by Ruth Franz Higdon

Created on: June 23, 2009   Last Updated: June 28, 2009

The focus of a room should reflect who you are. A room can be picture perfect. It can be lovely or chic, log cabin cozy, eclectic, super modern or jungle wild. Rooms can also reflect a period of time and place, your heritage and culture. Any one can be a winner. But is it you?

What makes a room speak out about who lives there is a clue to finding your focal point.

A welcoming entry way should serve your purpose and can also satisfy an aesthetic response. A table with a mirror is good for a quick look at yourself on the way out, as well as being a spot for something practical and something decorative..

Strolling on through, the living room is often next and is where you should take center stage in your own environment. The focus can be a terrific grouping for conversation: chairs, sofa and coffee table. To be creative and original stay away from cookie cutter decor for your rooms. Group seating is lovely and picturesque but only if that's what your lifestyle says about you. If you live alone, for example, and have limited visitors, the focal point of your main living space may be a comfortable chair or sofa surrounded by bookshelves. Your drop in visitors will find you there and gravitate to that spot as well. Smaller chairs for them, or even ottomans serve the purpose.

In another instance the focal point may be the windows. I once lived in an old fashioned apartment building where my main living space had two 10 ft high windows. The changing light throughout the day was a constant source of pleasure, changing the ambiance of my room along with the world outside, the weather and the sunsets. That was definitely the focal point of my room.

Use photographs that tell a story about an interesting career or your unique and personal travels; these can be arranged to become the focus of your decor. A focal point can be seating, collections, a fireplace, windows, lighting and even color. If you have a special affinity with color, it could become the main attraction. Let's talk about color. Think of your own coloring and personality. What colors do you like to wear? The fact is, you'll be wearing the colors you choose for your walls and furnishings. How you fit in with these colors is meaningful so that you and your color scheme become one, as a set, and should play off each other. In other words, the colors in your room should make you look good. In that sense, color is the unsuspecting focal point.

Shakespeare said it nicely: All the world's a stage, he said. So you see, your home's your stage. Then he said And all the men and women merely players . . . You, therefore, are the lead personality in your own rooms and your visitors become the players, or even something like an audience. Tell a story. Find the core to the plot, which is your life. Shakespeare was not thinking of interior decoration when he wrote these words, but you can use his philosophy to your creative advantage.

These ideas apply in any room including bathrooms and kitchens. Your theme will become a visual source of interest and therefore a focal point. Be original and without following someone else's idea of design, you can create your own room presentation. Bring out the best of yourself, and decorate by understanding that the focal point of your living space is your identity and its relationship to your home.

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