Being Well-Tempered Means Being Well-Mannered
Coming up with a decor for your home that’s both attractive and comfortable can take time and effort. In the end, though, it’s worth it if being in the space makes you feel good. Getting just the right look for each room can be a challenge but it can be fun too.
During my career I’ve had the occasion to visit many people’s homes… numbering in the thousands. Having spent so much time visiting others’ dwellings I’ve made some observations and formed some opinions about the places where people live (at least in the U.S. and western Europe). A person’s home tells a lot about the person himself (and the family). I’ve learned a lot sitting across someone at their kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee.
Nearly everyone shares certain common items, like televisions for example. It’s rare to be in a home that doesn’t have a least one and many have several. I’ve been in houses that had a TV in every room, including the bathroom. Computers are also becoming a regular sight found in homes as they’ve become increasingly popular and less expensive to purchase. It’s also apparent that most every home will contain at least one ‘collection’ of sorts.
Whether it’s matchbooks, golf balls or teaspoons, collecting a group of items is only half the battle. Once acquired, these objects must be properly displayed in order to be fully appreciated. Think of a museum. Not only do they obtain artifacts, they skillfully and attractively display them as well.
Home displays for various collections can take many forms. As teens we used wooden boards and cement blocks for our stuff. As incomes grew and furniture was upgraded we went to tempered glass shelves and these worked well.
We’ve recently found something new to display our things, in the form of ‘black floating shelves’. They’re called ‘floating’ because they attach to the wall without the use of any visible hardware and, when installed, appear to float on the wall. They almost seem to defy gravity when in place and yet are strong and can still take a load.
This type of shelving is extremely versatile for the display of almost anything. They can be configured in almost any design and they’re much stronger than they seem when looking at them in operation. Some of these units are actually rated at 100 pounds! This makes them even useable to display your books. You have lots of options in this area. There are some good sites online that can give you all the info you need.
