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Design Dilemma: Decorating A Vacation Home

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If you’re fortunate enough to own a vacation home, you may have already experienced the daunting question of how to decorate it. On one hand, you want your place to be comfortable and stylish. You also want furniture that is of high enough quality that it can withstand punishment from guests but not of so expensive that you’ll be worrying about stains and scratches every time someone sets a glass down. And if you rent out your vacation home, there’s another factor to consider: your decor has to appeal to people other than yourself.

So how do you handle this quandary? A few ideas:

1) Go for hardworking floors. Before you consider anything else, consider what’s under your feet. Whatever you find there will have a big impact on your life forever after.  Floors need to be resistant to spills and accidents, impervious to high traffic, able to stand up to sandy shoes, sea water, slushy snow boots, or whatever you’re most likely to track in from the great outdoors.  Tile and stone floors can be an excellent choice for both beach and mountain settings, as they are both easy to clean and resistant to water. Hardwood floors can also be a good choice. Avoid wall-to-wall carpeting, laminates and soft wood floors which don’t handle water well.

2) Make it personal. A vacation home is an excellent opportunity to indulge in whimsicality — after all, your second home is the backdrop to some of your most memorable times.  Your decor should encourage that feeling of specialness, not detract from it.  (Think of how inviting that generic motel look is.)  Give your vacation home a spark of originality by shopping flea markets, adding in quirky antiques, hanging interesting artwork. It’s a bit  like designing a stage set for a play. You want the design to say something about who you are and to suggest a specific ambiance which will hopefully help foster a relaxing, enjoyable vacation.

3) Keep it casual. Keep things informal by adopting a well-worn look that invites you to put your feet up. Who wants to be worried about watermarks on the coffee table and stains on the rugs? Distressed and weathered furniture alleviate stress as the time-worn look is part of the charm. Mismatched furniture suggests history and the passage of time, which can lend a sense of rootedness to a vacation home. While sleek and highly polished interiors are beautiful to look at, they can rarely stand up to the wear and tear that results from a happy vacation.

4) Keep it simple. A vacation home is not the place to display your collections. You don’t want too much furniture (other than a lot of chairs to accomodate big dinners), nor too much clutter. The goal is a restful feeling that gives you the mental space you need to relax. In addition, if you host many houseguests or rent your home out, less clutter means fewer objects to get broken!

Images: Bravacasa.it