From its name alone, the living room implies a place of comfort. It is a place for hanging out, for relaxing, for "living- rather than working or resting. Though the room is a personal haven, the way in which others regard and even react to the room may be dramatically different. Joan Kron offers an explanation for this variation in "The Semiotics of Home Décor- when she describes the symbolism behind home furnishings. Rather than displaying personal taste, Kron implies that people use décor communicate with guests (107). When analyzing my living room, I realize that though it is a place of comfort for me, the same items that give me "the sense of security and stability- that Kron states people desire from their possessions (104) make my living room uncomfortable for most guests.
One of the reasons that I like my living rooms is that it seems to highlight nature in many ways. The living room is a rather large room with many windows, two of which are very tall and let in a lot of light. The natural light highlights the colors in the wood flooring. The entrances to the rooms reinforce the idea of nature through the curves of arches rather than straight-angled doors. These elements are drawn together through the earth tones in the room: sage green, deep brown and indigo. Similarly, the simple arrangement of a small amount of furniture emphasizes the space of the room, like the vast expanses of the outdoors, to me. .
Rather than refresh the guests, however, for a guest, the room may seem cold an unfriendly. The cool colors may seem uninviting and "especially in the winter "the flooring might lead my guests to feel literally cold as well. The amount of empty space along with the "public- feeling one might have given the amount of windows, may prevent guests from having the "cozy- feeling of a warm and inviting place to spend time, to relax. .
While the decorations are perhaps the most interesting things in the room, they may also be distancing.
