Is it the Look or the Feel?  

I'm
still in the middle of a major refurb
bought a Victorian coach house on a sloping site which was a disaster area
We've moved bedrooms from the ground floor to a new 2nd floor, moved the kitchen downstairs, added a bathroom etc etc
The whole place was devoid of original features, apart from the outside, which we have kept..
so..
It was a fantastic opportunity to have new, high spec modern spaces to show off my furniture and collections.
I want large entertaining spaces, and comfort..but with style
It is the first time I have had white walls for 20 years..but it just seems to suit the new spaces, I guess it could change
Work is still in progress ..
This is going to sound really pretentious.. but..
I like to imagine it as the home of an architect in 1960 (the year I was born)
Most of my furniture dates from around then, or before..
I'll post pics as and when things get done !

still in progress
but kitchen looks this this now

Does not
the look of a thing or space invoke a feel one has for the thing or the space. Personally I design a room to have a certain look to invoke how I will feel within it. Clean, cool and restful for the bedroom, warm and inviting for the dining room, etc. Or am I missing something in your query, because often I feel on the same page with Ms. Olive. I think we have a lot in common, from what I can tell from your posts.

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Olive you really hit on it,I was in Oklahoma a few months back at a largeish 50s/60s motel that was referbed in the 80s "victorianish" mode darker greens, sounds bad but the feel was so good.A look can be great on all "intellectual points" but feel so off/wrong.Robert white seems the only color to lift a rusticated redo into a more crisp mode as a counterpoint.Are the chairs Ercol?Looks quite nice are you in the UK?

THE FEEL
has much to do with noise level, vegetation,location/neighbors.My living space/bedroom and detached studio is covered by the canopy of a large live oak tree this far more important to the feel than all of "stuff"in the spaces and I have some rather good stuff...

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I realize it
is not just the stuff in a space. It is all the other elements that contribute to feel. As in asian design our entry has major earth and natural elements. Water, stone, metal, wood, vegetation, slate as part of the physical space. Very welcoming, serene, etc. but also as a result of the overall "look". The elements contribute to the "feel"

good post olive
Yep, I agree so far.
Have a look at this photo of my bathroom. It was a difficult space to think through because it is so tiny ( just longer than a standard bath ).
I regard this fascility space to be quite personal/hygenic and that for me holds a high priority for easy maintenance eg. totally tiled.
This wee space has been subject of many conversations with dinner guests and friends, all with various sensations and opinions.
My kitchen and bathroom are my opportunities to embrace hard, clinical,
industrial lines. Theres no place for sympathy here, just raw function.

my photo
sorry... heres that shot.

Personally I kinda struggle with the Look/Feel thing
I am not a big 'stuff' person. I wouldn't classify myself as a collector, like many of you refer to yourselves here. I own a few pedigreed pieces, but I also own a lot of things from Target and IKEA. I buy what I like to look at and what is functional. Without both aspects in a thing or a space I am left feeling at odds. I'd rather have nothing than buy a thing that fails on either point.
My spaces tend to be designed/arranged mostly by feel. The only renovations we've done at our home have been to make them work better. However, we, of course, took the opportunity to integrate products we liked the look of. HUbby pretty much gives me the run of the place when it comes to design, but the times he vociferously interjects his opinion is when I have done something that he feels won't be comfortable for him. Thankfully, the man has never suggested an overstuffed recliner chair.
What prompted me to start the thread was the realization that, for me, color is all about feel. I have noticed I put color where I want a distinct feeling, and go neutral when I want a backdrop for various activities/emotions. I have cool, calm watery colors in the bath. In the bedroom, there's a fresh crisp citron green to wake up to in the morning that fades to a soft warm candlelight tone in the evening. Yet, in my main lving space I've put a neutral warm grey with small splash of brick red and citron green that reflects onto the kitchen and dining spaces.
So when I think about space I guess I really am more of a 'fgeel' person and I wondered about what you all are thinking. Looks like AzChick is a feel person too. And maybe you as well BigTVman...I'm waitingto here from whitespike, my fellow in arms...

either/or
Good quality look and good quality feel (or usability) is best and I'm not going to compromise on either.
Some beautiful looking high quality design is uncomfortable and difficult to use, so those items will not enter my home.
An example of this are those beautiful paper shade Noguchi floor and table lamps. They are difficult, since they get dirty or tear and they can not be cleaned. (I do have a Nelson Bubble Lamp, complete with a tear and a couple of tiny pin holes, and even though it's fragile as heck, I still love it).
Otherwise, I prefer well made, beautiful and comfortable pieces that can be enjoyed and maintained with a minimum of hassle.
Isn't that what most of the MCM designers had in mind?
So, I'll stick with George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Warren Platner, Richard Schultz, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll and Alvar Aalto.

To Olive
When put as you so eloquently have I would suppose I fall into the absolute "feel" school, as I am definitely NOT about the stuff and its look but rather more about the space and how it feels. I would rather see one exquisitly designed item in a space versus a warehouse full of things approach to interior design.
I guess I achieve this "feel" sensibility through the use of wall color and surface treatments and the celebration of "negative" or empty space in a word a "minimalist" esthetic for me. Case in point is our living room, perhaps a little bit over 500 square feet and the square footage footprint of all furniture elements in the room doesn't exceed 85 square feet leaving over 400 square feet of open floor space including three 2 X 6 foot wheeled bookcases (books are a weakness, though we minimize their effect and push them to the background by covering all of them in matte white book covers with title and author listed in a 12 pt. font on clear labels against the wall color which is Ben Moores "Distant Gray" a cool clean white neither "hot" nor "cold") . So wall color, artwork and floor treatments play a major part.
Great thread, made me really examine my environment or rather articulate what I have intrinsically felt anyway.

Working in the space I have
Great question Olive - makes us stop for a moment and think about what we're actually doing.
I tend to focus on how I use the space and then 'design' around that. Since the move in August my personal bedroom space is much smaller than the old place, causing me to focus even more on streamlined usage. It's good because it disciplines me to put things away immediately after using them.
Towards that end I guess: I want to feel calm and able to do the work I need to do. Certain factors contribute to the look: nelson clock, artwork, photos. But most of the major pieces are placed in a manner that promotes flow and ease of movement.
My digital camera is on the fritz, so I can't post any images just yet, but I'll put them up as soon as I can. In the meantime, since its a slow day at work, I put together a floor plan 🙂 Unfortunately the chair options dont include Eames - the desk chair is an DCM, the reading chair is an LCW.
Little things can have a big impact: I bought a platform bed from DWR thats fairly high off the ground. I keep my art papers in a flat file under the bed, along with my toolbox and my slippers. My nightstand has drawers for socks and personals. I have speakers for my computer rather than a separate sound system. I converted an old flat screen monitor with a television reciever and got rid of my old giantly clunky boobtube. I bought a bunch of those little "fira" drawers from Ikea and stacked them next to my drawing table to store most of the art supplies.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38178174@N00/2106504734/

Book treatment
Big TV Man: Now you've got my attention. Any chance you can share a photo of your environment? Until now, organizing the books at our house just means big ones on the bottom shelves, little ones on the top. Now I feel so grubby. In what typeface do you set your book titles? What do you use for covers?