A few years ago, DH asked for a giant flat screen tv for Father's Day ~ so sweetly and pitifully, that I couldn't say no . . . although I wanted to! The problem was that our family room has only one (semi)unbroken wall to it and anything on that wall competes with our hand-painted kiva fireplace in the corner right next to it. AND, to complicate matters even more, that wall (pretty much the entire house, actually) is made of real adobe bricks, which look awesome but are a bear to try and hang anything even kind of heavy on. Too heavy or put a nail in at the wrong angle and you can end up with a 3" wide and deep hole, where adobe dirt and hay fell out of the brick . . . and you can forget ever hanging anything on that brick again, even once it's patched! I really wanted an EC like Goldie's that had a wood back to hang the tv on, but it would have totally overwhelmed the room :~( A great credenza, like Haley's or Bepeace's, would have been nice but I was afraid to hang the tv on the adobe wall and I couldn't find one to hold ~AND HIDE~ all of our DVDs, tapes, and components. I wasn't so concerned with hiding the tv, but thought that the components and DVDs would clutter up the area too much. And then we found a tv lift console that solved all our problems- it hides lots of stuff inside of it and the tv sits down in it, as well, when we aren't watching it. When it's down, it doesn't compete with our fireplace, which is a huge bonus in our small family room! I do have to tell you, though, that it was a huge PIA to actually get that tv hung on the console's hanging bars! But now that it's done, we love it. The motor is quiet and smooth and the remote easy to use. Another downside, for anyone contemplating buying one, is that you can't put anything on the top of the console, decoration-wise, as the back two-thirds of the top section opens up as the tv slides up. We bought a narrow tower to sit next to it and I have a lamp on that. We also have a set of three framed Indian artifacts that we've hung over the console. They were a huge PIA to center, but they work with the kiva instead of competing with it. So, that's one more solution to consider, not so much to hide your tv, as ours seems to be up more than it's down like most people, I guess, but it is a tv hanging/storage place. I do want to make it VERY clear that I'm not criticizing leaving a tv out on display all the time. I think it's a perfectly ok thing to do. I just wanted to show you another option for any flat screen tv and explain why we went with this option. Lynn Our flat screen up, before we hung our art over it: And with the tv down:

The first house I lived in was on the Salt River Indian Reservation in AZ, just a wooden cottage raised up on concrete footings. Some years later - my Mom and Dad bought a brand new rancher in Phoenix- this was late 50's when the 6 story Westward Ho Hotel was the tallest building in Phoenix. Our house, as most were in the area, was a pink cinderblock built on a polished concrete slab. No two story homes or basements. The older areas had a few 2 story homes but that wasnt the norm,that was old Phoenix money or the Wrigleys! We had vinyl tile, popcorn ceilings and wool avocado wall to wall in the living room.Later shag rugs in the bedrooms!( pink and red for me!) When I was a teen we had a decorator that chose traditional furniture with a mediterranean Spanish flair and used pecan wood tables.All of the windows had WTs that would keep the sun out. Some people used to foil over their windows.I never heard of a roller shade until we moved back east to MD. Also never encountered stairs, except in the old Montgomery Ward store which was a story and a half balcony! I think we leaned traditional with a Spanish flair because my Mom grew up in a huge Victorian with land in the Maryland countryside and my Dad grew up in a big house in Mass,in a clapboard center hall colonial. I still live in MD in a small colonial revival house built in 1923. My taste has changed from Colonial Williamsburg to "cottage whatever". I think it is more comfy for us. and vintage thrift stuff mixes well with family pieces -the real colonial antiques and the victorian antiques. My neighborhood is mostly colonial revivals, quite a few Queen Anne Victorians as well as some gothic victorians. There are also quite a few 4 squares. Most all of the houses were built in the 20s with a few in the 1880s. Traditional decor seems to be the norm and seems to be age related- Potterybarn-esque for the younger crowd to Wiiliamsburg traditional and a couple -make- you -gulp Victorians( and not in a good way) Unfortunately the trend here in the last 10 years has been huge great room add ons- so you have many houses built in late 1880s early 20's with monstrous things sticking out the back. Definitely not in keeping with the vintage of the house. Inside, these rooms are beautiful but lack the charm that is found in the rest of the house.Crossing into the great room is like entering another country, one that has little to do with the rest of the house.Looks like they all use the same floorplan. Predictible. Talk about stereotypes, Aunt Jane and Lynne no offense, but when I was growing up, to us Arizonians ya'll were Easterners to us! Bit of snobs we were. Still am as far as Mexican food! LOL I equate the Kokopelli Southwestern style of decor with the big hair of the 80s! Never saw any of it growing up in AZ, just in the East and thought who are they fooling with that fake stuff?

Gayle, that has to be the most bizarre Christmas story ever! What a movie it would make, lol. Purely sentimental here! We never had kids, but that didn't stop us from having a young-at-heart tree. The fresh tree has always had an eclectic mix of handmade and store bought ornaments ... crocheted snowflakes and angels, stuffed Kliban cats, Spanish moss wreaths that dh made almost 30 years ago (still use 'em), terra cotta, metal, resin, straw, wood, brass, etc. Some ornaments have been retired, but I can't bring myself to toss 'em. I keep them in a separate storage bin along with the photo cards from years past. Never owned a ball ornament until last year when I bought a dozen mercury glass balls from Restoration Hardware. They're beautiful, but very heavy. This year I added glass icicles. Wish I had a couple dozen more of those in the shorter lengths. In years past I've strung popcorn and cranberries for garland. Switched to freshly harvested Spanish moss for a few years. Didn't have any garland the past couple years. This year added some beechwood cranberry garland. I love colored lights on the tree. Tried white lights for a couple years, but switched back. The 4' artificial tree in the dining room is pre-strung with white lights. I guess that tree has a nature theme with a lot of birds, fish, acorns, a few bears and a moose. After Christmas I glitz it up with Mardi Gras lights and beads until Fat Tuesday.

Wow this is interesting. I feel like the answers are all over the place. That makes it fun. : ) Thanks for doing a comparison of your wardrobe and decor, everyone! In terms of style, I think my decorating is pretty close to what I wear: comfortable and dressy casual. I love wearing long, flowy, ultra-comfy skirts. No heels for me. The last pair I wore (almost wrote war, and nearly left it...) was nearly 20 years ago when my mom insisted I wear them with my wedding dress. No more! LOL (I dearly love my mom, but if I'd have had my way, I would have worn some cute little sneakers!) I also like some feminine touches in my decorating: florals, battenberg lace trim on curtains, eyelet, anything to give a soft, pretty touch without it being overkill. But, I also like plaids and will use those occasionally, too. I enjoy quilts, and see them as artwork as much as blankets. I have enjoyed hanging a variety of quilts on display, and I've flopped them over the backs of couches through the years because they are so much fun to look at. Color is where it gets trickier. I have many deep toned colors in my closet. Deep purple, rich turquoise, wine red, russet and chocolate browns, a few khakis, navy, black, and very.little.white (it makes me look ill.) I have red hair, and try to pick items that work well with it. I also love wearing pale aqua, and almost any shade of green, (well...except Kermit the frog green--it makes me look like I'm about to...croak. Seriously.) When I was making artwork, pre-kiddos, I also loved working with deep jewel tones. They were vibrant and delicious! I'm not sure how I'd feel living in walls covered in those vibrant colors though. I wish there were a paint display house, where I could go and sit in different colored rooms and just "feel" the colors for a while. That would be wonderful. Or they could be distracting, since I'd be staring and evaluating the whole time. I guess it's good that we don't dress exactly like our surroundings, or we'd blend in too much, just like some of our pets.