More interior design and life lessons learned in 2020

Last week, as I do at the end of every year, I looked back at columns from the first half of 2020 and pulled out half a dozen highlights, including lessons learned from relandscaping, housing a student and staying at home. Here are my favorite moments from the second half of 2020, a year I am not sorry to see go.

• In July, I downsized the family jewels with the help of a jewelry expert who works with clients in their homes. I wanted to streamline my jewelry collection to keep what I loved and cash in or donate what I didn’t, but I had little idea what anything was worth. No item in a home is more contentious than family jewelry, the expert said. Family jewels carry the stories of love, commitment, milestones and celebrations. And, because they symbolize love and money, they are the stuff of legend, lore and lawsuits.

• Lesson: Like most of our belongings, jewelry isn’t usually worth what we think it is. Misunderstandings happen when folks don’t understand the difference between appraised (or replacement) value and cash value, which is often 25% of the appraised or purchase price. Sentimental value is another matter altogether.

• In August, when the nights were so hot we slept like starfish, I went looking for ways to make a cool bed for summer nights. Linen (as opposed to cotton) sheets, bedding aficionados say, were part of the answer: light, airy, breathable, absorbent, soft but expensive. I found some on summer sale. Then, I sought out more ways to make a cool bed for hot nights. Put the heavy down comforter in the blanket chest until fall. Replace it with an allcotton or linen quilt or coverlet. Cool it on the dark colors, which absorb more heat. Use lighter layers. In winter, we want thick bedding to trap the warm air in and the cold air out; in summer, we want breathable bedding to let the warm out and the cool air in.

• Lesson: Come summer, we need to change more than our thermostat. If your bed in August is the same as it is in January, lighten up.

• In September, I fell into a no-win situation. My stepson and his wife had bought a new house, and needed to sell their current place, which was,

COURTESY OF KEARNEY & ASSOCIATES REALTY In tribute to his favorite beverage, a Budweiser lover lined the walls and ceiling of his West Palm Beach condo with beer cans.