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Since this is the style issue of Her Nashville, I thought I’d delve into style as translated in home décor. Undoubtedly, how we adorn our homes is often akin to how we dress up to present ourselves to the world or dress down to be cozily, comfortably alone (atrocity in the laundry notwithstanding).

A sassy hat and a pair of double-take-inducing shoes can really spice up an outfit, right? Ditto that idea for a room. By sprucing up the highs and lows, you can transform a room’s look and make everything in between seem more upscale and fabulous.

Ceiling the Deal

This is Nashville. We’re so accustomed to seeing stylish celebrities in fabulous digs, it takes a lot to get us to turn our heads. And by “a lot” I mean “the likes of Oscar-winning, stratospheric star Gwyneth Paltrow.” Earlier this year, Ms. Paltrow took up temporary residence in Music City while shooting a feature film. Even the most seasoned Nashvillians counted glimpses of Gwyneth as true star sightings. The Shakespeare in Love star in line at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack?

As the deadline for my June “Her Home” column loomed, Nashville appeared to be doomed.

In one cataclysmic weekend, flooding swallowed my chosen hometown and left many friends’ houses waterlogged, their cherished possessions bobbing in soupy silt. When the sun rose the Monday after to reveal a saturated, murky mess, it seemed silly — vapid, really — to prattle 700 words’ worth of home décor trends just to meet a deadline. Not when so many “her homes” were rendered unlivable. Not amidst so much loss.

When it comes to draperies and window treatments, I’ll admit I have my hang ups. In my world, what goes around the window ends up hanging for a long while, as I just don’t have the money to spare replacing them every other year, nor do I have the chutzpah to conquer drapery installation more than twice a decade.

I’ve been called a “furniture freak” more than once in my life, perhaps because I was born in Hickory, North Carolina — a pulse point for the furniture industry. I’ve always been preternaturally drawn to sofas, chairs, tables, and the like. In junior high I was as passionate about my preferred wood stains as I was about Duran Duran and leg warmers. By my early 20s, I’d taken to identifying pieces by period, though I could only afford assemble-myself selections.

Do you realize there’s a whole industry focused on “surfaces” for the home? Until I got a gig doing PR for a tile company 12 years ago, I’d been a humble consumer who never pondered the fact that countless companies exist to create the stuff we use to make or affix to the level planes in our homes. Think about it: we’re quite literally surrounded by surfaces that need to be constructed and covered.

The theme for this month’s Her — “I Do” — inspired me to go back to basics, to write a kind of primer on bed dressing. After all, the soon-to-be-wedded will presumably register for new bedding; better put in for primo stuff while the getting’s good.
Yet the content herein is relevant for all; whether sleeping single or doubling up, everyone deserves fine linens and pillows on which to rest their weary bones. Here are tips for selecting and caring for linens.

Count on Thread Counts

One of the great mysteries in the history of home décor may be the “Wallpaper Caper.” What really caused the demise of the formerly beloved patterned, pasted wall adornment? Did the paint marketers do an exceptional job? Did society tire of all the scraping and seams? Was paper too closely aligned with the now nearly extinct wood panel?

Apparently my friend Laura’s panache for fashion could be contained ... in a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring custom closet-slash-dressing room.