Clearing up the last of the Christmas decorations left some blank canvases and rather than put the same old stuff back into place, I decided I wanted a fresher look. So what does an interior decorator do when she wants to freshen up her own home décor? I do what I would do for my clients – a little bit of interior redesign and a little bit of interior decorating.
I started by looking through what I already own. I searched out pictures I’ve stored from the last freshening up; that means checking the basement, the attic and under the couch (a nice safe place to store pictures). Next are the floral arrangements that need either updating or freshening up. If the containers still work well, I will just purchase some new floral or greenery for them and I’ll have an instant update without having to buy a whole new arrangement.
Without throwing my family into a tizzy from too many changes, my last change (for now) is to take spare wooden chairs that are currently painted white with a green all-over floral print and painting them an espresso brown, unscrewing the seat and recovering them with a new, more up-to-date brown, patterned fabric. This is easily done by stapling the fabric to the underside of the plywood seat and rescrewing it back to the chair frame. (Watch for a future blog on the “before” and “after” of these chairs, with detailed instructions).
Kathy Passarette and Creative Home Expressions are located on Long Island, New York and offer interior decorating, home staging, interior redesign, color consultations and much more. For more information on our services and fees please visit our website at http://www.creativehomeexpressions.com/.
Copyright 2009 Kathy Passarette
Showing posts with label redesign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redesign. Show all posts
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Monday, September 8, 2008
Freshen Up Your Home For Fall
Gas at $4.00 a gallon, food prices rising, pillows costing $7.00 on airlines, is it any wonder that "staycations" and "cocooning" have become buzz words recently. With our current economy, more and more people are choosing to stay at home and making do with what they've got. Decorating your home is more important than ever now. With Fall just around the corner, our thoughts turn back to sprucing up the inside of our homes.
While you may not feel you need a full interior decorating job, many decorators can work with you on an hourly basis for such things as: window treatments; paint color selection; accessory shopping and placement. Interior redesign utilizes furniture and accessories you already own but perhaps placed in a different way so that you see it through fresh eyes.
Some fresh tips to get you started:
- Toss pillows and throws in the dryer on a "fluff" (no heat) setting with a fabric softener sheet.
- Clean your windows, inside and out.
- Have your carpets cleaned.
- Change out your artwork.
- Paint a white room a warmer color using one of this year's new colors, such as a golden yellow or a browned-down orange.
- Purchase a few new throw pillows in Fall's warmer colors to cozy up your seating pieces.
Photo courtesy Pottery Barn
Our homes are truly our sanctuaries from all that is going on in the outside world; why not make it that place you can come into, close the door and go "Ahhh".
Copyright 2008 Creative Home Expressions ~ Kathy Passarette and Creative Home Expressions are located on Long Island, New York and offer interior decorating, home staging, interior redesign and color consultations. Please visit our website at http://www.creativehomeexpressins.com/ for information on our services and fees.
Friday, January 11, 2008
New Year, New Room
Interior redesign is taking items you already own and reusing them. The best part is that it doesn’t cost you anything if you do it yourself. If you have a room that you feel could use a facelift, but you still like your “things” give an interior redesign a try.
Start by emptying the room of all but the heaviest pieces. This includes most furniture, accessories, plants, pictures, lamps, wall décor and any other items you may have in this room. If the heavier pieces are staying in place, you don’t have to move them around at all.
Put everything into another room and group them together (i.e. pillows, candles, pictures). Clear your mind of how the room used to be and look at the room with fresh eyes. Do you have a focal point in this room, a fireplace or large picture window? Start to bring in your seating pieces and place them so that they are taking in the focal point. Once you have these pieces set in a pleasing arrangement, start to bring your other furniture pieces in – tables, occasional chairs, plant stands. If you could use another side table “shop” through other rooms in your home and see if there is something you can use.
Once the furniture is done look over your current accessories from this room. If you want to change something out, “shop” from your other rooms, the basement and even the attic. You may have something that you had forgotten about that might refresh this room.
Starting with pictures or wall décor, re-hang these items to take into account your new furniture arrangement. Try not to fill every wall with something as the eye needs some place to rest and when it can’t rooms tend to look cluttered.
Now it’s time for the rest of your accessories. Place the lamps you will be using (you may decide to trade out your bedroom end table lamps for your living room lamps) so that each seating area has some lighting. Bring in any throw pillows and place them on your furniture, and so on.
You don’t have to bring everything you took out back into the room. You can pack it up for the time being and bring it out again in six months. Or you may find that you like it better in another room. You will find that you have a new appreciation for these pieces.
Start by emptying the room of all but the heaviest pieces. This includes most furniture, accessories, plants, pictures, lamps, wall décor and any other items you may have in this room. If the heavier pieces are staying in place, you don’t have to move them around at all.
Put everything into another room and group them together (i.e. pillows, candles, pictures). Clear your mind of how the room used to be and look at the room with fresh eyes. Do you have a focal point in this room, a fireplace or large picture window? Start to bring in your seating pieces and place them so that they are taking in the focal point. Once you have these pieces set in a pleasing arrangement, start to bring your other furniture pieces in – tables, occasional chairs, plant stands. If you could use another side table “shop” through other rooms in your home and see if there is something you can use.
Once the furniture is done look over your current accessories from this room. If you want to change something out, “shop” from your other rooms, the basement and even the attic. You may have something that you had forgotten about that might refresh this room.
Starting with pictures or wall décor, re-hang these items to take into account your new furniture arrangement. Try not to fill every wall with something as the eye needs some place to rest and when it can’t rooms tend to look cluttered.
Now it’s time for the rest of your accessories. Place the lamps you will be using (you may decide to trade out your bedroom end table lamps for your living room lamps) so that each seating area has some lighting. Bring in any throw pillows and place them on your furniture, and so on.
You don’t have to bring everything you took out back into the room. You can pack it up for the time being and bring it out again in six months. Or you may find that you like it better in another room. You will find that you have a new appreciation for these pieces.
copyright 2008 Creative Home Expressions
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