Home Interior Decor: Bedroom, Kitchen, Bathroom Decorating

Decoration with a specific theme in mind has its advantages and disadvantages. It's time we talked about the former. In the previous series, Decorating Using Color Psychology, we discussed how colors embody polar emotions and character traits -- and that everybody is free to explore any of them.

But too broad themes can paralyze creative thinking and prevent us from reaching our goals. Color gives some direction, but it is not enough. In this series about seasons and months of the year, I would like to suggest more narrow, familiar ideas that nonetheless allow much room for individual creativity and eventually great fun.

Because seasonal changes are a powerful catalyst for indoor changes. Nature influences us all the time -- the smells, the colors, the sounds -- they inspire and touch our bodies and souls. We know that something is different when the snow melts and that first butterfly flutters before our eyes.

The time of seasonal changes is so exciting and life-affirming that it would be a shame to restrict it to the outdoors. And while buying seasonal flowers and opening the windows to let in some spring breeze are a good way to let your apartment know about what's happening on the outside, there is a place for a more stable and constant reflection of nature. Stable and constant means, among other things, art.

In terms of permanence, wall art is uniquely positioned as an in-between form of decoration. It can hang there for years but it can also be moved, replaced or removed altogether. It's highly mobile and basically is the subject to the owner's will. These are the good things about wall art.

The great things about wall art are: it is inexpensive (and often cheap), and it indulges the beautiful side of our souls. Decorating according to seasons allows to change the look of the room and the apartment every month, or at least every season.

Confession: I don't have a favorite season.  In this series I would like to present traditional, as well as modernist, abstract wall art that relates to the seasons in different ways. Summer art will include many yellows and greens -- and a lot of light splashing. Autumn art will focus on reds and browns and blues -- a combination of decreasing warmth and increasing cold. Winter will be mostly white and black, with snow and bare branches sticking out. Finally, spring will display a rainbow of colors and a chaos of growth and birth.