I was watching Brain Games on NatGeo last night, and they were talking about how we are wired to be followers. Really? Not what I wanted to hear. Our brains our telling us to follow along with what everyone else is doing. But I guess it’s built into our DNA for survival – take cues from what’s around us so we don’t miss the danger just behind the next trend.
Seriously though, we are barraged by advertising that tells us what the latest and greatest styles are that we HAVE to have. Our homes should look like a carefully staged catalog page. But that’s not reality. What we really have to do – at least when it comes to furniture - is figure out what works in our own homes. Still stylish, but really what fits for how we live, and where we are in our lives. What makes sense when we are alone is entirely different than what happens when there are kids or pets around.
According to Candace Olsen, “That's not to say if you have a busy lifestyle with kids and pets, you can't have a gorgeous, stylish home. Companies have caught on and now function can be stylish, too. For instance, there are great-looking, durable fabrics that are made to handle extreme wear and tear. Some are even made with Teflon. Sometimes you might pay a little more for a high-performance material that looks great and can stand the test of time.”
Check out this fabulous chair. It swivels and glides, it’s soft and white (OMG), but it’s made out of Sunbrella fabrics, which are so easy to clean (even with bleach!) and are also fade resistant.
If you keep this in mind and choose wisely, you can go ahead – use and enjoy your furniture, and it will still look good for years to come.
-KL
