As each month rolls around, so do the endless stacks of shelter magazines that arrive in mailboxes and newsstands around the world. Eager fans and designers wait with anticipation for the next round of design perfection. Most magazines choose a particular theme that celebrates a specific time of the year or the region in which they are located.

In these glimpses of what constitutes tasteful interiors, the viewer is led to a particular angle, which the photographer, designer or homeowner feels best shows off a room. While this is true of most publications, there are two main ways in which such magazines represent the idea of home: those that choose to present a perfect picture without a paper out of place, which terrifies any mortal into thinking they should live in sterility, and those that present a more candid view into people's homes, still staged but more real and attainable.

Clients often ask "How should I live in this space?" or "Can my husband put his feet on the couch?" My answer is usually the same. You should live the way the space and furnishings entice you to live. And by the way, your husband should be able to put his feet anywhere you allow him to.

While it is true that interior designers are like stage set designers — we create the stage for life to happen — it is entirely up to the homeowner how the spaces and furnishings are used. As far as I am concerned, there are no specific "rules" on how to arrange your spaces.

For example, I have had the following scenario on various occasions. The owners are empty nesters and neither of them is an avid cook, so why invest in an expansive state-of-the-art kitchen? Instead, such couples have chosen a smaller kitchen and even sacrificed the never-used living room for the space to build a custom bar. It was more important to them to have a place to receive guests for a drink and before going out to dinner.

Of course, to pull this off tastefully, the help of a designer goes a long way to keeping your bar from looking like it belongs in the lobby of a hotel or in a scene from "Studio 54."

In other cases, a loving spouse has asked for a separate yet equal master bedroom suite for their snoring snuggle bunny. Sometimes all that is needed is a small sleeping alcove, and in other instances, a complete master suite with a separate bathroom and an adjoining door is requested. It's your home. You should be able to write the rules.

People often are bound to the standard conventions of what constitutes a home and how it should look for the Joneses to approve. Yet the happiest and most satisfied clients are those who value comfort over the expectations of others. To reference a yester-year lingo of a certain fast-food chain, when it comes to your home, "have it your way."

Joseph Pubillones is the owner of Joseph Pubillones Interiors, an award-winning interior design firm based in Palm Beach, Florida. To find out more about Joseph Pubillones, or to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.