Have Comfortable Dining Room Seating
In this L.A. dining room, designer Peter Dunham fashioned a sprawling yet comfy corner. "A deep banquette in a dining area is dressier and more relaxed than just chairs," he says. He brightened it with six pillows made from a vintage suzani from Design Utopia. Banquette not in the budget? Pull in an armchair from another room or try tossing a few pillows onto the seating.
Kick Back with an Ottoman
Sleep on the Right Pillows
"When you're the parents of six children, you absolutely need a retreat," says designer Susan Zises Green, and the master bedroom of thisConnecticut home, with its comfortable sitting area, its deft touches of sophisticated gilt, nicely fills the bill. Green's idea of comfort is having "Really comfortable pillows on every bed." The Harlow bench is from John Rosselli.
Place Extra Blankets in Easy Reach
"I'm always cold," says designer Susan Zises Green, "I love to have warm throws in every room." The sitting room has an English country house air with its chintz-covered sofa and 19th-century prints of hunting dogs. The upholstered ottoman is by Robert Kline.
Install Soft, Diffused Lighting
Finding comfort in "the flicker of light," designers Gene Meyer and Frank De Biasi have two lanterns hanging in an archway of their Miami house. De Biasi also added a blue Noguchi-style paper shade to a brass Chinese lantern in the dining area. The come-into-the-casbah arch is painted Benjamin Moore's Garden Green and decorated with seashells. Blue Hurricane wool rug by Gene Meyer for Niba. A beaded curtain from Italy screens the view of the master bedroom.
Accept a Wrinkle or Two
Neutral cotton bedding makes designer Ginger Barber comfortable. "I love a soft wrinkle on a bed," she says, such as the one in the master bedroom of this Houston home. Rose fabric from Bennison.