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Use your own ‘artifacts’ to personalize home decor, advises designer

By Brenda Faires

We live in a somewhat blank society and we have been trained to follow the newest trend to hit stores. However, there are exceptions to every rule when considering the design of your home.  Arizona interior designer Laurine Morrison Meyer can pretty much guarantee her design concepts won’t be seen on a local department store’s floor display.

Forget all notions of a typical interior designer and open your mind, body and spirit to Meyer’s design technique that she says nourishes the soul.

Meyer believes that home decorating should go beyond window treatments, faux painting and color schemes, and that’s just what her new book does.

Meyer will discuss and sign her book, “Sacred Home: Creating Shelter for Your Soul”, at 7 p.m.  Tuesday, May 24, at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe.

“I like to develop my client’s personal style rather than following look-alike trends,” Meyer said.  “Finding artifacts from hobbies and collections of my clients and using them as accessories in the space is much more intimate and personalizing than buying color-coordinated articles.” 

Rather than following the latest design trends, Meyer works with her clients to develop a home that is an expression of their own personalities.

Her book, she says, provides an introductory guide to transforming the home into a sanctuary. 

“The home is the one place where, to a large extent, we can control our environment,” Meyer said.  “In this age of fast-paced and stressful lifestyles, we need more than ever a place to retreat, unwind and nourish our bodies, minds and spirits.”

Meyer invites home-decorating enthusiasts to learn more about incorporating the use of symbols, archetypes, mythology and folklore associated with the home in Western European traditions into home decorating.

“The four elements, air, water, earth and fire, are explored from several different contexts throughout the book,” Meyer said.

“The use of the four elements in choosing a personal design style and ways to incorporate symbols and symbolic artifacts for positive reinforcement are an important part of the book.”

Meyer found the home was considered a sacred space through much of history and its earliest associations were with the womb of the first mother.

“Many of (the) symbols found in our contemporary homes are ancient representations of the creative life force of nature,” Meyer said. “If we understand and honor these, our homes can become so much richer.”

When Meyer gets her creative side going, she suggests having things in your home that make you feel good. She also suggests using symbolic artifacts as subliminal reminders of nature’s abundance and creativity.

“A bowl of pomegranates, ancient symbols of abundance, make a beautiful and decorative centerpiece with a positive message,” Meyer said. She also said a photograph of a beloved ancestor lends a feeling of connectedness and protection.

Meyer has been an interior designer for 25 years, focusing on creating homes with a soulful quality. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington State University and a master’s in interior design/education from California State University. 

In previous summers, Meyer could be found teaching interior design courses in Paris and leading design tours through several European countries.

So the next time you decide to do a little re-decorating, don’t be afraid to bend the rules and let more of your spirit, soul and unique style do the decorating.

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