Decorating for The Senses
Ever walk into a room and immediately feel comfortable? Sometimes just the opposite is true, you’ve decorated a room (almost to death) and the room still seems like a “cold spot" in the house. The first thing I do in this situation is check around to make sure the room appeals to all 5 senses. From the everyday touches to the extraordinary, decorating for the senses is an easy way to cozy up your home.
Sight: This seems like an obvious one – right? While we all decorate for something beautiful to look at, perhaps what we should think about is what we don’t want to look at. Clean it up! Try to think about this sense from an outsider’s perspective. Even before entering your home, you should be welcoming people with something beautiful to look at. Something as simple as a decorative wreath on the door, or a blooming pot of flowers on the step gives visitors something to look forward to. No one wants to see your empty pots, dirty broom or old mail. You should carry this thought throughout your home. Upon walking into every room you should be greeted with something beautiful or unusual to look at. Hang the picture that reminds you of that trip to Italy, or display those cookbooks that fill your mind with images of Sunday brunch.
Sound: Here is something my husband appreciates, sitting down for a meal and having his favorite CD playing in the background. While we all enjoy listening to a nice tune, I think this is a sense that is overlooked by many in every day living. Listening to music relieves stress and enhances the overall ambience of a room yet many people find it too time consuming or inconvenient to wire their homes for sound. Why not set up your stereo system or Ipod once and for all? This will make it easy and convenient for you to have soothing tunes at the touch of a button. With new technology enjoying music in every room of your house is easier and more affordable than ever.
Taste: While a cheesecake in every room certainly appeals to your sense of taste it’s not exactly practical. Instead, think of indirect ways of evoking your sense of taste. The easiest is a bowl of shiny fresh apples in the living room, den, or kitchen. Lemons can be submerged in water and used as an anchor for fresh flowers, the same is true for cranberries. You can get a good week or two out of either. In the kitchen, a swag of fresh garlic is not only practical but subliminal as well. It says “Good food served here!" When all else fails don’t discount the requisite bowl of chocolates as this can sweeten every room! Even good ‘ol Hershey kisses have their place in this category.
Touch: Every room should contain items that just beg to be touched. This can be anything from a feather trimmed lamp shade to a cushy comfy cashmere throw. Think of walking through a department store and across the way you spot a display of the softest, silkiest, shiniest (whatever) pillows/widgets etc.you’ve ever seen. You’d be sure to make a special trip down that aisle so you could run your hand over the display. The same should be true in your home. This goes beyond the cliché comfy chair – even cold hard metal is interesting and different to touch. This could be a beautiful contemporary sculpture in the corner of your dining room, or how an end table made of gnarled wood in the living room. Your powder room walls can be upholstered in a unique fabric and your foyer could contain a water feature.
Smell: Of course no one wants to stay in a room that has an unpleasant smell, but we want to focus on the positive here. I like to vary a room’s scent with the season. The spring brings a soft smell of lavender blooms (either real or a lavender sachet), summer evokes a mental picture of roses and fresh linen. They don’t have to be real roses, but if you happen to have a rose bush that you can borrow some blooms from – all the better. Autumn can be summed up in with one scent – apples! The scent of a cinnamon apple pie wafting through the house (even in candle form) makes you want to sit down and stay a while. Winter is host to many holiday scents, baked cookies, fresh evergreens, and a crackling fire.
When trying to decorate your home around all 5 senses you can use combination pieces. For example, a crackling fire appeals to 3 senses. It’s beautiful to look at, soothing to hear and wonderful to smell. A real apple pie is a beauty to behold, not to mention delicious to smell and taste. For a more practical and everyday approach window treatments come to mind – yes window treatments! Here is a place where you can do something beautiful, tactile, and perhaps it even muffles annoying outdoor sounds. Choose a window treatment that WOWs you when you walk in the room. I promise you will look at this window and smile every time you walk past. Next, chose a fabric that begs to be looked at and even touched. Silk has a wonderful reflective quality and is quite durable. When lined and interlined, silk drapery panels satisfy 3 of our senses – they are incredible to look at, soft to touch and incredibly insulating for sounds and warmth.
By now you’ve got the basics, but how you apply them to your home is up to you. However, I can guarantee that if you address all 5 senses throughout your house you’ll be sure to alleviate any “cold spots" that once existed!
Melissa Lauer is an interior decorator and custom window treatment designer. She has recently opened an online silk fabric store which specializes not only in exquisite silk fabrics from around the world, but also in custom silk drapery and silk bedding. With its reasonable prices and ease of use, www.onlinesilkfabricstore.com has become a favorite of both weekend decorators and professionals.
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