When I was a child, my mother bought a sofa upholstered in white silk cut-velvet. The fabric was soft and sumptuous, the cushions were filled with down and feathers, and the lines were sleek and elegant. Everything about it was, in fact, luxurious – until it was encased in ubiquitous clear plastic slipcovers. No longer was there evidence of the opulent fabric or down-fill. Like Sleeping Beauty, the very life of the sofa – what really made it beautiful – had been sheathed in a glass sarcophagus.

Over the years, even our grandmothers have tossed away their plastic slipcovers, but some of us still keep the metaphoric ropes up around our favorite possessions, saving them for company only, special occasions or “for show.” Just because we possess luxury items doesn’t mean our lives are actually luxurious. Unless you use your beautiful things, you can actually feel deprived even when you have a home full of them. It’s not about living with luxury – it’s about living in it.

So let’s pull down the ropes and really enjoy our homes. Resist the temptation to cover the dining table with pads and a cloth – bring out the placemats and enjoy the patina of a beautiful wood-grain finish. Sure, relegate the snack food to the kitchen and make the kids wash their hands and wipe their feet first, but even they will appreciate the difference and think it’s well worth the sacrifice. I know I did. When the slipcovers finally did come off, I discovered it’s so much more satisfying to live in luxury.

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