Decorating with Comfort in Mind

By Arleen M. Kaptur

Your home is the canvas on which you paint the type of lifestyle and the amenities you choose for yourself and those you love and care about. Home is where you can "let your hair down" and be truly yourself. You can let go of all the outward "you" that everyone creates to cope with the outside world. Your home - where your thoughts and dreams come together in a comfortable atmosphere.

First of all, whatever style you choose should reflect who you are. Any style can be molded to fit the personalities, activities, and likes/dislikes of those who live in the home.

If you are looking for ways to bring in more comfort into your decorating scheme - look for ways to soften all those straight lines, and add a bit of welcome. Draperies and pillows can do magic and crown molding, and chair rails help too. A great accent is a bookcase, where not only books, but shelves displaying special objects that have meaning add to the "comfort." The natural products such as wood, glass, ceramics, cotton and silk work extremely well when comfort is the feel you are trying to create.

Know when to stop - like anything in life, it's best to know when to stop. Overloading a room makes it look cluttered and messy.

Small touches can give you so much for so little. In the bedroom, look for containers that are unusual and different. A ceramic pitcher or an antique bowl, unusual vases, bottles, or candle holders add the all important details. Books are another decorating great! Keeping a volume or two of favorite poetry or prose on your nightstand, especially if beautifully bound, or very vintage, speaks "volumes" to your decorating expertise.

In the living area, framed photographs add your own special note. Choose an unusual spot to group photos together in a "mini gallery."

While eating is an everyday occurrence, a bit of nostalgia give your dining room a beautiful accent. Fine vintage china, special serving platters, or antique salt and pepper shakers need not collect dust in cupboards. Bring them out and enjoy them.

Don't forget the bathroom - lush cotton towels rolled in thirds and displayed in woven baskets and bath foams and gels in colorful bottles and jars give you that "lush resort" feel.

With a few changes, additions, or subtractions, you have it within your own decorating sense to add not only style but rooms filled with a very special feeling - ENJOY

©Arleen M. Kaptur 2002 December

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