Sarah Crosset asked:


When you have a picky, sophisticated style, it can be difficult to decorate your home. Learning to appreciate the little things will keep you in the loop with life and loving your home, sophisticated or not.

Decorating your home can be difficult. We all know that. But if you’re one of those people that has a slightly sophisticated taste, if you yourself may not be a sophisticated person, decorating your home can be a veritable nightmare.

As a Home Decorating Sophisticate, or HDS as it were, you have a refined taste in furniture, flooring, sashes, throw pillows, drapery, rugs, lighting, hanging artwork and pretty much everything else that comes through your line of vision. You can sense imbalance in your sleep and your aura blends with Zen decorating on an ultimately frightening level.

Never fear, though. You don’t have to go to a professional decorator to get the look you want and can be happy with for your home-which is great because with your picky style, a professional decorator would be a complete waste of thousands of dollars.

First things first. Learn to appreciate imbalance and make it work with your extreme sense of balance. When you’re learning to appreciate the simple things in life, the sophisticated side of you can break lose and make it difficult. One of the most important things a sophisticate must know when trying to decorate a home for reality is that there can never be perfect balance in everything. Life may be about learning achieve balance, but if you have kids, or a life that moves with the speed of the world, there’s bound to be an occasional dirty sock on the floor, traffic marks and hand smudges on your walls. Decorate to suit those needs.

You may need to purchase an area rug to cover the places where people walk the most. Oriental rugs are perfect for parlors, living rooms and dining rooms as well as any other place your sophisticated little heart needs to put one. In outdoor spaces or sunrooms a well made bamboo area rug or seagrass area rug can be an excellent addition to your motif. Remember though, that an area rug is more than just a way to cover up the little imperfections that send your sophistication radar blaring up a storm. An area rug is a way to bring warmth and life into your otherwise over-perfected home.

But don’t think that it’s only about area rugs and covering things up that you don’t want to see. Decorating as a sophisticate is also about learning to appreciate the macaroni and glitter jewelry box your daughter made enough to proudly display it next to the Faberge egg knock off your grandmother left you.

Remind yourself everyday that sophistication is less important than the little things in life. As a sophisticate you can always have a beautiful home that you love. But it is so few and far between that a sophisticate can have both a beloved home and home that’s full of love.

It’s not easy to have a sophisticated home that is also full of life and ready for reality. Give life a change and you may find it’s more sophisticated than you thought.

Sarah Crosset asked:

Putting your personality into your house is the best way to make it a home. Whether you’re using your own muse or someone else’s put yourself into everything you create at home for a relaxing life experience.

One of the first things I realized about home decorating-after my three thousand or so attempts at making my place look like all the pictures from the magazines-is that home decorating should reflect your personal style. Your home should reflect who you are and what you love.

Of course, I’m not saying that this revelation made me prance around my house with two cans of pink and yellow paint or that I plastered bunnies and butterflies everywhere-and yes, I do actually love pink, yellow, bunnies and butterflies-but I did put a little bit of myself into every room.

I got a certain sense of personal satisfaction from painting my ugly orange countertops a vibrant country red that matched my lust for life and the décor I actually wanted to toss around my kitchen. And my own personal works of art-paintings, photographs, sculptures-are set up around my place as well, giving it just that look of being lived in by somebody who loves and experiences life.

Of course, I recognize that we can’t all spend our evenings splashing around in water colors, or spend our weekends chasing a gaggle of baby quails about the yard trying to take their pictures.

That’s why there are professional designers out there who dedicate their lives to creating home décor that other people can use to express themselves and their individuality. And it’s okay to buy your curtains and blankets if you don’t know how to sew-crafty as I am, I still bought all my curtains and most of my blankets.

Of the things I love most in my home, my furniture doesn’t even come close to counting. It’s the accessories in my home that make it look like I personally live there and that no one else can shake my individuality.

One of my favorite items is a cotton area rug I recently purchased on a trip to the Deep South. This area rug was handmade in mills in the Deep South, where the cotton was picked fresh, milled in a southern mill, cleaned, spun and woven all by the same family of rug makers. When the bed is too hot at night, I frequently sleep on this rug and it makes me feel like I’m back in the Deep South all over again.

I realize that area rugs are not for everyone, but it can be an excellent place to start in learning to develop a personality for your home that meshes with your own personality rather than clashing and making you feel uncomfortable in your own home.

Different types of accessories are truly the way to bring out your personality in your home. Whether it is an area rug, artwork, photographs, drapery, throw pillows or knick knacks that represent different moments in your life, you can always find a way to make yourself feel at home if you just put a little bit of yourself into your own home.

Seomul Evans asked:

One of the hottest trends when it comes to interior design of the home is Moroccan home decor. There are many reasons why Moroccan decor is so popular that include the designs, fabrics, beauty of the colors that blend so well together and the fact that this type of decorating can stand the test of time.

In addition to that, Moroccan design can blend well with other types of decor in your home. Whether you have a traditional design or a modern home, you can mix and match – making the design more eclectic when you use the ethnic design of Moroccan home decor.

Moroccan Home decor Accessories

Moroccan Pottery: You will want to use Moroccan pottery in your home decor as it is not only just for adornment, but a big part of Moroccan culture. The pottery is still hand made and you can gets some pieces that are real works of original art. The pottery that is made from natural clay will add color as well as drama to your home and give you art pieces that can be the focal point of any table.

Moroccan Table Tops: You will also find that table tops are very intricate and designed well when it comes to Moroccan accessories. You can see the Mediterranean design in the table tops that are either carved by hand or laid with mosaic patterns that are made of glass or clay. The tables themselves are a focal point and many are a work of art unto themselves.

Moroccan Area Rugs: You really need to have an area rug in a room to make it feel more relaxed and warm. No home is really complete without this, even if you have wall to wall carpeting. But you do not have to be confined to using the Moroccan rugs only on the floor. Because these rugs are woven so artfully, they can also be used to hang on the wall in place of a painting. The rugs are woven and hand tied and make for great wall designs as well as floor designs.

Moroccan Mirrors: Mirrors are one way that you can make a smaller room look larger. You can use Moroccan mirrors that are made from bone or metal filigree frames. Using mirrors as a wall covering instead of paintings is less expensive, although the carved mirrors and those that are henna stained give most art a run for their money. You can add mirrors in any room of the house just as you would a picture or a painting. They look very well when you add sconces next to them to reflect light.

Moroccan Lighting: Do not forget lighting. Many people ignore this aspect of interior design, so do not forget to use lamps, lanterns, sconces and even chandeliers in your Moroccan home decor. The lampshades are often one of a kind and made from animal skin that has been stained and hand painted or tattooed with henna. Get the same type of lighting throughout the house that will be functional as well as offer beauty.

Moroccan Room Dividers: You can use room dividers in many different ways to add drama to your rooms as well as section them for privacy by using screening you can create space and make a room more inviting as well as more functional. For even more dramatic flair, add lanterns from the screens or star lamps. If you have a home office in the main living area of the home, the room dividers are a perfect way to section off this space.

There is so much that you can do when it comes to creating a home that embraces Moroccan home decor. These are just a few ideas. Once you begin adding this Mediterranean design to your home, you will naturally start gravitating towards lighting, rugs, furniture and accessories that have the Moroccan design. Although Moroccan home decor is hardly new, its appeal has managed to stand the test of time.