In-Laws Coming? Decorating Tricks, Quick!

Rose Gilbert
Sun, 28 Sep 2014 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

Q: I'm embarrassed to ask this question (don't print my name!): What's the quickest way to fill up a room? We've just moved into our first house-house, and my in-laws (who helped us afford it) are coming East to visit for Thanksgiving. We both work, so there's not much time for shopping. I want things to be as cozy as possible — quick!

A: If they are right-thinking in-laws, they'll get the picture. If not, write a welcome letter — even an email — in advance, pointing out your future plans for your new home.

Future, just not by Thanksgiving, plans, remind them.
Updated: Mon Sep 29, 2014

Q: I'm embarrassed to ask this question (don't print my name!): What's the quickest way to fill up a room? We've just moved into our first house-house, and my in-laws (who helped us afford it) are coming East to visit for Thanksgiving. We both work, so there's not much time for shopping. I want things to be as cozy as possible — quick!

A: If they are right-thinking in-laws, they'll get the picture. If not, write a welcome letter — even an email — in advance, pointing out your future plans for your new home.

Future, just not by Thanksgiving, plans, remind them.

You might even risk asking for their ideas and suggestions. Suggestions, not dictates.

Relax — by the next visit, they probably won't even remember.

Meanwhile, there are things you can accomplish in precious little time. Color fills a room like nothing else. And painting takes a scant weekend; half a weekend if you only paint two walls, a design trick the pros often evoke to make a room feel "decorated."

Whatever furniture you do have, club it together into cozy seating groups: For example, sofa in the middle with a low table in front, flanked by two or three chairs. Even if the table is temporary — say, a board balanced on a basket — and the chairs came in from the lawn, such a gathering always says "home."

Be sure to add lamps. Light only from above feels like Wal-Mart, pressing down and making sad shadows. Perch table lamps on packing boxes, if you must, or hang a fixture from the ceiling. The idea is to form a warm circle of light where people gather. In the dining room, bring out the candles, lots and lots of candles.

Also, mind the floors. Long, gleaming expanses of hardwood or tile can look and feel chilly. You can lay a room-sized rug in half an afternoon, which will not only make the space look dressed and feel warmer, it will help absorb those lonesome echoes you get in half-empty rooms.

Speaking of empty, get busy filling any shelves with books, tchotchkes, potted plants, photographs (got any of your in-laws?).

Don't have shelves? There's an instant solution, thanks to York Wallcoverings. The books so casually arranged on the shelves we show here are all faux. Ditto the shelves themselves: York's two-panel trompe l'oeil Bookshelf Mural is a witty way to impressing the in-laws' with your extensive home "library" ("American Classics" collection, yorkwall.com).

Q: We have a chance to buy two big handmade clay pots. My cousin had them shipped from a village in Italy. She says they are made of something called Impruneta clay. I'm wondering if they'd be safe outside on our front steps.

A: Yes, and on your children's front steps, and maybe your grandchildren's, too. Clay from Impruneta, a small village in Tuscany, has been prized since the Middle Ages for pots and tiles, some of which have been around almost that long. Your cousin's pots may be younger — shops like Restoration Hardware now bring them to the U.S.

Shhhh! Library puts up a good front but hides a witty secret — it's all a charming fake. Photo: Courtesy York Wallcoverings.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Manhattan Style," and six other books on interior design. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.CREATORS.com.