.)

Did you choose mostly As?
The essential you is tailor-made for European Opulence. A traditional, comfortable-yet-formal home is more to your taste than any other signature. Your heart is caught in the look of the fabulous past.


Did you choose mostly Bs?
You're a child of the future, an admirer of modern technology; Classic Contemporary is your sleek, svelte signature.


Did you choose mostly Cs?
Serenely magnificent Oriental Grace is the signature that is most exciting for you. You could go, as well, for a Rich-Mix...any of the other signatures accented heavily with Chinese luxury or Japanese simplicity.


Did you choose mostly Ds?
I would think that American Pedigree would please you enormously. You admire the classicism of our heritage, the integrity of dark, deep woods, the comfort of a deep wing chair.


Did you choose mostly Es?
Country Charm is your kind of posh. The charm of the hearth, the hunt, and naive art make you smile. The richness of the sea or the sun-bleached character of the Southwest are your cup of tea.


Did your choices/answers add up as you expected? Did you learn anything new about yourself and your decorating style? What is your style? :-)