Redecorate Your Home:
No Construction, No Painting, No Mess
By Val Sharp
You know when they reveal the newly renovated rooms on shows like “Trading Spaces” and people cry, jump up and down, and cover their mouth with their hands in shock? A redesigner gets that same reaction in their clients’ homes without spending one cent!
Redesign is the art of doing a one-day makeover in your home, using your existing furnishings. The basic tenets of feng shui are balance, harmony and being surrounded by things you love. This is what happens when your home is redesigned. A redesigner uses design principles such as flow, balance and scale to ‘design’ your home and highlight the things you love. Your home should reflect your personality, and this is what a redesign does.
Often people think they need to buy new things to have a home they love. However when the furniture is properly placed, the art hung in just the right spot, and the accessories artfully arranged, they find they don’t need to buy anything new after all. They love it just the way it is.
Many people can waste thousands of dollars on new furniture that doesn’t work in the room. Getting a redesign first will stop that. A redesign will set the foundation for your home. Then, if there are one or two pieces you still need to buy, you will know exactly what to buy – how big, what color and where it will go.
In order to redesign your home, you need to start by taking everything out of the room. This gives you a clean-slate perspective. Remove the furniture, all the art on the walls, and all the accessories.
Proper furniture placement is the most critical part of designing your home. Often people buy new accessories or even art, trying to fix a room. It doesn’t work. If the furniture placement is wrong, it doesn’t matter how many accessories or pieces of art you hang, it still won’t work. Your furniture must be properly placed, balanced in the room, with a cozy conversation area facing the primary focal point of the room.
Once the furniture is properly placed, you need to add the lighting. Many homes don’t have enough lamps. There should be at three lamps in the room for adequate ambient light. These three lights should be placed in a triangle, to get light throughout the room. In addition, you should have reading lights near chairs or sofas where people read, a light for sewing, or working at a desk. You can also add some nice accenting lighting to highlight special pieces if you wish.
Now that you have the furniture and lighting placed, you can add the art. Art should be hung to work with the furnishings in the room. Most art is hung too high. Remember that art is viewed from a seated position everywhere in your home except the hallway and foyer. It should be hung 6-10 inches over the piece of furniture under it. You also need to pay attention to the colors in the art and the furniture. Hang art to work with the furniture under it.
Now you can add the accessories (or jewelry) in the room. Again, pay attention to the art and the furniture and use your accessories to work with the art and furniture. This will create beautiful vignettes throughout your room.
There is no greater delight than a home you love to be in, and one that you’re proud to show your friends. You probably already have everything you need for that wonderful home. It just needs to be put in the right spot.
If you’re interested in having your home redesigned, you can find a professional redesigner at www.canadianredesigners.org .
Val Sharp is the founder and past president of the Canadian Re-designers Association and instructs people in starting their own interior redesign and home staging business. If you want to become a redesigner or home stager or you want more information about Val and her books, stop by www.sharpredesigns.com
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2007 Sharp ReDesigns
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