Open a home decorating magazine these days and you'll see beds that look as if they have been slept in, living rooms where people eat popcorn while watching TV and club chairs where someone snuggles under a comforter and sips tea while reading a book.
Hey, what's going on? It looks as if people actually live in these rooms.
Call it the "lived-in look" or "comfort decor." It goes beyond the casual-to-a-fault trend of couch potatoes. This is snuggling in style -- a way to obtain casual chic that looks "undecorated" but tastefully put together. Suddenly, people have mustered the courage to be cozy.
Mario Buatta, the New York City designer who made a reputation on the expensive but comfy look of down-cushioned sofas and collection-filled rooms, provided the inspiration for comfort decor the mid-1980s, way before it hit mainstream America.
"Life is rough out there," he told a United Press International reporter as he motioned to the street outside. "People want to come home to warmth and comfort. They are tired of cold, impersonal rooms. There is a new attention to detail -- not clutter, but personal effects that make you feel cozy."
During the 1980s, many of us used home as a place to change our clothes on the way to the gym or the latest trendy restaurant. Home didn't have to be comfortable because we didn't spend a lot of time there. But times have changed. Baby boomers settled down, had children and too many bills to paint the town. Then came recession, the war and a hunkering-down mentality.
"We have become more secure about our surroundings," says Tom Williams of Federal Hill Interiors. "We have gone through cocooning. The next legitimate step is comfort decorating. It has lot to do with our lifestyle. We are mature and secure. These days we want our friends to be comfortable, not impressed. Just like we have become secure enough to serve our guests roast chicken with potatoes, our homes don't have to be flashy anymore."
Federal Hill Interiors is one of several local design firms that works with clients to achieve a stylish design without shouting, "I hired an interior designer." Their definitions of what makes a place "homey" may be slightly different, but their goals are the same -- to produce an attractive room where guests and residents can feel comfortable taking their shoes off and putting their feet up.
The first impression of a room is the furniture. Does it look comfortable or does it shout "Don't touch me"? Our designers agree that the easiest way to achieve the comfort look is to fill the room with plump, overstuffed sofas, wing chairs with footstools and plenty of pillows. Bigger furniture always looks more comfortable. So does furniture upholstered with plaids or wool rather than a fussy fabric. But it doesn't have to be the Mario Buatta look. Comfort can come in contemporary as well as traditional styles.
Where the furniture is placed is also important, according to Angela Cambouris of Perimeters in Overlea.
"Furniture should be arranged in conversation areas for people to sit in and talk as opposed to a room arranged just to look good. People are beginning to realize that they don't have to line up their furniture around the corners of a room."
But cushy furniture alone won't make a room cozy. One of the keys to cozy is accessories, particularly collections -- paperweights, picture frames, glass animals, snuff bottles, whatever expresses the owner's personality. Aim for an eclectic rather than a matched look.
"If you do a wall of pictures, the sizes have to be varied," Mr. Williams says. "You can make a table-top collection of pictures look homey with rather ornate frames, old silver. Part of what looks homey is old and used. These things should look like something you have had for a long time."
The items should look like they were collected over time and come together naturally on a table top. Donna Foertsch of DLF Design Associates Inc. in Timonium says an end table needs more than just a lamp and one other item. Instead, surround the lamp with a miniature plant in a ceramic pot and three to five antique boxes or paperweights.
"Designers hope to find clients who collect something," adds Ms. Cambouris of Perimeters. "When you are starting from scratch, collections can give you inspiration for a room. Oftentimes the hardest part of decorating a room is putting in the finishing touches. Those touches have to be their personality, not mine."
Dan Huber of Huber Design Associates in Fells Point says he likes to mix the client's existing possessions with his new design plans. This may mean taking a chair that looks like a white elephant and giving it a new life with reupholstery, or merely arranging a collection in a new way.
"Often they have things that have been handed down to them or things that have been stored in the attic that they haven't looked at for 10 years. They have no idea what to do with them. A professional eye can look at these old things differently and bring them into the new environment. We want to surround the client with things that have been meaningful to them in their lives."
That's exactly what he did when a client insisted that the club chair and large ottoman he purchased in the 1970s had to become part of the redesign. Reupholstery made the chair fit in and the client comfortable.
"He still has the chair he really cherishes," Mr. Huber says. "There was no reason to get rid of it. It is part of the client's high comfort level. Not only is he relaxing in a piece of furniture that has aged with him, but the environment hasn't changed so much, so he feels psychologically more comfortable."
Although many designers prefer the look of a wall of books to provide visual interest and a break from pictures and paintings, they say the bookshelf doesn't have to be a $10,000 built-in. If you shop around and ask for word-of-mouth recommendations, you can find built-ins for under $2,000. Or invest just a couple of hundred dollars in bookshelves from a consignment shop or IKEA.
Ever wonder why a room feels cozier with a fireplace or with some beautiful architectural moldings compared to a simple box room in a modern home? For one thing, architectural elements are a reminder of European elegance and simpler times.
Dan Huber says his firm designed interiors for a couple who bought a new house in Ellicott City. The couple felt uncomfortable with the lack of architectural details that they had gotten used to in their former homes in Baltimore and Tennessee. The answer: a new wooden fireplace mantel, flanked by built-in cabinets.
"We basically gave the room architectural detail that it lacked," he says. "The walls were covered with deep red grass cloth to warm the room. We gave it new window treatments and new carpeting. If you look at a photo as the room once was you would see a shell of a space. Afterward you can appreciate the comfort these people must now feel."
Comfort may mean different things to different people, but it all boils down to a feeling that the room evokes.
"You have to feel you can touch anything or sit down on anything," Mr. Williams of Federal Hill Interiors adds. "It's as if the room were designed to be used. It's a reflection of the people. People dictate the feeling of a home. If they are secure enough, they can express their personality."
Comfort decor primer
What are those special characteristics that make one home look like the kind of place where you want to sit back and relax and another a place you can't wait to leave?
Here are the elements of comfort, according to four local interior designers:
*Furniture -- The chairs and sofas should be overstuffed and made of fabrics that can withstand some punishment, like wool or pretty but durable blends. Consider a chair with ottoman and floor lamp for reading.
*Draperies -- The fluid look with soft draping over curtain pegs and slight puddling at the floor gives more comfort than the straight, severe lines of verticals or mini-blinds.
*Throws -- A throw or a folded blanket over a chair looks like an invitation for cuddling. But only in winter. It looks inappropriate in warm weather.
*Trims and tassels -- Add fringe to pillows or tassels to drawer pulls to give an elegant, Old World feel.
*Collections -- Too many matched items produces a stiff, contrived look. Use different textures and sizes. Use candlesticks of different heights and textures. Or consider some lovely ceramic boxes. Odd numbers of items work better than even numbers.
*Books -- A wall of books adds warmth and interest to a room. But nix the unattractive paperbacks and the cookie-cutter look of matching bindings. More attractive coffee table books can work well in a pile on a table.
*Plants and trees -- A real or silk ficus tree can fill up a corner and add natural greenery. Consider a couple of big plants rather than a cluster of small ones.
*Architectural details -- A boxy room can look sterile. Add crown moldings, chair railings or a beautifully carved mantel.