Dear Lee,

Which are you? A TV expert claims the furnishings you buy for your home reveals “who you have been and who you thought you were.” Some furnishings say, “I am modern and with-it.” Some say, “I loved my childhood”; others, “I have expensive tastes.” Some, unfortunately, indicate that “I’m old and unchanging” or “I have no self confidence, so I follow the dictates of decorators.”

Collectors have none of these problems. Their collections dictate their “look.” A terrific piece of green Roseville pottery is OK even if you have an all-blue living room. And the cleverly spaced samplers on the wall are quickly moved around to make space for one more, even if it spoils the symmetry. Our recent home remodeling taught us much about decorating with collections. It is always possible to make more storage space by adding extra shelves (many types are for sale at home improvement stores). We even removed part of a wall in the basement so we could store things under the stairs. Cleaning cupboards, drawers, attics, and basements is like going on a treasure hunt. Things saved 10 years ago have new value and can be more in style this year.

When putting your house back together after a remodeling, take a good look at the placement of your furniture and where your pictures hang on the wall. We were able to move a large painting from the upstairs bathroom to the enlarged front hall, and a great desk from the back hall to the front door. We switched furniture from the bedrooms and dining room to the library, and chairs went from basement storage to our bedroom. Miraculously, the colors all worked.

The newest buzz word among decorators is “wabi sabi.” The Japanese term literally means “beauty rust” but is used today to refer to the beauty of imperfect or incomplete things. We guess most of us decorate with lots of wabi sabi.