I recently had the opportunity to accompany my daughter on a trip to Italy, where she performed with her musical ensemble in a number of cities across Tuscany, including Florence, Sienna, Pisa and Vecchio. During our stay, I had the opportunity to visit several homes and I was delighted by the fact that Italians have a true and natural sense of design, not one of contrived ambition. In fact, in Italy (and indeed all of Europe), you will find a casual sense of design — a feeling that design is truly just a part of everyday living. Be it dark wood or painted renaissance furniture mixed with cool modern lines, the result is an eclectic look and one that I see as a natural reflection of the Italians’ rich history and culture. Their homes are beautiful because they contain things that say, “This is me. This is my history, this is the piece of furniture that I inherited from my grandmother.” They don’t try to change things to become something – they are very comfortable with what they have and who they are.
Contrast that with what we frequently see in the United States, where the look of many homes all too often are shaped by a lack of confidence and the desire to have things match, to be trendy or to be showy and on display. This kind of design robs us of our history and makes our homes feel stiff and unnatural, like a shirt that we haven’t worn long enough to be comfortable in.
Europeans understand that although the architectural envelope of their homes may date back hundreds of years or more, it doesn’t mean everything they put in them has to be period-specific as well. They have mastered the art of mixing the old and the new and they do it with casual ease and beautiful results.
We in America should take a lesson from their book and remind ourselves that an antebellum home doesn’t have to look exactly like 1840 on the inside. Whether your home is old or new, don’t acquire or get rid of things just so everything matches. Furnish your home with things you love and furniture that has value or meaning to you. Then make everything around these pieces work. To do so, you may have to adapt the dream design you originally envisioned, but in the end, your space will be more real to you and ultimately, more comfortable to live in.
I cherish the challenge of finding the right fabrics, colors and textures to pull together a room of seemingly “unmatched” objects. Not only is it fun to showcase a client’s individuality and personal history by incorporating their great-aunt’s 1920’s desk into their 2007 décor, but it’s also rewarding to know that we have extended the life of an item that already has tremendous sentimental value to them.
Italians and Europeans in general, believe living comfortably and naturally is as valuable as building equity in their homes. They may live in the same apartment for 30 years or more, but they demonstrate a commitment to making that space – one which they may not even own – theirs and not something that looks like it came out of a design book.
The goal for a well-designed home should be to elicit from guests a gut-reaction that says, “There is something unique about this house that makes me feel welcome/comfortable/delighted/spirited/uplifted” or whatever superlatives might enter their heads at that moment — and not one of “Oh…I love that couch. Where did you get it?”
That is the true essence of living well.