Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

You've found the home of your dreams. You fell in love with it because of the decorating. The financing went through without a hitch and your furniture's all been moved into place. It's perfect. Absolutely perfect.

And that's the problem.

It's not yours. "Move-in condition" sounded mighty appealing at first, but after moving day you realized that the place looks like something you'd love to visit. Even get inspiration from. But it's someone else's great taste, not yours.

Stop treating the place like a museum. It's important to leave your own fingerprints. If you're not going to make major changes, at least take baby steps.

You can face this same challenge without even moving. Maybe you've lived in your home for many years and long ago decorated the place to your heart's content. Your tastes haven't really changed; you're just a little bored.

"Try something as simple as reframing your art," says interior designer Pamela Bayer. Frames with simpler lines give your room a sleeker look than something ornate or foreboding.

Additionally, "Re-grout the bathroom tiles. You'll think you have a new bathroom," Bayer suggests.

"Plates from Tuscany can pull more colors out of a room," advises another expert, Christine Haught. "Change rugs and draperies, and you'd be surprised at how you can personalize the bathroom with a new set of towels."

Haught and another client hunted tag sales until they found the accessories that carried the homeowner's emotional signature.

It's your place now. Don't let the spirit of the most elegant ghosts - even an earlier version of yourself - keep you from claiming it.

- DS

Chapter By Karen Fuller