You Home Can And Should Be Beautiful

I believe a home should be a place a beauty. Beauty can be created on many different levels and incomes..it has less to do with wealth and more to do with desire. In the past several years, as a professional Redesigner and Home Stager and I have been into hundreds of rooms. These rooms have been in multi~million dollars homes and run the gambit down to tiny condos. These are some of the things I have observed.

Organization is the prep work for a beautiful home. A house of order, no matter how humble is a house of beauty.

Disarray and dirt detract from the most beautiful homes. Clean is beautiful. I am not saying be a slave to your home but reasonably clean is invaluable, if you want the beauty to shine through. I use to try to do the whole house in one day..now I have learned to just do a room at a time for the cleaning part and keep it rotating. It takes way less time and works pretty well without being so exhausting.



Where would you rather work? Where are you most likely to find your inspiration?
Cluttered spaces tend to clutter your mind. It actually can block your energy too. In Feng Shui it is called blocking your chi.


By using your creativity you can have a living space that is uniquely designed to meet all the needs of your family. You can make it beautiful! Remember this:

It is not What you have
but
Where you put it
that
Makes all the difference.

Good designing is a combination of science and art. When you become frustrated with not being able to get it just perfect, naturally you will try to think of a remedy. What many people come up with is buying something else to add to the room. This usually doesn't work because it is the placement of your furnishings that make is seem unappealing. Sometimes you just need a fresh perspective. You have great taste so let's just work with what you have and love already.

The most common response I have gotten when revealing a redesigned room to a client is, "Wow! Why didn't I think of that!"

If you need some help with an area of your home, I am willing to work with you via the blog. You can contact me via e-mail at <onedesigningwoman@yahoo.com> I am a certified Redesigner and Professional Home Stager through IRIS.

My fees are reasonable and commensurate with your design needs. I do accept Paypal which makes things so easy and convenient. Let me know if I can help you~no request for help is too trivial or too huge~just let me know and I will quote you a price and get to work for you right away. All I'll need is some photos of your problem areas! Before and After Portfolio Photos available upon request.

Try Something New!

The Appeal Of Redesigning Your Home

This is another of my article published on Blissfully Domestic


Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Did you know that redesigning is the most economical way to decorate your home? With redesigning and home staging coming on the scene less than two decades ago, many people are unclear about what the difference is. The easiest way to remember is:

• Staging is for Selling
• Redesigning is for Dwelling

Each of these aspects of interior decorating has a specific purpose and although many of the same design principles apply, the methods and end results are very different. Redesigning is what most of us will find most helpful as we do a lot more dwelling than selling.

We live in a society with a mindset that things are primarily disposable. If something breaks and needs repairs, or if we are just tired of it, we often just go buy a new one! With the current economy, many are rethinking that mindset.

Redesign is the re-purposing and recycling of things we already have and love. Often just a new arrangement will make a world of difference in how inviting a room is. What could be more prudent and resourceful than that? Don’t get me wrong, I love shopping and getting new things for our home as much as anyone. But I save money by buying and keeping the big pieces we really love and adding new accessories. Redesigning gives new life to your treasured furnishings and is budget friendly as well. Often it has less to do with what you have, than it does with the placement of your furnishings and accessories.

Before redesigning this room was uninspiring and boring!

By proper furniture placement and accessorizing with things you love, it works!

In one day and without purchasing anything new, this room is now beautiful, warm, and inviting!

Here Are Some Ways To Begin Your Redesigning

• Remove the clutter and get organized. Allow yourself to take time to do this. Do a room or a drawer at a time until you feel great about the results. See Fly Lady for some help.
• Look at ways to improve the look of what you already have. Do you need a coat of paint on the walls or some elbow grease on that favorite piece of furniture to update and lift the room?
• Can a great slip cover make your sofa feel fresh and new again?
• Can a can of spray paint and some fabric make your old lamps look awesome?
• Make a wish list of things you’d like to purchase and shop your own house before buying more stuff. Often there is a thread connecting the things we love. Are you a seashell lover or a collector of brass candlesticks? Find a way to use them differently than you have in the past.
• Enjoy the process as you go along. Decorating should be fun and reflect who you are and how your family lives. Form should always follow function for comfortable living. Take your time and build on your accomplishments.

Updating to blend with your current color scheme and style is a great way to redesign and recycle something!

One Helpful Tip: Have an overall plan for your home but work on only one area at a time. Follow the plan until that area or room is completely done before moving on.

The homes I am called in to redesign are often ones that have a little bit of something in the works in each room and nothing completed. This is overwhelming and discouraging for all of us. Having one room that is beautiful and completely done is great motivation to keep redesigning.

If you are not a DIY person, you may prefer to have a professional redesigner’s help. Check here for an IRIS Trained Redesigner in your area. You will find the fees very reasonable. Gone are the days when you had to be wealthy to get some help creating a beautiful and functional home. And the best part is many rooms can be completely redesigned in less than a day! You can have a lovely day out and come home to the big reveal! You can have that same experience you’ve witnessed on HGTV a thousand times!

* All photos: Interiors by Design

When not writing for Blissfully Domestic, Bonnie can be found redesigning and staging homes for sale through her company, Interiors by Design, on the west coast. She also enjoys writing on her own blog (interiorsbydesigndefined.blogspot.com)

Redesign

In the past 14 or 15 years Redesign has become a wonderful aspect of the Interior Design field. Some people are confused about it and have asked me to define exactly what Redesign is.

A Redesigner is an interior decorating profession that takes what you already own and through correct furniture placement, proper art display and enhancing accessories creates a whole new environment for you.

In defining Redesign I sometimes like to compare it to floral arranging. We can enjoy a lovely rose bush or a single rose just the way it is. However, by taking that rose and surrounding it with other gorgeous roses and adding a little enhancement you can create something even lovelier.

Redesigners can usually accomplish a total transformation of a living room and dining area in one day. We can do any room or combination of rooms you desire or the entire house over a few days. We ask the homeowner to plan to be gone during the time we work there so that we can fully concentrate on the redesign and so that everyone can have the fun of the "Big Reveal". It is so rewarding and amazing to watch the faces of the homeowners as they step into their home and suddenly everything works. The often seen, tears of joy, really put us over the top! There is now the cohesiveness that was sought and an emotionally satisfying and welcoming home in which to live.

The cost of a redesign varies but is usually less than purchasing yet another piece of furniture to try to get the look you are after. The fees will be determined in advance at a consultation. Most men love redesign because it costs less then continually buying new furnishings. The ladies love it because finally if "feels" right and they are surrounded with all the things they love. We can create a wish list if there seems to be something missing from the space that would enhance it. That way the homeowner can purchase that item if they are so inclined.

Redesigning gives a wonderful fresh perspective, it is economically sound and recycling at it's best! Everybody wins! It is interior decorating for the real world not just for the rich and famous!