Home Expert: Use What You’ve Got For A Spring Redesign

Use What You’ve Got For A Spring Redesign

By Interior Designer, Kathy Passarette of www.creativehomeexpressions.com

Spring-cleaning refers to more than just housekeeping. Spring-cleaning is also a time to clean out the clutter, de-winterize our homes, and lighten up our rooms. Redesigning a room, or rooms, in your home is a great Spring-cleaning project, as it will also help you in the housekeeping of your home. Here are 6 tips to help you in your redesign.

1. Begin by emptying out the room of all accessories, wall décor and furniture, except for the largest, heaviest pieces. They will most likely stay in their given spot. Use another room nearby, table and/or countertop for everything you’ve moved out. Put items into like groups (i.e. candles, greenery, pillows, books, etc.). Use this opportunity to clean the room.

2. Start your redesign by bringing the furniture you will be using back into the room, setting it off a fixed focal point, or one you will be creating. Resist the urge to line the walls with your furniture. Contrary to what you may believe, it does not make the room look bigger.

3. Before bringing any other items back into the room, look over what you took out of the room. If you don’t like it anymore, it has no sentimental value, or you have a “don’t care either way” attitude about it, don’t put it back in the room. Either trash it, donate it or sell it.

4. Always keep function in mind when arranging your furniture. How are you going to use the room and what do you need to include in it to make it comfortable? Do you need extra side tables, lighting, line of sight for a TV? Make sure to set it up so it works just as well as it looks.

5. Never place your artwork or accessories until everything else is in the perfect place. (Would you pick your jewelry before you pick your outfit?) Your accessories should compliment the room and its furnishings, not stand all by themselves. Use them to “fill in” spaces around the room, on tabletops, and on walls to complete the look. Make sure they relate to something in the room; for instance, color, style, material, etc. If it doesn’t work in that room, try it in another room. Don’t be afraid to store things. A year from now you may switch out one thing for another.

6. Think outside the box. Just because something has always been in a particular room, doesn’t mean it can’t be reworked and used in a new setting. An old chest found in the basement becomes a side table to accent the couch. Bookshelves, once cluttered haphazardly, become a display area for a treasured collection.

Kathy Passarette is an Affiliate member of the Interior Design Society and Window Fashions Certified Professional. She is the owner of Creative Home Expressions located on Long Island, New York. You can contact Kathy through her website at www.creativehomeexpressions.com.