Small Changes For Big Decorating Impact

Last weekend, as we had our first snowfall of 2016, the last of my Christmas decorations were finally put away. The freezing weather has kept my snowcapped surroundings intact and proving my instinct to incorporate white into my winter décor right on the mark.

I love, love touches that bring nature inside. All of the ceilings in my rooms upstairs are painted a sky blue. It gives me the feeling of, to quote Pharrell Williams, “a room without a roof.” Although, I don’t love the cold I love the look of snow. So, I used white candles, crystals and pearls in glass hurricanes, bowls and other table top vignettes. It’s like a dusting of snow inside. It makes me happy; my home cozier on wintry nights with blustering winds.

If you’ve been following the winter transformation at my home, you might recall I was thinking about swapping the open bookshelf in my kitchen area for a different piece of furniture I have in my family room. It is a uniquely shaped white cabinet. It fit perfectly in the new the space; the eye is automatically drawn to the area and its functional for me. This great piece was actually unseen in the family room, and now it's the focal point of the kitchen. Another plus, it gave me more surface space. That’s always a plus in the busiest room of the house.

When I wasn’t working on my home last weekend, I was helping a friend redesign her living room. It’s easily been 10 years since we made her existing draperies and although the panels are in great shape it’s time to move on from the jewel-tone scheme. Taking down the panels gave us a different perspective of the room.

So, I began by moving the furniture. Often, we place furniture because we feel “it has to go that way.” And that generally results in sofas pinned to walls. I pull the sofas off the walls and snug them in around the coffee table to open up the room. It took my girlfriend sometime before she could wrap her mind around this new look. It only clicked when I reminded her that my sofa was in the middle of my family room. It was like watching her brain ask permission to unpin the furniture from the walls.

We tried to fit two small chairs, cornered in the dining room, into the new living room layout, but they just weren’t fitting in how either of us envisioned. As we moved them out of the room, they ended up against the staircase; where they belonged. It created an immediate, natural vignette. With a new coat of paint and linen upholstery, the chairs will help transform the living room. We’d been trying to get linen texture into the room but weren’t having any luck. Sometimes, you have to let everything go in order for it to fit into place. Often, the results are more amazing than what you were trying to force.

Now, we were free to get started with fabrics. In October, we’d gone fabric shopping but she wanted to paint the room as well so we decided to delay this redesign until the New Year. Two weeks into 2016, we’re hanging panels along yards of samples to see what would work. Guess what? The fabric we weren’t going to use for the draperies was the obvious choice. I always tell family, friends,and clients “find a fabric you love, and you’ll never regret using it.” Well, she LOVED this fabric but it seemed bold and heavy for the direction she hoped to take her living rom. We love what we love and when we surround ourselves with it (whatever IT is) it brings us joy.

Finally, after dinner, we were in the family room (yes, if you feed me I will keep working. LOL), measuring windows and lamenting about her sectional blocking the window seat. Once again, I push the furniture off the walls into the middle of the room and bam! We gain access to her window bench that she misses and loves. We’ve also created another sitting area in the room.

Study your home then switch things around; move furniture, big and small, into different rooms. Then share your new designs with me. And remember sometimes a small change has a big impact.