This also depends on the kind of accessories you plan to use. If you’re thinking of using lots of wicker and natural woods, the scheme might come off as a bit “harvest theme”.

I forgot to mention this, but I am also all about decorating with little things. I’ve got rocks on almost every surface (okay, that’s not so normal, but I swear they are pretty), and doilies (which i made in my doily phase), and books and magazines. I don’t even have all that much company, but I figure when I do have people over, they’re things to look at and conversation pieces, and it keeps the place from looking sterile, even when it’s tidy.

When you have a TV at the center of things, it’s usually on, killing any conversation and making it impossible to have a nice quiet dinner/snooze/reading session. Even when it’s not on, people (especially children) will be thinking about what they want to watch next, not the company at hand. Also, they’re kinda ugly. Much better to banish it to the den or at least have a nice cabinet, no?

What makes a house a home to me – which, btw, 12+ years after we moved in here would mean my home still doesn’t fully qualify:

Color other than plain white or eggshell on the walls

stuffed bookshelves in the living room

light fixtures in every room (don’t laugh, it hasn’t always been a given for me)

Tons of artwork and photos on the walls and dressers

A nice rug/carpeting

FINALLY getting rid of all the icky boxes and metal shelving!

and candlesssss…

My home is very strong on coziness and quirk.. so much so, that, when I first come home after visiting someone whose home has a more streamlined or minimalist look, I look around at my place and think “Oh. I must be a crazy person”. But then, I find, the antitode to that is to pull out my Paris Interiors book and look at all the quirky, beautiful spaces other people have created, and I see a commonality between them and my place. And a friend once told me I had a “sexy house”. I was curious about what she meant; she said it was because of the different textures and colors and how inviting and tactile everything is. That’s a nice thing, I think.

So, I will offer my formula for quirk and coziness. I’ve never really broken it down before, but basically I think it involves:

Books in every room, including hallway, kitchen, bathroom..

A dresser in every room. I have kind of a fetish for old dressers. I tend to paint them a bit creatively. A dresser makes a good canvas for someone (ie me) who wishes they could paint well but can’t quite. They are SO useful in every room. In the kitchen, the dresser holds cookbooks (one drawer), my shopping bags (one drawer), and, um, I’m not sure what’s in the third one. The cat’s food and water are on top of it, and the dog’s food and water below. The dining room dresser has, ugh, way too many papers. But they’re all nice and hidden in there. The bedroom ones have clothes… well, mine does, anyway. I don’t know what my daughter has in hers. The bathroom one is mini-sized and has cosmetics. All of them are vintage or possibly antique… what’s the cutoff for antique? fifty years? Yes, antique. Picked up on street corners by me and painted.

And, yes, art everywhere, and I try to look at each space in terms of how I want to use it. I know that sounds elementary but it was a bit of a eureka moment for me. Oh, and, I tend to set up little collections of things to look at, like, little ‘vignettes’.

Anyway, congratulations on your new home! And don’t be afraid of playing with color. Everything that can be painted can be REpainted. It’s okay to play with it!

–Virginia, who personally doesn’t think she could live in a house with an orange kitchen but fully supports those who love the idea.