The Recipe For Right

The best compliment I've ever gotten was from a bunch of 14 year old boys. It seems that my son and his friends were sitting around one day challenging each other to a game of "whose house would you want to live in if you couldn't live in your own?" Our house won.

I'm pretty sure none of these kids were thinking about the quality of my gorgeous chartreuse velvet sofa, or how long it took to collect all of the very cool decor objects we have, or even the stories behind some of our fine antiques. Doubt it. And in spite of the fact that my house is small with only one bathroom, and we don't have a super-sized family room or an X-box, and everyone is absolutely REQUIRED to use coasters under penalty of death, my house still won, and I know why.

Comfort. We won on coziness and comfort. Because even though 14 year-old boys can't articulate it, they do know what it feels like to be comfortable and I’ll bet they can even sense when a room just feels “right.” They may not realize it but they are responding to that yummy feeling you get when you're surrounded by quality and eye candy in perfect proportions. And I'll go one further and say that they are also appreciating, on a cellular level, the fact that in my house, form slavishly follows function - and that instantly brings about an exhale.

It comes down to balance, and even kids can feel when a house works. When your house has the right furniture and is well-edited, when the stuff you have is useful and beautiful, when it feels authentic and real because real people live in it, you've nailed comfort. As William Morris famously said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Luckily, I have plenty of both.