Dear Marty: Boy, can I relate to that! And not only are there so many styles out there, but the way some of those books present them you can’t imagine that the people that live in them ever have a bad hair day, or even a passing worry. Today the word is options – thousands of them, and while this makes outfitting our own home much more interesting, it is also often a case of information overload, with too many choices and decisions (do you know how many shades of white paint Ralph Lauren offers?)

One of the first things to remember is that many of the “styles” that grace the dust jackets of the coffee table books are recent innovations resulting from the popularization of many regional looks. I remember a friend of my grandmother’s had a large rambling ranch house, in eastern Oregon. Although I was only about seven at the time of our visit, I still remember my fascination with the steer horns that doubled for chair arms, the cowhides on the pine wall and the long plank table that was used for everything from the family Thanksgiving dinner to the kid’s homework station. This was a working ranch, and the lady of the house would have been tickled if you told her she was decorating in the “Western” style. They raised cattle so they had steer horns and cowhides. The long planks used for the “everything” table had literally come from a disintegrating old buckboard that had been sitting abandoned on the place for 40+ years.

Today almost everybody travels, and as we do we see how other people live. Travelers have always brought back bits and pieces of their trips and as more and more of us venture beyond our own shores we are exposed, literally, to a world of decorating and lifestyle choices. For those of us that like to armchair travel, the same choices are now available through books, magazines and even television. So, back to your original conundrum, how do you choose?

I suppose there are as many different answers for this as there are style books out there, but to me the real question is about getting in touch with your own lifestyle patterns, family requirements, and especially your emotional response to the specific “styles”. Fortunately, by and large the rules have been, if not thrown away, at least loosened up enough to allow for a wide latitude of personal movement. That faux zebra throw (from the Safari stylebook) looks very much at home tossed over a sleek white leather sofa (from our Contemporary stylebook). Industrial glass brick, so popular in the 40’s creates a wall of windows in a bedroom dominated by the oversized black Japanese futon (straight out of our Asian decorating book). I recently ran across a photo of a bed footboard covered in black and white cowhide, with the rest of the bedding and much of the room done in 1950’s “pretty in pink” accessories. Not something I would want to live with, but somehow it worked and somebody obviously loved it).

And who am I to cast the first stone? I am personally very drawn to exotic locales (and times) and recently purchased a floor lamp that has a metal “bamboo” pole with a parrot holding a small lantern nightlight”, that then continues on up to an “umbrella” shade of handmade paper. It makes me think of colonial Africa, yet somehow seems to fit right in with the eclectic mix of Haitian paintings picked up on a trip, an antique Chinese cabinet, camel “trappings” wrapped and twined with hand dyed silk scarves around a curtain rod, an old Swedish pine table holding the remnants of a garden Buddha head, and a wall of books.