Sometimes we get so used to seeing our house the way that it is we just can't imagine what we could do to change things without either painting or buying more new stuff. This client is building a new home and doesn't want to make any investments in new things for her old house, yet she needed a 'freshening up' because her son is getting married soon and she will be doing a lot of entertaining. I didn't bring a lot of 'things' with me but I did bring a much needed fresh eye.
The first room that needed some serious 'weeding out' was the family room. She had a few things that were too big and a lot of things that were too small. We moved the gigantic tree from one corner of the room (which happened to be the one corner of the room that you could see from everywhere else in the house) to a less conspicuous corner freeing up tons of light and space, giving the room a much grander and more open feeling. Then we removed all of the little bric a brac from the fireplace mantel and the coffee table, hung the mirror over the mantle rather than leaning it, and added just one 'important' piece on both the mantle and the coffee table, creating a simple yet elegant feel.
In the powder room, we added a rug, new towels and repurposed a more appropriately sized piece over the storage unit. We hid the cord of a repurposed lamp and added a couple of little knick knacks from her 'recycle pile' from the family room.
In the dining room we added a more appropriately sized piece of art (formerly in the living room) to the right of the hutch, brought in a cute tiered garden cart with 'recycle pile' pieces of greenery and pottery, streamlined what was on the open shelves of the hutch, brought in a new centerpiece for the table as well as custom greenery for the wall sconces on either side of the bay window. Oh! And got rid of the old and dusty ficus tree.
