Home Decor, Furniture and Lifestyle Balance

Home decorating is about making personal choices. Whether its trying to capture a particular look or creating a theme, decorating our living space is about what makes us feel at home. Architecture, room size and other aspects of home decorating can be done to perfection. All the hard work can be spoiled by selecting the wrong furniture. Furniture can say more about a room than almost any other feature.

The wall color may be perfectly coordinated with the floor covering, and the window treatments cost an arm and a leg and wall hangings tasteful. Visually speaking the room may be perfect in every respect. Even with all of that, the wrong furniture can really put a damper on an otherwise great looking room. Personally, I would find it difficult to look at a great room from an uncomfortable piece of furniture. In my book, strict adherence to a decorating plan should never trump the desire to create a comfortable and welcoming space.

There is often a fine balance that must be achieved in home decorating. This balance is often struck between thematic decorating and lifestyle. For many years, I traveled a great deal and spent precious little time at home. Once at home my priority was to relax and enjoy some quiet time, and sometimes entertain small groups of friends and family. So my lifestyle required a low maintenance approach to home decorating and an emphasis on comfort, both visual and physical. Comfortable furniture and an open floor plan were the centerpieces of my decorating plan and all other aspects of the room layout flowed from there.

Families with children face other challenges when it comes to decorating. Kids can be hard on both home and furnishings so decorating to suit your tastes while keeping the home kid friendly can take some effort. Depending on the age of the children, decisions about furniture can often take a decorating plan in some unexpected directions.

Not to be taken as a knock against the kids, it is sometimes necessary to move furniture pieces like antiques or heirlooms to another room that is off-limits to the youngsters. This can put a damper on the desire to display furniture and other room accents, at least until the kids get a little older. Furniture choices may be limited to those pieces that can hold up under the wear and tear of every day use, such as those pieces covered in easy care upholstery fabrics. Purchasing those glass top end tables, that would do wonders for room, may have to wait until the kids are old enough.

As if decorating and furniture selection were not difficult enough, there are other considerations of modern life that must be taken into consideration. Like kids, household pets can be prime determinants of how a room is laid out and what type of furniture and accent pieces can be used. Cats, dogs, birds and other indoor critters all have unique behavioral quirks that can influence your design scheme.

I have found through many years of experience that dogs, cats and carpet simply do not mix. So when I redecorated the first floor of my home, I did away with the wall to wall carpet and opted instead for hardwood floors. The look is fantastic and the wood shade I choose can compliment a number of different decorating themes. Floor cleaning and maintenance are less time consuming. While the flooring choice was easy, finding ways to safely display my collectibles did pose a challenge. The answer was to use curio cabinets that these piece safe and still allowed them to be kept in view.

So when you consider redecorating, the first step is to look at your lifestyle and take it from there.

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