Home is where we surround ourselves with things that we love, including our favorite colors. Your home should tell the story of who you are. The best interiors are never instant, but develop over time.
Whether it is for a redesign, which is using what you already own, or for staging purposes when time to sell, I work with clients who have items they love hiding in closets and basements. Incorporate what you love into your decorating, and display it authentically. These are the things that have special meaning to you. Or if you have too much stuff, scale back so you can see what you love.
Finally, spring! Besides spring-cleaning, this is a good time to get rid of anything that is no longer serving you. Many organizations have fundraising yard sales. Or start gathering up goodies for your own. Sort your stuff into piles: trash/donate/sell.
On the flip side, watch for local yard and garages sales to purchase “new-to-your-home” items. You never know what you might find, and the price can be remarkably lower than buying new. Look for Facebook online yard, too. Just as you are looking to change the look in your home, someone else is, as well.
Whether you have the money or not, most people can’t or don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. High-low decorating pairs expensive pieces with affordable items. Read more
The showstopper for me at this year’s Architectural Digest Home Design Show in New York was Stikwood, ultrathin wood planks that have an adhesive backing that sticks to just about any surface, creating the look of what would ordinarily be a costly piece of décor.
“I love the smell of wood, the feel of wood. I love everything about wood,” owner and founder Jerry McCall says. “But I’ve always been a bit upset about how wasteful it can be.” The master woodworker came up with a product that would give consumers the look of rustic, reclaimed wall paneling, using as little of the natural resource as possible. Read more
(Featured in the Times Herald Record on March 22, 2015)
My last column was about spring inspiration. It felt as if it would never stop snowing. Spring has arrived and it is finally warming up. The white stuff is melting away. Next month will be my 10th anniversary in business. Look for observations and lessons learned in an upcoming column.
One thing I will share is how much some of my clients have inspired me. There are some very creative people out there and I am honored to work with them.
Mark Lassen first took my House-Life Connection class in Newburgh at the Desmond Campus. He returned with his wife, Sheila, for my Staging Tips class. Sheila shared with me how much Mark enjoyed my House-Life class and started applying what he learned to their home.
The Lassen’s hired me for a staging consultation. We walked through their beautiful home and I made a few suggestions in a few rooms. We ended up rearranging their living room furniture to create a more comfortable arrangement for TV viewing, fireplace enjoyment and views to the back of their beautiful property. More importantly, the new layout created a more welcoming space to guests who enter from the front door.
Many rooms have competing focal points, which is usually the fireplace and the TV. In the Lassen home, the TV is next to the fireplace on an art easel. This was such clever way to mount a TV instead of the typical media cabinet.
How to mount a TV to an Art Easel
“We saw the TV easel combination in a high-end furniture store. It caught our eye as fitting in our house well but it was quite expensive. After all we had the TV and all we needed was an easel. We definitely wanted oak and we searched many artist supply shops and Internet sites. When we found the right one it only required a small amount of modifications to securely mount the TV to the easel. The TV had all the connection points since all of the flat screen TVs are built to be wall mounted”, says Mark.
Less is more
“One thing is true, reducing clutter in one’s living space reduces the clutter in ones mind. Our philosophy for our next home, wherever that may be, is that less is more. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. We enjoyed the feedback and look forward to applying our revised “vision” of how to market our house and an improved way to live in it without clutter!”
The TV Easel Stand is a unique yet simple way to display a TV in a space.
