Creating A Cozy Spot

Having a warm & cozy spot to snuggle up is important as well as renewing. Creating intimacy in your home, or at least in one area of your home, requires a little imagination and some gut feelings. How does your family room or sunroom make you feel when you walk into it? Are the colors inviting? Is there comfortable seating? Winter is the best time to paint and spruce up your rooms because you can take advantage of all the white sales.

If you like to investigate with a "hands on" approach, hop in the car and go to your favorite design stores (listed under Interior Decorators & Designers). Look at the colors they're using as well as the kinds of furniture and fabrics. Observe the accessories like throws, candles and mirrors. You can get ideas from all kinds of stores like Pier 1, department stores and small boutiques. Picture in your mind how that still life would look in your home, take notes and try to understand how it made you feel. If this is a cozy spot in which you'd like to plop down right now and read a long novel, you've hit gold.

Do the same investigating on the web by scoping out stores, designers, designing sites, decorating websites and how-to forums. Begin to learn why you like or dislike certain elements, colors, etc. You're working toward a focus on a comfortable spot in your home.

Here are some easy steps:

Invest in a warm color for your walls, inexpensive draperies on simple pole rods with classy finials and a chenille throw (and maybe even a "bear" rug!). Move your main chair close to the couch, add some lovely greenery items, candles and statuary to the coffee table and you're set! Be sure to have a side table available to place your book and cup of tea on while you enjoy your warm surroundings.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the resource box is included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated, Lisa@HGPgal.com.

Lisa is a WAHM and decorating consultant in the central Illinois area. Get deco ideas and home décor at Decorating with HGPgal. Submit an article, sign up for our monthly newsletter & contest and join in the discussions on the DecoForum! http://www.HGPgal.com

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Auto industry executives, from left, General Motors  Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner; Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli; and Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the state of the auto industry.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)AP - The Senate's top Democrat has called off a planned vote this week on a $25 billion auto industry bailout. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he wanted to figure out some way to help Detroit's struggling Big Three but that efforts to do so had stalled.



Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)AP - A growing fear of economic deflation helped take the air out of the stock market Wednesday, and another white-knuckle final hour on Wall Street pushed the Dow Jones industrials under 8,000 to their lowest close since the financial meltdown began.



In this Oct. 20, 2004 file photo, then-Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., talks with a supporter during a campaign stop in Redfield, S.D. Democratic officials say Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. (AP Photo/Doug Dreyer, File)AP - Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday. The appointment has not been announced, but these officials said the job is Daschle's, barring an unforeseen problem as Obama's team reviews the background of the South Dakota Democrat.



Rev. Amos Brown,  a national board member of the NAACP, raises his hands as he speaks to a large crowd of supporters of same-sex marriage, as they cheer in front of San Francisco City Hall on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.  Thousands of demonstrators gathered to listen to speakers and protest the passage of Proposition 8, a ballot measure amending California's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. The event is part of a simultaneous protest planned in in hundreds of communities.  (AP Photo/Darryl Bush)AP - California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.



In a frame from a video provided by IntelCenter, posted on the Internet Thursday, April 13, 2006, al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri praises insurgents in Iraq. Al-Zawahri insulted Barack Obama in the terror group's first reaction to his election, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites. Al-Zawahri said in a message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, that Obama is 'the direct opposite of honorable black Americans' like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader. (AP Photo/IntelCenter)AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies.



Lavennia Coover of Decatur, Neb., who gave up her 11 year-old son under Nebraska's safe haven law on Sept. 24, 2008, fights back tears while testifying before the Judiciary Committee, during a public hearing in Lincoln, Neb., Monday, Nov. 17, 2008, on bills that would amend Nebraska's safe-haven law.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik)AP - A 30-day age limit in the Nebraska safe-haven law appears headed for final approval. The state Legislature voted 41-6 Wednesday to give second-round approval to the limit. A final vote is expected Friday and then the bill will go to Gov. Dave Heineman, who has said he would support a 30-day age limit.



This undated handout photo provided by Stephen Schuster, Penn State University, shows a ball of permafrost-preserved mammoth hair containing thick outer-coat and thin under-coat hairs. (AP Photo/Stephen Schuster, Penn State University)AP - Bringing "Jurassic Park" one step closer to reality, scientists have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth, a feat they say could allow them to recreate the shaggy, prehistoric beast in as little as a decade or two.



The remains of a sarcophagus believed to be King Herod's are on display during a press conference at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. Israeli archaeologist Prof. Ehud Netzer announced at a press conference Wednesday that analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of King Herod's mausoleum at Herodium provided researchers with further proof of the site being the actual grave site of the Jewish King. (AP photos/Bernat Armangue)AP - King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.



AP - Three male and three female inmates at a southern Indiana jail face charges that they devised a way to sneak between cell blocks to help pass their time behind bars by having sex.

In this Aug. 14, 2008 file photo, Boston Red Sox's Coco Crisp watches the flight of his RBI single off Texas Rangers' Tommy Hunter in the second inning of a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston. The Boston Red Sox have traded outfielder Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for reliever Ramon Ramirez. A baseball official confirmed the trade to The Associated Press Wednesday Nov. 19, 2008 on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been officially announced.  (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)AP - The Kansas City Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez on Wednesday.



G. Richard Wagoner (R), chairman and CEO of General Motors, testifies next to Robert Nardelli (2nd R), chairman and CEO of Chrysler, Alan Mulally (2nd L), President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, and Ron Gettelfinger (L), President of the United Auto Workers union, before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in a hearing on 'Examining the State of the Domestic Automobile Industry,' on Capitol Hill in Washington, November 18, 2008. (Molly Riley/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. auto executives went to Capitol Hill for a second day on Wednesday to argue their case for $25 billion in aid as legislators proposed changes to help a bailout pass Congressional and White House muster.



The Federal Reserve Board of Governors are seen during a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, March 28, 2006. (U.S. Federal Reserve/Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Federal Reserve officials slashed economic growth forecasts through 2009 and some believed even deeper interest rate cuts may be needed if growth slows further, minutes of their October policy meeting show.



Newlyweds Sharon Papo (R) and Amber Weiss (2nd R) pick up their marriage certificate after exchanging wedding vows at City Hall on the first full day of legal same-sex marriages in San Francisco, California June 17, 2008. (Erin Siegal/Reuters)Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand until it ruled.



Former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) applauds during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, in this August 27, 2008 file photograph. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)Reuters - President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Tom Daschle, a key early supporter and former U.S. Senate leader, as his top official to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, two Democratic sources said on Wednesday.



A shopper passes a window display at high-end luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton along 5th Avenue in New York, November 19, 2008. (Mike Segar/Reuters)Reuters - Consumer prices fell at a record pace in October and new-home building slumped to fresh lows, according to government reports on Wednesday that suggested the economy likely is already in a recession that may be long and deep.



Staff enter the Citigroup building in London's financial district of Canary Wharf November 18, 2008. (Kevin Coombs/Reuters)Reuters - Citigroup Inc faced a crisis of confidence on Wednesday as investors questioned the survival prospects of the U.S. banking giant, and its shares tumbled 23 percent to a 13-year low.



Senator Hillary Clinton is helped offstage by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, after her remarks at her South Dakota and Montana presidential primary election night rally in New York, June 3, 2008. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)Reuters - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has offered to allow ethics reviews of future business and charitable activities should his wife be picked by President-elect Barack Obama as secretary of state, Democrats familiar with the issue said on Wednesday.



A foreclosure sale sign sits in front of a house in Falls Church, Virginia, July 23, 2008. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)Reuters - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will loosen terms of its foreclosure-prevention effort so that the program, meant to backstop $300 billion in home loans, can be more effective, the agency said on Wednesday.



A picture taken in 2007 shows the Delight cargo ship anchored in the port of Hamburg, Germany. Somali pirate attacks have spun AFP - An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mother vessel" in the Gulf of Aden, the navy said Wednesday, as bandits demanded a ransom for a Saudi super-tanker seized in the most daring sea raid yet.



Thai soldiers secure an area outside Government House in Bangkok in October 2008. At least one Thai anti-government protester was killed and 21 were wounded in a pre-dawn bomb blast Thursday inside a demonstration site in Bangkok, emergency services said.(AFP/File/Nicolas Asfouri)AFP - At least one Thai anti-government protester was killed and 21 were wounded in a pre-dawn bomb blast Thursday inside a demonstration site in Bangkok, emergency services said.




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