Ornament can be just as annoying as pattern if you get it wrong, and just as satisfying if you get it right. Your preferences for patterned surface and ornamented objects are likely to overlap to some degree: people usually feel comfortable with a similar degree of embellishment in both. How much messing about with basic forms such as chair legs, picture frames and moulding can you take?

Understanding Ornamentation

The degree of ornament we apply to household object has always had implications beyond the purely aesthetic. For some people, ornamentation is a matter of guilt versus indulgence, opposing the elements of desire and necessity : from the Puritan drive to purge the Christian church of false idols and devilish distractions, to the Islamic prohibition on depictions of natural forms, and the machine age imperative for form to follow function. Set against this is the aesthete`s hunger for beauty and elaboration, and the innate human impulse to doodle, adorn and embellish. What are the motives behind your choice?

Finding Your Level of Ornamentation

These curtain – pole finials all fulfil the same function – keeping the curtain on the pole – but which sort of ornamentation pleases you the most? Make a note of your choice and up to three qualities that you find attractive about it. If you have chosen the wooden globes, for instance, is because you like the smooth, rounded, handcrafted look?
Think how fussy or plain you like the objects in your home to be. Is your eye pleased by extraneous curves, details, allusions and embellishment, or are you always wishing things could be plainer? Look at the frames you`ve chosen for your photographs and the stems of your wine glass. How ornate are they? Do you look at a fringed lampshade and want to rip off the braid, or add more? Is your urge to add – trimmings – bands of decorating, edging, stencils, embroidery – or to subtract? Is there a particular style of ornamentation you love? Do you like your forms primitives or elegant, simple or elaborate?
You may admire a certain austerity or elaborateness in other`s homes, but what feels most in tune with your character? You should feel no pressure to be in tune with the times. Just because merchandise in the high street has been coordinated, themed and sold as a package, you don’t have to feel that any ornamentation you might like to add – or subtract – would spoil things. What matters is your taste, not the zeitgeist.