Pacific Sun

August 11-August 17, 2004

Read ‘em and dream

Inspiration from the latest design and decorating books

by Larken Bradley

It’s Christmas in August thanks to an avalanche of just-released interior design and home decorating books to enjoy in what little remains of your summer reading idyll. This season’s offerings range from the depths of fancy to the heights of sophistication and everything in between.

In Decorating with Funky Shui: How to Lighten Up, Loosen Up, and Have Fun Decorating Your Home (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004), www.DecoratingWithFunkyShui.com, sister authors Kitty O’Neil and Jennifer O’Neil, both Bay Area residents, cajole readers to apply some “fun-damental” design philosophies to home interiors.

In a playful spin on feng shui, the Chinese art of furniture and object placement, the O’Neils tease readers with Rules of Fun such as “Boring bedclothes in colors like khaki and mauve are a wet blanket on your love juju.”

Each room should have a focal point with a playful object as its pièce de résistance, say the pair, and the goofier the better. A tarnished tuba, a collection of Eiffel Towers, or any other group of “tcha tcha tchotchkes,” disparaged by some as dust collectors or clutter, in fact symbolize abundance, the sisters argue.

A couple of jokers who sound like they’d be great dinner party guests, the authors look askance at products sold at every high-end mall in the country, goods which make for homogenized sameness at every turn. “Live in a beige house, live a beige life,” they warn.

In keeping with feng shui’s goal of attracting good fortune and releasing artistic constriction, the sisters suggest “a multitude of candelabra on your grand piano liberates your inner Liberace.”

Or to “spark up an inferno of fun,” articles of the same color can be grouped together, such as “a photograph of a fire hydrant, red candles and a Matchbox fire truck.”

©2004 Pacific Sun.