Make It Home

What's New? Color Trends

Just returned from a wonderful weekend in Atlanta visiting friends, the ChineseTerracotta Soldiers and AmericasMart!  It was great and since I am snowed in today, I have a few minutes to share....

AmericasMart Atlanta is 7.1 million square feet of wholesale market space featuring home furnishings, rugs, lighting, florals, indoor/outdoor, linens, art, holiday and tabletop decor.  It is amazing, overwhelming, and a bit like heaven!  The perfect place to see what is new in the design world.

Home Decor used to follow Fashion trends.  Not any more.  New influences and colors appear in both domains and influence each other.  The marketplace today displays a global perspective that has been with us for a while and can only remain as the world continues to grow closer.  The Eco-friendly "green" movement is popular by necessity (that is a good thing!) and nature's infinite variety continues to inspire.  We long for simplicity and at the same time, customization that enhances identity.  Luxury today is the luxury to choose quality over quantity while we question what's in it and where did it come from.  Sustainability and authenticity are the key concepts.

Sunny yellows express hope and optimism.  Varied shades of yellow (Citron, Mimosa, Mustard) are appearing.  Yellow speaks to warmth and to enlightenment.  It is vibrant and happy, NOT in your face, screaming.  A little yellow can go a long way.  Seek help to find the yellow you CAN live with.

Blues are back in a big way - from light sky & aqua spa colors to grayed-denim to true American Blue to Indigo with purple undertones, in all shades and intensities.  Inspired by water, which is the new oil, blues speak to our global appreciation of this vital natural resource.  Color blocking (mixing all shades of the same color) is appearing in fashion and home furnishings.

Purples continue to gain importance.  From muted, gray-purple to violet and plum, these deep shades are inspired by gems, botanicals and food.  Look for plums used with gray, paired with green and replacing red in dining rooms.  Blue-based pinks in fuchsia and rose are appearing, too.  The new greens are fresh grass and greens without yellow tones.

Black and white, with all the gray shades in between, are everywhere.  Paired with red, pink, citron yellow, apple green.  These bright colors influenced by India and Brazil are best used as accent colors, delivering global flavor and unexpected fun.  Forecasters predict beige-scale naturals will dominate the neutrals palette by 2010.  Warm neutrals, beige, tan, caramel, & chocolate, will replace grays.  As for metallics, silver is still everywhere but copper, bronze and gold are popping up and regaining favor.

As spring approaches and you feel the need to "freshen" your home, keep these trends in mind.  Introduce new colors sparingly as accents, just as you would fashion accessories.  As always, if you need a helping hand, call me at Make It Home!

Hang It Up: Art is What You Make It

I had the good fortune to be in a home this week with an incredible art collection.  Real, fine art; museum-quality art...it was fantastic.  I was there to help with furniture placement.  In spite of the home owner's excellent taste in art, they needed some direction with their other furnishings.  Within a few hours, the client was thrilled and asking, "Where were you when we moved in?"  "So-so" rooms went to "wow" rooms.  All elements now worked to make the rooms beautiful and functional.

Wall art can make just as much difference in a space as proper furniture placement.  Have you been in a room with bare walls?  Or, large walls with a single, small picture stuck in the middle?  Art is literally "eye-candy" for your home.  If you had only one picture to hang in a room, which wall would be the most obvious if neglected?  This is the focal wall (not to be confused with focal point).  Left bare, this expanse of wall feels cold and empty, impacting the mood of the entire room.  

The good news is you do not need to be an art collector to complete your room with wonderful wall decor!  All kinds of things can bring life to your walls, beauty to your room and personality to your home.  Dig out some of those treasures you didn't know what to do with and bring them to Mary Fender at FRAME NATION (www.FRAMENATION.NET).  Mary is the expert when it comes to creative ways to display your treasures.  The right frame and mat can make everyday objects and valued keepsakes ART for your walls.

Consider Aunt Mae's cocktail napkins circa 1937 with embroidered scenes of socialites imbibing.  Frame the collection and you have perfect "art" for your new bar.  How about the letters and ribbons your high school athlete won?  Use a team t-shirt for the background and show off those awards.  Vintage, hand-colored postcards or current-day posters can be custom framed to enhance your room's decor.  An heirloom christening gown, surrounded with other mementos of infancy can make a stunning show for the upper hall or guest room.  Similarly, mix photos and souvenirs in a shadow box to remember a fabulous vacation. 

Have a collection that is hidden away?  Family items that are dear to your heart?  Get them out where you can enjoy them!  Bring them to Mary at FRAME NATION for just the right custom fit.  Then, call me at Make It Home to hang your new artwork in just the right place!

Community Room Redesign

A large residential development near my home decided their "community room" needed a redesign.  The space is in continual use by residents for neighborhood programs and committee meetings.  After seven years of such use, furnishings were worn, broken and faded.  This is the development's only public, communal space.  It is always important to put your "best face forward" and in this situation, that was no longer the case.

The project goal was to create an attractive, on-trend room that was furnished 1) with durable, commercial-grade materials and 2) with items that were able to multi-task.  Dated wallpaper was removed, along with faded window treatments.  Stained carpet was replaced with hardwood laminate.

A sophisticated neutral color palette was selected.  Colors ranged from cafe au lait, mocha, and coffee bean to an accent of silver sea-foam.  This would coordinate with the green counter-top of the kitchen pass-thru and allow us to re-use several pieces of existing artwork.  Reuse, recycle and save money when you can!

Since the space is frequently rented, the walls needed to withstand bumping, splashing and tape!  Bead board paneling was installed to a height of 6 feet.  It was topped with a narrow shelf supported by dental trim similar to existing crown molding.  Painted, along with all the trim in the room, Benjamin Moore's I-06 White Dove.  A great solution and a wonderful look!

 

 

The upper walls and entryway were painted with another BM color, 1522 Inner Balance.  The light walls were the right contrast for darker brown floor.  Four club chairs were ordered in a large Persian-style print.  This fabric was the inspiration for the color scheme and the basis for all color selections.  Remember, wood has color and should be included when determining the palette for a room.

The focal point of the room is a fireplace.  These four chairs were placed on an area rug to create a cozy, conversation pit.  In the center, four cube ottomans.  Two covered in leather-like fabric and two in a coordinating print.  This provides four additional seats, or foot rests or a coffee table.  The cubes can easily be arranged to meet multiple uses of the space.

Four 36" square laminate tables with chairs completed new furniture purchases.  Chairs have leather-like padded seats for comfort during long meetings!  The tables and chairs can easily be moved on laminate flooring to meet varying needs.  A console table was treated with one of my trade secrets, Old English Scratch Cover, and reused.  I added some accessories, greenery and a clock (to help keep those meetings on track!) to complete the new look.  What do you think of my first commercial venture?

  

 

Common Gardening Mistakes

Spring in the mid-Atlantic is a fabulous season.  The sun is shining and the air is warm....everything is calling you to get outdoors.  As an avid gardener, I respond willingly.  This year, I could not wait until May 1 to start planting....I started the end of April and hoped that our last freeze had come and gone.  This year, I was lucky!  We completed the annual planting, edging and mulching yesterday.  Now, I can sit outside and enjoy the view!

During early morning walks through the neighborhood, I love to look at other yards and gardens, making notes of bed lines, plants and lawns that display a "well cared for" appeal.  My walks have also led me to observe some gardening mistakes commonly made.  Based on my observations, here are some tips:

-  Remove tree stakes 1 year from planting.  Professionals debate whether staking is necessary at all.  Leaving trees staked will harm the tree and could lead to an early death.  Free the trees!  Toss the stakes!

-  Mulch trees out, NOT up.  The mulched area at the base of a tree should expand with the drip-line of the tree.  That may, over a period of years, get to be too large an area.  OK, no harm done if your ring does not grow to keep up with the tree.  However, if you build a cone of mulch up the trunk of the tree, you will kill the tree in a matter of 3 - 5 years.  Yes, landscapers have been known to do this.  Clearly, many of them do not seem to know any better or care.  When does their guarantee expire?

-  Stop crape murder.  Crape myrtles may need a bit of pruning in February.  They may be pruned to a single trunk or multiple trunks of 3 - 5 stems.  Allow crape myrtle to grow as a tree.  Do not level it off to the same height (4-6 feet) every year, leaving stubs.  This is called "pollarding" and it weakens branches and reduces tree vigor.  It also creates an ugly tree!  Prune to remove crossing and rubbing branches, suckers at the base, and narrow crotch angles.  Never use pruning paint or any form of wound sealant.  The cut will seal itself.  You want blooms evenly distributed throughout the tree and not just at the tips of branches.  Dead flower heads do not have to be removed; the tree will still bloom just as beautifully.  If height is an issue, select a semi-dwarf (under 10') or dwarf (under 5') variety but please stop crape murder!

-  Plant natives.  Select plants for the soil, light and water conditions in each section of your landscape.  Natives are the flora "native" to your region.  Native plants are ecologically suited & adapted to your local.  Natives have already worked out their territory, they will not get out of control like non-native ivy and kudzu.  Wildlife knows where to find food, shelter and nesting materials from native plants - these things are unknowns with less familiar plants.  Native plants tell us where we are in the world.  They provide a sense of place and memories associated with that place.  You will save money because their chances of survival are much better.

-  If you elect to water, do it early in the morning.  Air is calm so water will go where you want it.  The sun will be up to dry things off before they can mold.  Fungi love overhead watering!  Less water is lost to evaporation when you water before the sun is high.  Check your sprinkler heads:  make sure you are watering the lawn and not the sidewalk.  Use empty tuna cans to measure the rate of irrigation.  Lawns need 1" of water per week.  No more.  Water longer periods of time and less often to achieve the 1" amount.  Deep watering encourages proper (i.e. deeper) root development and better survival during dry spells.

-  Conduct a soil test first.  Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for soil test information.  Results will tell you exactly what your lawn does and does not need.  Our pH is such that we do not need to put lime on the lawn!  Wow!  Look what we saved in terms of time, money, energy, and the environment!  Only use the chemicals needed and only as directed on the label.

-  Practice proper mowing.  Sharpen mower blades.  Mow often enough that not more than one-third of the grass blade is removed.  Leave clippings on lawn to renew nitrogen in soil.  Cool-season grasses (tall fescue) should be mowed at a 2.5 - 3" height.

Hope the information is educational and helpful.  For a wealth of great information on all aspects of gardening, go to www.ext.vt.edu.

Lighten up - It's Spring!

The weather is warmer, the days longer and flowers are beginning to appear.  All signs that spring has arrived.  With it's arrival, we feel the urge to "freshen up" at home.  We want to clean away the dust and make way for sunlight.  Here are some tips to make it easy:

Clean away:  Use light floral and lemon scented products to freshen the smell of your home as you clean.  Only wash windows on the inside - the outside layer of dust cuts down on the amount of heat entering your home this summer.  (Clean windows inside and outside in the fall.)  Spring is a great time to wash all bedding, store heavy blankets, and air out pillows and quilts.  Every week, I air our down pillows while doing laundry.  It is amazing what fresh air and sunshine can do! 

Seasonalize accessories:  Put away the basket of pine cones.  Bring out the spring flowers.  Move from the deep hues to the lighter tones of your color scheme.  Change out a red ceramic vase for a floral patterned one.  Hunt through your cabinets and find items more in tune with the season.  Bring out the bird or bunny figurine, set it next to the flowers.  If you are short on items to "change out", simply pack a few away.  Having fewer items on display is another way to lighten up!  Your room will feel less cluttered and cleaner.

Change fabrics:  The time for velvet, faux fur, and heavy fabrics has waned.  Bring out bright cottons, linens, and floral chintz pillows for the sofa.  Remove heavy draperies from the windows.  Replace with unlined silk, sheers or lace panels.  Likewise with dark, wool rugs- exchange for inexpensive sisal.  No need to make all of these changes.  Replace what you can.  You will be impressed by the impact of just one such change.

Add lighter colors:  Color is the most powerful element of design.  Lighten and brighten elements of your color scheme.  You can even remain in the same hue (color); replace a dark red accent with a clear, bright red accessory.  As always, relate a tabletop display to the art hanging above it.  Try new accessories that pull lighter shades from the artwork.  Try linen slipcovers on a red velvet sofa or white slipcovers on dining chairs.  If available, trade an upholstered chair from your family room for a painted rocker or a wicker chair from the guest room. 

In the garden:  Save the lawn fertilizer for fall (and prevent groundwater pollution).  Clean up leaf litter since it is often the site for pests to spend the winter.  Remove dead blooms from bulbs but leave the leaves to store energy for next year.  Remove leaves only when they begin to yellow.  Set out the patio furniture, and savor the first cookout of the season!   

Follow up to last month:  For environmentally-conscious fabrics, finishes and frames- check out Natural Lee, a new line of furniture made in part from sustainable & renewable components from Lee Industries:  leeindustries.com or 800-892-7150.

Be well.  Enjoy the new season and time for new beginnings!

Top of Mind: Green!

It is February, the "red" month-  Valentine's Day and increasing awareness of heart health.  It also means winter is winding down!  The forecast predicts a warm-up this week and that makes my thoughts turn to spring and the color "green"! 

Currently, I am enrolled in the county Master Gardener class.  That too, is making my thoughts turn to spring.  Learning a lot and I can't wait to "get out there".  In fact, I find myself realizing (once again) that for all I know (about gardening), there is far more I have to learn!  Isn't life grand? 

One of the most important concepts I have learned from the Cooperative Extension Service (the agency responsible for training Master Gardeners) is IPM; Integrated Pest Management.  My translation is: do the least harm.  Test the soil to see what (if anything) is needed before dumping tons of chemicals that contaminate our water.  Diagnose the specific insect or fungi causing disease in your plant and treat specifically for the problem.  Better yet, select disease-resistant varieties of trees and plants suited to your micro-climate and existing soil when designing your landscape.  Whenever possible, use treatments that will disrupt nature the least and not harm the environment.  It makes sooo much sense.

This care for the environment is what attracted me to The Happy Gardener, a company that sells certified organics and superior tools for home gardeners (www.thehappygardener.info).  If I can do what is right, I want to do it.

There is a positive, new trend in the housing industry.  A lot of talk about "going green" in terms of building materials and techniques.  Similarly, in the decorating field; consumers are demanding "green" products.  Recently, I had one of those "light bulb moments".  Redesign is every bit as "green" and environmentally focused as my organic lawn care!  (Perhaps my concern for our only home, planet earth is actually, a value!) 

Redesign is all about using what you have to create a fresh, new room.  Honoring the history of each item, recognizing an owner's attachment and memories.   Recognizing the limits of our financial resources, as well.  Just like buying a well-made tool guaranteed for life rather than a cheap tool which may last a season....which is better for the environment?  Better for your wallet?   At some point, we come to realize that it is not always better to "throw away and buy new" furnishings, either.

How do you have a beautiful home?       

• Select well-made furnishings that have staying power.  Stick with classic lines, lasting fabrics in neutral tones for upholstered pieces, and solid wood. 
• Follow current trends with less expensive, earth-friendly paint, toss pillows and table-top accessories. 
• Update a lamp with a new shade.  (If there is any question about the electrical wiring in the lamp, by all means replace it.  Safety first!) 
• Start with good quality shades or blinds.  Layer with a fabric window treatment for additional depth and richness. 

Spend your money on good bones, the basics, that will last 10, 15, or more years.  A quality built arm chair, with good lines can be reupholstered, even re-stuffed.  I know, you can buy three chairs for the price of one better quality chair.  Often, you can buy a new chair for less than the cost of reupholstering.  Try slipcovers.  Recycle; you can rescue a great chair from a second-hand shop.  Keep the chair that belonged to your grandmother.  (I even rescued a pair of lamps from the curb!  A faux paint treatment and new shades is all they needed.)

These are choices we make.  Keep "green" at the top of your mind.  Be an educated consumer.  Do the right thing for the planet to the extent you are able.  If each of us does a few, simple things to help rather than harm the environment, our grandchildren and their grandchildren will only benefit.

For starters, try those new, low watt fluorescent light bulbs.  They last longer and save energy!  It only makes sense, don't you agree?   

A Fresh Approach for the New Year

We are well into January and most of the holiday decorations have been packed away.  As you go about replacing accessories, consider changing it up.  It's a new year and time to freshen up your old look.  One of the easiest and fastest ways to update a room is to change the accessories.  Feeling ready for a change but fearful you don't have the knack for displaying treasures?  Read on.  I hope my tips will help:

-  Every home tells a story.  The most interesting homes tell the story of the people who live there.  Think of your home as a display case and the opportunity to share bits of yourself.  Your accessories should reflect your interests, travels, and history.  These are the items that truely bring warmth to a home.

-  Select accessories based on color.  As foolproof as it gets, your choice will always look good.  Accessories help us bring in critical punches of color that enhance the color scheme.  In a blue and white bedroom, accessorize with yellow.  Black and white (or cream) are showing everywhere for spring.  Punch them up with red, orange or turquoise.  If you have print fabrics in your room, pull out one of the less-used bright colors.  If the color coordinates with colors in the room, chances are it will work.

-  Another effective trick is to group like objects together.  Find the similarities among objects (form, material, function) and create a group.  Display a collection together, not scattered around a room.  Cluster three large candlesticks together, souvenir replicas of buildings, or pieces of cranberry glass.  If you have a lot of stuff, it will look like a lot of junk.  This process creates order.

-  The current trend is for fewer, larger scale items.  One way to keep your smaller treasures in vogue is to group them together.  They will carry the presence of one, larger item.  A small tray or mirror may create the perfect site for a collection of antique perfume bottles, for example.   

-  Once you have your grouping, create an intriguing display.  Vary heights and sizes.  Place higher items on the left side of your arrangement and step down as you move right.  Use boxes or books to elevate items.  Balance your design keeping in mind the visual weight of an object.  An urn-shaped lamp with a broad shade would require a grouping of smaller items to balance its visual weight.

-  Relate objects to their surroundings.  If working on a table, is it round or rectangular?  Made of wood, glass or marble?  What furnishings are next to the table?  Art on the wall above?  Take clues from the style and decor in the room.  In a recent redesign, one of my client's treasures was a painting of a dog.  I hung that above a console table.   On the table, I placed three medium-sized figurines of dogs that had been in two other rooms.  The three together made a nice display and they related so well to the painting that it became part of the arrangement.

-  If you change only one thing in your room, make it your older floral arrangements.  However beautiful, artificial florals are one accessory that does not last forever.  They collect dust and become faded, even wilted, over time.  Replace your florals with a new arrangement of different flowers and colors.  It will instantly brighten your entire room.

Finally, consider function for each area.  Do the accessories interfere with your ability to turn on the lamp?  Or work at the desk? 

Upon completion of a shelf or tabletop arrangement, one famous designer made it a rule to always remove one object!  They felt that bit of empty space only enhanced the display.  Try it and see what you think.

Play.  Have fun.  Tell your story.  "Make It Home"

'Tis the Season!

Not to be sexist, but it is mid-December and I am wondering how all the women are doing.  If your household celebrates Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, chances are the women are pretty busy.  Why is there so much to do?  Why do we procrastinate?  Why does so much of the preparation seem to fall to us?  New Year's Resolution #1:  Start planning for next year in January!  No really, it is a great time to purchase seasonal decor, wrapping paper, and cards.  You know just what you have on hand and what you will need to be ready for next December.

Twelve days to Christmas and here are twelve tips to help make it easier:

1)  Get organized.  You know what you have left to do.  Sit down with a nice cup of your favorite warm beverage, your calendar, paper and pen.  Write out your "to do" list.  Prioritize.  Estimate time needed.  Fill in your calendar.  Make sure all the parties, volunteer activities and fun events are also scheduled.

2)  Now you know that you only have Saturday to bake cookies.  Plan ahead.  After dinner, early in the week, select your cookie recipes.  Check the pantry for needed ingredients and make your shopping list.  Perhaps someone else in the family can pick up the items for you on Thursday or Friday?

3)  Parchment paper is a great time-saver when baking cookies.  Line cookie sheets and save having to grease (or wash) them.  Another cookie tip:  assemble all your ingredients before you start.  Best to have butter and eggs room temperature anyway. 

4)  Decorating is what you make it.  What works best for you and your family?  What do you have time to do, reasonably?  Does the family all pitch in?  It can be elaborate or simple.  Home-made or hired out.  One very smart woman I know kept it simple:  She had elegant swags made of faux greens, ribbon, over-sized ornaments, pine cones, etc.  The swags fit over her window treatments and were designed to coordinate with the decor for each of the main rooms (living, dining, family).  With those up and in place, each room immediately looked fabulous.  She added a few tabletop accessories, candles and a tree.  Done! 

5)  Too many ornaments?  Fill a bowl with balls.  Scatter on a tray.  Many ornaments can "stand" on a tabletop.  Group like objects into a collection for maximum impact.  I turn a den into a winter wonderland with a collection of snowmen, snowflake garland, snowball ornaments and artificial snow.  If you live up north, you can keep such decor up through February!  (Helps with the inevitable let down after December holidays and the dark, cold days of January!)

6)  There is a reason that light is such a significant part of many holiday traditions.  It is dark in the winter and we need light.  When placing lights on your tree:  Run extension cords up the trunk.  Start lights at the top and work down.  Work from the trunk out to the tip of each branch and back the same branch.  That's how the pros do it and it looks great!

7)  The holidays are really about friends and family.  Keeping in touch with those miles away is not always easy.  I am an advocate of the Christmas letter.  Why hand write the same news dozens of times?  I don't know anyone with that much free time.  I still write a brief personal note to many but the letter helps with all the real news.  It is also a great way to share photos - economical, too.  When our family gets together for Thanksgiving, I begin thinking about the letter and talking about the year's milestones.  This can be a great job for one of the children.  You will be very proud of what they are able to come up with - and so will they!  We save a copy of each Christmas letter in a notebook.  It makes a great family history!

8)  Wrap gifts together.  Put on the football game or a favorite holiday movie.  As a family, wrap all the gifts for extended members of the family.  When the kids go to bed, Mom & Dad can continue and get the children's gifts done, too.  Make it fun.  Enjoy accomplishing the pleasure of giving together.

9)  When decorating the tree, place smaller ornaments at the top and largest at the bottom.  Decorate along the branches and not just at the tips - it adds depth.  If young children are part of the household, put plastic and fabric ornaments where they can reach.  (Then teach them to look and not touch!)  We always tie the tree for extra security, too. 

10)  Shopping:  Make a list and check it twice!  It will save you from over buying, buying too much for one person and nothing for another, and from over spending!  I shop all year and try to be close to finished by the end of November.

11) Know your limits!  Know what is most important to you and your loved ones.  Do what you can.  Ask for help (you are creating precious memories and teaching the next generation).  Do not make yourself exhausted or sick by doing too much. 

12)  Whether you travel by land or sea or only in your heart, Make It Home for your holiday celebration.  Remember the past as you create new traditions for the future.  Share yourself with those you love.  Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays to all!

"Great Rooms"

Yesterday we did another "Great Room" makeover.  The large open space designated for living, dining and cooking helps to keep busy families in touch.  We like the open feel, the light brought in by large windows, the "togetherness".  These spaces also seem to be the most challenging for  homeowners. 

Do I create separate living areas within the space or make it one, big space?  That seems to be a common question among my clients.  Having redesigned several "great rooms", my answer would have to be, both!  You clearly want / need a kitchen area to store & prepare food.  Often, we want to serve food here when entertaining and we want to be able to grab a snack or bite to eat.  You also want & need an area where the family can sit-down and share a meal comfortably, and a conversation area for catching up, curling up with a book,  & TV viewing.  It is necessary for different areas within the space to be designed for these functions.  Different furnishings are required for each of these functions, too.

Now, the job becomes one of fitting it all together.  Create harmony and continuity within the space.  Unify the space with a coordinated color palette.  Keep the open flow with proper furniture placement.  Repeat an element of your accessories throughout the great room.  Remember to decorate from the floor up.  You do not have to fill every foot of wall space, especially when you have 16 foot high ceilings!

A final note that really needs to be at the beginning of your planning:  Electrical outlets.  Too often the builder and codes only place outlets on walls.  In a great room, you need a few floor outlets to light the space properly - to be able to read and do all the things you want to do without hiding extension cords under carpeting or having cords out to trip over (both create safety hazards).  Think about where your furniture will be placed and plan ahead for where you will need lamps.  Don't forget the Christmas tree or other electrical, seasonal items.

If you need a little help, give us a call at Make It Home.  Meanwhile, best wishes to you and your family for a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Thank you to all my family for their love and support, to friends for being there and to my clients for trusting me with their homes and honoring me with their business.  Each of you is a critical design element that makes what I do possible.  I am very grateful for such blessings.  Now, go and enjoy that "togetherness"!

I'm NOT Selling!

Something is driving me crazy and I just have to talk about it.  Everyone is trying to sell you more stuff for your home.  OK, that is a retailer's job and they have always done that.  True.  In their efforts to get your attention, ads list common decorating problems.  Then, to motivate you to open your wallet, many ads now claim that by buying their product, you will solve your decorating problem!  WRONG!  You will just have more stuff.  Buying more won't solve the problem!

Adding to improperly placed furniture will not make your room function.  Getting new window treatments will not solve lighting issues.  Painting the walls will not make artwork which is not the correct size look fabulous.  Buying more is not the answer.

I can see my husband laughing when he reads this.  Yes, I love to shop.  In fact, I'm a pretty good shopper which is why I am happy to offer this service to clients.  Shopping is fun and if spending remains within our budget, it even feels good to find just the item I am searching for.  It does not feel good to spend more than we have to spend.  It does not feel good to come home with a pile of "impulse" purchases or items that a sales person convinced me I needed.  Buying more can create problems, too.

This is why I love interior redesign. You are not required to buy more.  Redesigners use what you have and apply their decorating know-how to create beautiful, fresh new rooms.  I firmly believe that people usually like the furnishings in their home.  Something about the item attracted them.  Sometimes, they need a little help pulling it all together, making it beautiful and functional.  That's where my services come in.

A few people feel that interior design services should be free.  Everyone seems to offer "free design services".  Yes, everyone who is looking for an opportunity to sell you their products.  They will be happy to provide design services as long as you are buying.  They get paid on commission.

I'm not selling.  I provide services tailored to my client's needs.  If my client decides they want something new (there are times we really do need a new sofa!), they are free to purchase it any place they like. 

Just needed to clear that up......Thanks for listening!  Have a wonderful week!