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CONFESSIONS OF A "REAL LIFE" DESIGNER
By Deborah Wiener
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My mom had eyes in the back of her head…no really. I know every mom says she has eyes in the back of her head, but mine really did…or else she had some pretty sophisticated mini-cams hidden throughout the house, which would have been some feat in the Sixties, when I was just a small girl. Like a referee senses when a wide receiver stretches his arms across the field goal line with a football in his hands, breaking the plane and scoring a touchdown, my mom could tell when I had inadvertently broken the plane of the formal rooms in the house with a swinging arm or stray foot. And then there'd be hell to pay. I was not only forbidden from entering the living and dining rooms - filled as they were with silk-covered, down-filled sofas and chairs and windows draped in imported Fortuny fabrics - I was forbidden from even stirring dust molecules across the room thresholds. I can barely remember a time when we used these rooms or when I felt relaxed being in them.
When I moved into my own home, I knew I wanted to live differently and TRUE actually use every room in my house every day. So I sent out to furnish each space as best I could, with gorgeous fabrics on the windows, trimmed and tasseled toss pillows on every chair and fine wood and detailing in every table and chest of drawers. Being childless, I had the time and the budget to decorate every room in my home with the style and quality I wanted. I gave no thought to whether the faux finish on the foyer walls could be easily touched up or how I would clean a spot from the white and terra cotta striped cotton sofa. My kitchen designs called for open shelving full of delicate antique pottery and a crème-colored kitchen table with black glass appliances - what could be wrong with that? Everything! It was all too delicate, too difficult to keep clean and required too much protection from what was becoming my real life.
You see, I married a slob and then had two bys and they destroyed our home. Let me explain. When my husband enjoys a late night snack in front of the TV (usually long after I've gone to sleep) he thinks, "why use a plate?" The sofa arm is a perfect spot to rest re-heated, greasy pizza. Need a napkin? He answers himself, "Why get up when there's a nice absorbent window curtain nearby, long enough to pull over and use for both hands and face?" And then there's my athletic boys. It doesn't matter how I lecture about not throwing a ball in the house or removing baseball cleats full of mud before walking on the wall-to-wall carpet. When I'm out of the room, they do as they please. I could have really used those eyes that my own mother had in the back of her head.
So I realized it was time to redecorate. Given how much new fabric and furniture costs - even for a professional designer - I knew I had to come up with room designs that couldn't be easily broken, stained, or torn or damaged by the people who live in my home and by the frequent guests who make themselves at home. After all, peace of mind is worth everything and I didn't want to turn into my mother, checking dust patterns and carpet imprints to see if anyone had trespassed into secret, forbidden territory like, say, the dining room. But whatever time and money I was about to put into redecorating, it had to last. Because everyone's always busy with work, school, sports and friends I had to redecorate with low-maintenance materials and fuss-free styles that wouldn't require daily primping, cleaning, or special care to look and feel good. Who has the time to fluff pillows, dust tabletops, style draperies or vacuum up clumps of baseball fields on a daily basis? I'm no Martha Stewart! I have no time and little patience for re-covering kitchen chair cushions on my own every time they get soiled and stained. I'd rather find the right fabric, have my upholsterer re-cover the cushions once and for all and move on to the next task at hand, which, when I'm not at work, is usually doing the laundry.
I hate to admit it, but everything I did to better design my own home the second time around I learned from my husband and my kids. Forget the fancy magazines, the beautiful showrooms and the designer show houses. Take your decorating cues from the people and pets living around you right now. If you have a Black Labrador Retriever, forget light beige carpeting and white upholstery. If you have a Golden Lab, forget darker colors. If your spouse (and here I really do mean husband) is cleaning impaired, like mine, select only washable, stain-resistant fabrics in the family room and industrial strength countertops in your kitchen. Have active kids or pets? Watch out for crowded table tops full of delicate collectibles and expensive lamps. Even empty-nesters and single professionals with busy social lives and full travel itineraries want a fuss-free, low maintenance home that looks and feels good with little work or care. So consider how much time and effort you want to put into maintaining and protecting a highly-styled home full of high maintenance furnishings. Why put needless time and effort into keeping up your home? Your home should work for you!
Read how in the April issue of "Chesapeake Home Magazine" or by visiting our website (scroll down to our link) and clicking on "In the News."
Deborah Wiener is the owner of Designing Solutions in Silver Spring, MD. You can e-mail her your questions by visiting her firm's web site, www.MyDesigningSolutions.com and clicking on "email Us Your Designing Dilemma." For more information or to schedule in-home design services call us at 301-445-6336.
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