Before and After: from girl to guest

Sarah K sent me this photo of a room she redecorated herself and did a great job doing it.

This is a cute room. But when Sarah’s daughter switched rooms, it was time for this one to grow up.

Sarah was a recessionista before we were in one. “I’m not afraid to bargain anywhere – even in a high-end antique store,” she told me. “Almost anyone will lower the price if they know you’re a serious and a possible repeat customer.” The antiques in this room are some of her bargains.

Does anyone have a good bargain hunting tip? I research things on the internet before I shop for antiques. How do you feel about asking for a discount?

30 Minute Makeover

How do our homes become filled with debris? Even designers (like me) are victims. It seems as if the Clutter Fairies descend upon us, sprinkling our rooms with old socks, magazines and other miscellaneous objects until we begin to think that nothing short of a complete overhaul will suffice.

Before you tear down the drapes and buy a gallon of paint, I suggest you try de-cluttering. Then, go shopping in your house for long forgotten vases and things that will spruce things up a bit.¬† You’ll be amazed how much nicer the old curtains look when the rest of the room is on order.

To illustrate my point, here’s a clutter-filled victim from my own home. This desk fits beautifully under the window of our bedroom. But it’s never used, which is why it has become a place to stack things and forget about them. Also, since misterarthur and I read too much, we’re always running out of space to put our books, which led to the eyesore, above.

This desk needs to begin its new life as a dressing table. Let’s see how, in 30 minutes, I turned this mess around.

I started by putting everything in its proper place. The bed board went into the trash, the hat into the closet and the magazines into my office. That was easy. Then, I dressed the bookshelves so they looked a bit better. Finally, I went shopping in my house to create a visually appealing dressing table.

Now I no longer have to bend over the bathroom sink to apply my spackle makeup. And, because the desk now has a purpose, it’s less likely to fall vistim to the Clutter Fairies.

I pulled a silver-plated tray and jewel box from the bathroom and out from a drawer in the desk. Now I have a place for some of my favorite jewelry. I cleared out the junk from the drawers to create a new place for my makeup. Finally, I purchased a mirror from Restoration Hardware so I can actually see what I’m doing and convince myself that I don’t need Botox.

Straightening up the bookshelves was easy. I arranged them loosely by size and left some room for ornament, such as the antique Chinese slippers and little silver box. The left-overs went into our donation box in the basement.

All done in 30 minutes. One final note: don’t fix one area by making a mess in another. The hat, for example, went into the closet (as opposed to a chair) where it’s supposed to live. Of course the closet is a mess. But I’ll save that for another rainy day.

Before and After: Bookshelves

A week or so ago I wrote about how to dress your bookshelves – one of my favorite things to do. I heard from Sarah, a Design Hole reader, who sent me photos of her own great bookshelf redecorating job.

Sarah’s bookshelves: before

She said that, when she’d moved into her new home, she’d just thrown some things on the shelves to get the boxes out of the way. But after ignoring it for some time, realized they needed some attention.

Sarah’s bookshelves: after

The process took less than an hour to spruce up. I suggest going shopping in your house for little things you’ve forgotten about. We all have them. If you have relatives and friends coming over for Thanksgiving, take an hour to put away all the clutter that’s collected over the year. Clear off the kitchen counters. It’s amazing what a difference little things like that can make.