"Accidents often produce the best solutions… only you can recognize the difference between an accident and your original intent." -Jennifer Morla
Jennifer Morla until recently, was the Chief Creative Director for DWR and it's somehow reassuring to know that happy home design accidents happen in her life as well. Have you ever had a "happy accident" with the design of your spaces? Maybe a temporary solution that turned out to be fabulous, or the purchase of something unexpected that took your design ideas in a whole new direction. Big or small, let us know after the jump!
In our own home we stumbled upon a sectional couch that if put end to end is pushing 30' in length. We didn't set out to find a piece of this nature, but it's clean lines and ridiculously low price tag lured us in (if we told you how low, you'd probably hate us!). We wrestled it up the elevator and through our door and it couldn't have been more perfect. Nothing we owned however went with this piece that boasted super clean lines and a cool neutral color.
Piece by piece we sold things on Craigslist and donated what we could until finally our space is refined and it feels more like "us" than it ever has before. Had we of purchased a different more Mid Century piece (like our home had represented before) our open floor plan wouldn't have the same feel it does today and wouldn't represent us nearly as well.
What's your Happy Home Accident?
(Image: Utah Arts Counsil)
When I was painting my kitchen, I didn't realize they had mixed the wrong shade until I started rolling. It looked good, so I kept on going - and it turned out great. Looking back at my intended color on the paint chip, I think the color I ended up with is 100% better.
view missmouse's profile
I fell in love with this awesome apple green couch that I thought went with absolutely nothing in my living room. I'd been going for a warm orange/gold/brown pallet. After posing the idea to apartmenttherapy (thanks for all the comments by the way!) I went for it and haven't regretted it one minute. The color really pops in the room and it's amazing how many beautiful floral orange and green combos you can fine. I usually try to place one somewhere in the room to tie it all togther.
view vinylcollectors's profile
Happens to me all the time! Once I started sticking with ONLY textiles and casegoods that I LOVE, I discovered that everything I have can be moved around the house and pretty much make me happy.
Another happy accident was disovering that sticking to a generalized palette makes the house feel harmonious. That does NOT mean everything matches, though. It just means that my textiles all work together. If I need extra seating, the red dining chairs are happy with the cream and chocolate seating in the amily room or the living room. If I want to shakes things up a bit, I can swap accent chairs with either couch and it still works. Etc. Etc.
view kimg924's profile
jennifer has not been chief creative office of DWR for several months now. fyi.
view twelveindustries's profile
just an fyi, jennifer hasn't been at DWR for a few months now.
view twelveindustries's profile
I placed an online order for a white pleated window shade for the nursery I was putting together for our baby, but received one in deep purple. Deep purple! The company immediately sent us a replacement, but the baby came in the mean time, and so we hung the purple.
And dang -- but it was much better than the white!
We had wenge-like floors, pale (slightly muddy) amethyst walls, a white flokati and bright turquoise crib. The white made the room dull, but the purple was perfect!
A very happy accident.
view mschatelaine's profile