Pat Ross - Home Nesting Basics: 12 Simple Steps to Creating a Space Thats Truly Yours

Copyright 2003 by Pat Ross

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

First eBook Edition: April 2003

6th Avenue Books is an imprint of Hachette Book Group

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ISBN: 978-0-446-55734-4

Design from the Laura Ashby Fabric Library distributed by Kravet

Nesting is such a nice concept for the way we surround ourselves with the warmth, comfort, and the many aesthetic pleasures of our home place. More than ever, weve come to appreciate the so-called creature comforts as well as the numerous possessions that make up our private sanctuaries. If youve ever watched birds building a nest from scratch in a protected place, you know how hard they work at it. Twig by twig, string by string, their nest evolves. Theres a sense of stability when people can make needed and satisfying changes within their homes, rather than starting over in a new place.

When I decorated my very first real homea spacious one-bedroom apartment in New York CityI made every mistake in the book. With the loose change of a recent raise burning a hole in my pocket, I began to decorate with styles that other people considered chic. When confronted with a long wall of windows, I covered the expanse with heavy blue draperies, better suited to Versailles. A mile-long sofa looked out of proportion to the rest of the room, but it had come with a pedigree. Since Id developed no look of my own, I fell for the latest trends, including a lime green shag rug, its pile long enough to hide Easter eggs. A rug rake, recommended to keep the rug fluffed up, was stored in a hall closet, along with my sense of style and what really made me feel comfortable. In Home Nesting Basics, Id like to pass along all the things I wish Id known back then.

The dilemma arises when we have the desire for better nesting, but dont know how to make an impersonal space into a comfortable home, one in which we truly look forward to spending time. It doesnt soothe us to know that decorating decisions can make anyones head spin. Whether the project is furnishing and accessorizing an empty space from scratch or just replacing that sad threadbare sofa, we need to find our own ways to develop a style all our own, and then cut through the intimidating details to make it ours.

I created Home Nesting Basics to guide, solve, and reassure. Why feel trapped in a maze of decorating overload, when a commonsense step-by-step plan answers the familiar home decorating cries:

Where do I start?

How do I fix it?

How do I make it mine?

In plain language, Home Nesting Basics provides tried-and-true advice for getting things done quickly, effectively, and on budget. Becoming comfortable with interior design terms, methods, and principles makes it far easier to turn nesting frustrations into challenges, and makes nesting into something we look forward to doing.

Home decorators are as different as the styles they choose, and not everyone has the time or need to use a book as a kind of crash course. For that reason, Home Nesting Basics is meant to double as a friendly and well-grounded sourcebook to consult for a range of home decorating dilemmas. First-time home decorators and empty nesters alike come to appreciate that the most successful rooms dont just happen like a magic trick. Personal style is something that evolves over time. With every new project comes a new set of concerns. The basic questions dont go out of date with a new home-fashions trend, and neither do the tried-and-true solutions.

Decorating can become a roller-coaster ride at any given time, for people working on their own as well as those decorating with an involved partner. Since theres no substitute for the right decorating attitude, Home Nesting Basics provides time to reflect on more than the right wall color. Lighthearted questions help pinpoint emotional tight corners and blocks, such as dealing with too much stuff, the inevitable budget, and trying something new. Theres a playful list of thoughtful ways that partners working together can add a vital intangiblean open-minded atmosphereto the decorating equation.

The more I delved into the timeless concepts underlying successful interior designessentials such as balance, harmony, and colorthe more I began to see my own home decorating dilemmas and their possible solutions more clearly. Soon I was inspired to fix all the things that had never quite worked. With even the smallest victory (replacing an outdated lampshade), Id step back and say to myself, Now, why didnt I think of that before? Once Id seen the light, there was no turning back. I filled an empty corner with a palm tree, rearranged the entire bedroom, and started on a plan to warm up a guest bedroom. When I decided to set off objects in a bookcase by painting the back a pleasing shade of peach, I rediscovered how much simple touches of colorgood ol paintand sweat labor can effect dramatic change. My hope is that readers will be inspired, also, to enjoy the changes that better nesting can bring.

For almost a decade my passion for American crafts and folk art inspired me to own a popular trend-setting Madison Avenue shop, Sweet Nellie, that specialized in handcrafted decorative accessories and country pieces. The style was comfortable and joyfully eclectica look to come home to.

On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where I was raised, the 4-H Club was an essential part of living in the country. Today, when I look back, I wonder if I havent carried the clubs motto of Learn by Doing into my design career. The things I know about the world of design are uncertified by an official card or a diploma in interior design. Ive acquired my qualifications by reading, observing, asking questions, experimenting, and making plenty of mistakes. Sometimes, thats enough.

While I was creating the forerunner to this bookan on-line course that ran on the Barnes & Noble Web siteI was in the midst of a major move into a totally redesigned and updated Virginia farmhouse. The higher my stack of floor plans, budgets, paint charts, and pillow choices became, the more new decorating tricks I learned. If this book is more helpfully hands-on than others, its thanks to a country childhood and an excess of decorating stress in my present life.

The work on the farmhouse was lightened by the support of my design-conscious partner, Ken McGraw, who became my husband while I was writing this book.

Design from the Laura Ashby Fabric Library distributed by Kravet

You page through all sorts of magazines, clipping pictures of gorgeous rooms. You decide thats the look you want. You hurry out to buy the very same sofa before measuring the wall. When the sofas delivered, the only space where it fits is in the garage. Does this sound at all familiar?

When it comes to decorating my home, I never get it quite right. Does this sound like something you might utter, perhaps when the trendy kitchen wallpaper starts to get on your nerves after only a week? If so, relax. This decorating lament is a common one.