A Room Remake on the Cheap

Sometimes the only thing we need to re-energize is a change of scenery.   Remaking a room offers you the opportunity to maximize the benefit of that change in scenery.  It doesn’t have to cost you a fortune, and the rewards far outweigh the expenditures.

The very first thing you should consider is which room to remake.  Why?  If you remake a guest bedroom, odds are you will seldom reap the benefits.  After all, how often are you actually in the guest bedroom?  So how do you choose?  Ask yourself what your goal is.  Are you desperate for some peace and restoration?  Do you crave some extra energy and inspiration?  Depending on your answer, the room you should choose should start becoming evident.  For example, bedrooms are our sanctuaries, places where we derive our peace and restoration.  Living rooms, offices and dining rooms are some of the most energetic sites in our homes, where we find inspiration and a sense of connection with what is important to us.  Of course, the room you dread to enter just might be exactly the room you most need to remake.

Once you’ve decided on your room, you need to decide what the goal is.  Are you hoping to get more inspiration?  Your goal will help determine the course of your remake.

Ok, so you’ve got the room; you’ve got the goal…let’s make a change!

The two cheapest ways to change a room involve accessories and organization.  The first thing you’ll need to do is to figure out what in the room is not part of the purpose of the room.  Take a look at my earlier post on clearing out the clutter.

Once you’ve determined that you are clutter free, take a look at your goal…are you looking for encouragement and energy or rest and relaxation?  The areas that you need to consider are:

1. How does the placement of the room furniture allow me to accomplish my goal?  If you have everyone sitting in corners, it is pretty hard to get a conversation going.  Have a home office, but half the office equipment is on different sides of the room?  Not very efficient is it?
2. What is the lighting like?  Do you have bright lights in rooms where you are trying to create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility?  Nothing can ruin relaxation more than a blaring light in your face.  Trying to carry a conversation, but having trouble reading the other person’s facial expressions?  That’s a problem.
3. What effect does the room color have on the overall mood of the room?  How does that compare with your goal?
4. Do the accessories in the room help or hinder accomplishing your goal?  If you have the painting of an owl in hot pursuit of its prey, odds are you won’t feel compelled to relax.  Too many comfy pillow may lead your guests to wish they could sleep on your couch rather than talk to their host.

Make a note of what you discover…then make changes.

One way to make a lasting change to a room is to create a focal point.  What is a focal point?  According to HGTV.com, a focal point is an element in the room around which the furniture will revolve.  The focal point has its biggest “wow” impact when it is the first thing your eyes see when entering a room.  The focal point grounds the room, gives it purpose and maximizes the impact of that purpose.  Sometimes a focal point is built around a fireplace, picture or landscape and provides a mutual experience for the rooms occupants which in turn promotes bonding and conversation. Another example of the use of a focal point is by placing a desk facing the door in a home office.  The placement of the desk sets the stage for power.  The user of the desk has the comfort of knowing his focus is in front of him rather than all around and any guest is psychologically inclined to defer to the person behind the desk.  Focal points set the stage.

Adjust the placement of your furniture to maximize your focal point and maximize your goal.  For rooms where you want to stimulate conversation try to place furniture seating either across from each other or in triangular or U-shaped patterns.  Remember to include placement of smaller furniture that allows for placement those items like refreshments that encourage your guests to continue their conversation without having to leave the room.  In rooms where relaxation and restoration are the theme, less is better.  The least amount of items surrounding an individual, the less the stimulation.  Again, placement of supporting furniture which allows for placement of magazines or refreshments helps minimize disruption.  (Manage what magazines and refreshments are available to these areas, however, to minimize stimulation.)

Have you adjusted your lighting to meet the goals of your room and your new furniture placement?  Do you have softer lighting for relaxation and brighter lighting for rooms where you hope to energize the occupants?  Have you placed lighting that is conveniently located so that those needing more or less lighting can change it without the inconvenience?  If you are providing lighting for magazine or book readers, ensure the lighting maximizes the print and not blind the reader.  Are you guests having trouble concentrating on your conversation because your lamp’s rays permeate their face rather than highlight their expression?  Sit down and experience your lighting placement first hand to ensure what you think your lighting is doing is actually accomplishing the goal.

So what signals are your room color sending?  If you want energy and your room is painted grey, you can forget about getting anything out it.  So what color palettes fit your mantra?  Part of it is personal and part of it is science (click to read more about color choices, their effects and the proper use of color).     For example, blue colors are indicated in lowered blood pressure and decreased appetite while orange palettes have been shown to energize and stimulate.

Got the wrong color in your room?  Don’t despair.  You have lots of options.  Accessories like throw pillows, lamp shades, nick knacks, wall hangings, curtains and rugs can add that bit of color while changing the look of a room, providing a bridge between new and old styles and creating that “wow” factor.

Another option is the use of color on the walls or furniture.  Nothing feels greater than repurposing furniture or salvaging an ugly, but beloved piece.  It doesn’t have to be difficult to make a major impact.

For example, when I redid my kitchen instead of replacing all of the cabinetry, I painted it – black.  Black???  Yes, black.  I’ve received numerous compliments and truly believe it was the best decisions I ever made in that room.  The black paint I chose has a shiny finish and transformed 40 year old cabinets into brand new, stylish centerpieces.  The added feature of choosing black included being able to change my accent color at any time.  Perhaps the biggest reason for choosing black was that black tends to make the surface area seem smaller to the eye.  With a galley style kitchen, I need to feel like I have more room…and now I do.  The fact that I saved $1000′s on cabinets didn’t hurt either.

Over the years, I have painted beat up bookcases, tables and accent chairs even lamps with paint.  A boring brass chandelier transforms into a beloved centerpiece with a touch of paint.  The options for paint are practically limitless with paints coming in so many colors and textures from the usual color palette to metals, flats to hammered finishes and paints made for a variety of surfaces including those cheap, laminate bookcases like the one I repainted eight years ago that still looks brand new today.

Not interested in changing the color of your accessories?  Consider that paint is one the least expensive but highest impact changes you can make to a room.  Changing the paint color on even one wall can change everything.  You can even change the depth of the room by painting the ceiling.  A rule of thumb:  brighter colors create an airy feeling while giving the illusion of space; darker colors make spaces feel smaller and weightier.

Accessories that use or accent your new color palette are helpful in bridging old styles with new.  Colors pop in the room and create a sense of newness and, when carefully selected, cohesiveness.  The style of your accessories can pull together opposing styles of furniture and architecture.  Consider adding french country accessory pillows to rooms where the architecture is somewhat plain or Old World but the furniture is modern.  The key is in the details.  For instance, change the hardware on your furniture can totally change the style of the piece and ultimately whether or not it fits in with the room’s style.

Remember whatever is in the room or absent from it affects the total impact you have on the occupants.  If it doesn’t help, it hinders.

Have a helpful hint on a room remake?  Let us know!

Clearing the Clutter in 8 Steps or Less

If you haven’t already started on that oh-so-infamous, New Year’s resolution to clear out the clutter in your home/office/car/brain/whatever…you’re probably not alone.  Millions of us make the same resolution year after year about how we will FINALLY get rid of all the junk in our lives and start living it instead.  So for all the ones that haven’t made it that far, here are some helpful tips to get you started:

GET PREPARED MENTALLY!

Yep, that’s right.  You have to psyche yourself up for something like this.  It didn’t get that way overnight, and it’s probably not the result of just a time crunch.  We get cluttered because we don’t or won’t deal with the stuff cluttering our lives.  An emotional process usually goes hand-in-hand with clutter, BUT take heart.  It’s not that hard!  It may look overwhelming, but you CAN do it.

1. The first mental step is telling yourself you can do it.
2. The second is to put yourself in the frame of mind that this is simply a quick organization of items based on use.
3. Psyche yourself up mentally to purge, baby, purge.
4. Remember clearing the clutter is a step-by-step process…take it one mental step at a time!
5. DON’T ruminate over how you are going to do it or what will stay or go before you even start!

PICK A DATE!

That’s right.  This is a planned event that deserves as much attention as anything else in your appointment book.  If you can fit in an entire day, that would be super!  But, plan on at least a couple of hours for a small area…and only do one small area at a time!  Don’t try to declutter the entire house in one day…it won’t work.

GET PREPARED!

Before your de-cluttering day arrives, you need to make sure you have the equipment and tools you’ll need to make it as smooth as possible.

• Five boxes labeled “KEEP”, “TRASH”, “DONATE”, “SELL”, “UM-MM”
• 1 roll of tape
• Pad of paper
• 1 marker
• 1 Timer
• Measuring tape (if you plan to sell anything)
• A Camera (again, if you plan to sell anything)
• A friend (optional, but almost always a big bonus)
• Scheduled donation pick-up on or the next day after your de-clutter day or a cleared out trunk in your vehicle to put donations

START CLEARING!

On your planned day, clear that space quickly and with as little thought as possible.  If you use an item on a regular basis, keep it.  If you don’t, sell it or donate it.  If you’re emotionally attached, but don’t really use it, put it in the “Um-mm” box for now.  If it’s broken or unusable, it goes in the trash.

A little note about the “Um-mm” box:  we all have items that for one reason or another we never use, yet are unwilling to easily part with them.  Don’t feel bad about your attachment, but recognize it for what it is and put it in the “Um-mm” box so you can deal with it later.  Too often we dwell on little “um-mm’s” so much that we become paralyzed and cannot deal with the other stuff in our lives.  Set it aside for now and deal with the rest of the clutter.

GO FOR IT!

You’ve purged a lot; you’ve done it quickly and with little thought, and you’ve put aside some items.  You’ve made a lot of progress.  Keep going!

Get out the timer, grab hold of that “Um-mm” box and give yourself two minutes to purge that box.  There is only one rule for determining what stays and what goes…Only those items which you absolutely cannot live without get to leave the box…

If you couldn’t decide, it all stays in the box!

DUMP, DONATE, DO!

It’s time to take out the trash.  Move the donation items and your “Um-mm” box to the porch or trunk of your car.  Get them out of there ASAP!

Do NOT even think of trying to sell anything in the “Um-mm” box.  You and I both know that you’ll probably talk yourself into keeping it.  In a week, give yourself permission to grieve over it and remind yourself that someone somewhere is loving your beloved item as much as you did, and they are actually using it!

If you have a “For Sale” box, put it in another room so you won’t be distracted by it.  If you have a friend, have him/her take the items in another room, take pictures of each while documenting any blemishes or unique characteristics and any applicable measurements.  (Once you’ve taken down all the information, move the box somewhere where you won’t see it on a daily basis, but is accessible when someone is interested in purchasing it….storage units and garages are great for these types of situations!)

ORGANIZE!  ORGANIZE!  ORGANIZE!

Now is the time to sit back and think of how you really use the items you are keeping.

• Are there any items that are in your “keep” box which don’t belong in your cleared space?  Set them aside.
• Do you reach for a certain item with your left hand or right hand?  If you use a keypad with your right hand, but are often interrupted because you have to answer the phone, consider moving the phone to the left side of your area so that you can easily do both.
• What items do you use most frequently?  Consider moving them closer to where you use them.
• Group items together like paper and the printer.

Set up your newly cleared space in a manner more friendly to how you use it.  It will help you keep de-cluttered.

THE PAYOFF!

Your final step is to post, submit or consign your “For Sale” items.

Set aside a time just for that.  Submit the photos and information to your local consignment shop, Craigslist, newspaper or on-line group.  (see my article on selling and donating items on-line for more information.)

Now that you’ve de-cluttered your space (and maybe made a little money too!) and definitely improved someone else’s life…enjoy your new found freedom and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

Freezer Paper Find

Have you ever wondered what use freezer paper provides…especially in the 21st century?

I used to think freezer paper was for people who had never heard of vacuum sealing or freezer bags…or were still locked up in their homemade, 1950′s bomb shelter…

Anyway, I had purchased aluminum foil.  The box LOOKED like alumninum foil, but, “Suprise!”, it was freezer paper.  Ugh.

Being notoriously bad about returning items and having stared at the now infamous freezer paper for almost 6 months, I had to find some use, any use, for it.  At first, I secretly pretended I was a 1950′s housewife whose husband would appreciate the effort made to protect beautiful steaks from freezer burn.  Of course I snapped out of that real quick when he walked right past me and only mumbled “What a crappy day!.”

My daughter, on the other hand, became my inspiration…in a painful, childbirth sort of way.  She had taken her wonderful, “washable” markers and wrote all over the dining room table.  After removing the markings from the table and removing my daughter to her room, it came to me…”DUH!  Why not use the freezer paper to protect the table?”  In the process, I realized that placing it wax side up made for a cool, dry erase board for her also.  BONUS!!

Now she’s happy.  I’m happy.  I think I even heard the table sigh in relief, or was that me?

For more freezer paper finds, visit:

Awlafon’s 5 kids’ craft uses for freezer paper on Viewpoints.com.

From HGTV, get freezer paper notecards.

SuperCapes for SuperKids on Panjokids blog has amazing step-by-step instructions for creating your very own fabric stencils.  Your kids will love them; you’ll love the savings and the fun!

Find more fabric fun on DIYNetwork.com including how to put fabric through your inkjet!

Saddle Your Leather

There are two types of furniture fabrics that I will allow in my home.  One is the plush microfiber that simulates leather and the other is real leather. 

If you’ve ever tried to remove a stain from any other kind of fabric…I mean a real, ground in, yucky, who-let-the-kids-play-on-the-furniture kind of stain…then you know what a headache it can be!

I have a carpet cleaner, spot cleaner, special formula cleaner, brush, cloth, scraper and Heloise’s household hints collection, and I still don’t want to deal with stains.  So, I don’t..well, except for the carpeting that I still can’t get hubby to yank out and replace with hardwood floors…whimpy, whimpy, whimpy!  (I love you, honey *kiss, kiss*!)

So what’s so great about leather?  It’s so easy to clean; it’s a dream. 

Now, some sites will tell you to use regular soap and water to clean your leather furniture.  WRONG!  Using regular soap and water will work, but over time it will dry out the leather and produce cracking…damaging your higher-priced furniture and undermining the savings you would’ve got from purchasing it in the first place.

The answer, my friends, is Saddle Soap.  Yep, Saddle Soap.  Nope, you don’t have to go down to your local Tack and Feed store (for those of you who don’t know what that is, think supplies for horses etc.)  Your local Wal-Mart will do.  It carries Saddle Soap in the footwear section along with shoe polish and laces.  Actually, laces are harder to find than the Saddle Soap. 

Take the Saddle Soap home.  Get a clean, damp cloth.  Rub it into the soap, and rub the soap on your furniture.  Presto…a beautiful, clean piece of furniture once again. 

For all you people blessed with an insane amount of time on your hands or an insane amount of leather, here’s a link to a homemade Saddle Soap recipe. 

Homemade Saddle Soap

Fair warning:  I have not tried this recipe.  After all, it took me 20 years before I’d actually try Saddle Soap at all, and, yes, mom, you were right…it really does work.  Thank you for nagging me until I tried it.  Umm, mom?  Mom??  Hello, Mom???  Did I say, nag???  I meant….