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My alternate title for this article is "Home is where your heart is."

Being at home is a unique feeling that can be found in life's little joys. Drinking ice, cold orange juice on a warm, humid day, the warm feel of fuzzy slippers before you go to bed are some of the cozy experiences that you can relate to home. Being home are these comforts and more, it is being around the people you love, around the things you adore, and in the house that reflects who you are.

This is why the way you design and decorate your house is more than a hobby or another thing to do it is one of the significant things that affects your life and general well being. How does it feel to come home, sit on an uncomfortable couch with a distasteful color, while you stair at the ceiling at a dingy bulb? Would you hang a picture next to your bathroom mirror that is as alien to you as an unwelcome visitor? The little and big elements of your home makes your environment, and affects both action and mood. Your home dcor should bring comfort and joy, and can be an avenue for self-expression as well. What are the things you can do to be more at home in your own home?

Choose colors that reflect who you are, and at the same time, give it a hint of surprise. What is your favorite color? Is it peach? Pink? It is easy to fall in love with one color, but remember, nothing is more uninteresting than monotony. Take the color that is closest to your heart and take a color that surprisingly blends with it. Pink with orange. Peach with Apple Green. 2008 is the year of odd matches, with colors and combinations being bolder than ever. Be bold and get out of your color comfort zone.

Put a little of yourself in every room of your house. This is going beyond idyllic pictures in picture frames. Decorate with memories! Hang the apron you used in your first ever job when in the kitchen wall. Let that starfish that you and your special someone hang from the ceiling of your bedroom. Just be sure that your are not randomly placing objects everywhere you wouldn't want your home to look like a children's museum! Use your natural eye to determine if the positioning of your memory decor is flattering to the rest of your design scheme. Also, be creative! Homemade dcor feels more authentic than store-bought dcor, and lends a unique identity to your home. A scrapbook is more decorative than a photo album.

This may sound odd, but let your home smell like home! The worst thing is to come home to something other than the smell of freshly cooked dinner. There are a lot of kinds of home fragrance products to choose from- from sprays to plug-in smell machines. I chose a powder scent for my home, because it reflects my love for babies. What scent reflects your passions best?

There are many ways to decorate your home, but you can only do it in one way. Let this one way be a healthy self-expression, and a way for your friends and family to get to know you better. After all, your home is not only where you eat, sleep and rest, it is a huge part of who you are.

Learn more about this author, Liza Abigail Copuyoc.
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