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N.006

15 · AUG · 26

Taste Is a Decision

Author

Delphine Ashby-Plum

Two chairs on a chevron tile floor

Author

Delphine Ashby-Plum

Dear Plum, how do I know if my taste is any good?

Start small, darling. Taste Is a Decision is less about rules than about attention. Walk through your rooms at different hours and notice what you touch, where you sit, what you avoid. The chair nobody uses is telling you something. So is the corner where the mail always lands. Before you buy anything, move what you already own. Swap two lamps, turn the sofa, take one thing off every surface. You will be surprised how much changes. Most rooms do not need more things; they need better decisions about the things already there.

Dark dining room seen through a doorway

Then trust what you love, even when it does not match. A good room is a conversation, and conversations need different voices. Mix old and new, loud and quiet, cheap and precious. Buy one real piece a year instead of five quick ones. Keep receipts for nothing and memories for everything. If a piece makes you smile every morning, it has earned its place, whatever a magazine says about it. And when in doubt, add a lamp. Nobody has ever regretted a lamp.

If a piece makes you smile every morning, it has earned its place.

Delphine Ashby-Plum

With love,

Plum

Want more Plum?

Chess set on a round table between two chairs

What would you ask Plum?

Glass bottles and a stem of peonies on a shelf

Questions, ideas and small dilemmas welcome.