Thinking about redesigning your living room without spending a cent by using what you already have?
Here are a few of my timeless tips that I presented back in 1999 on HGTV's Decorating Cents with Joan Steffend Episode 903.
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The 4 Basic Steps to Redesigning your Living Room
1. Clear the room
One basic interior redesign strategy is to start fresh by clearing the room first, much like what Marie Kondo does these days with her tidying up KonMari method.
2. Prioritize your focal points
The main focal point is where your eye immediately goes upon entering the room. It is usually an architectural feature like a fireplace, a window or built-in feature like a bookcase.
The focal point will usually stand out once the room has been cleared.
3. Setup your seating arrangement
Your architecture dictates furniture placement.
Your seating arrangement should address your focal point by facing it. When seated in the conversation area, you should be able to see your focal point.
Here is a useful tip for your conversation cluster: to avoid blocking the view of the focal point, use an ottoman instead of a chair as the lack of a back opens up the view.
You can also use an ottoman with a tray as a coffee table.
4. Secondary functions
Now it's time to add rugs, lamps and accessories.
Fill the rest of the room with other secondary functions. Bring in some accessories and rebalance the weight of the room.
If you have bookshelves, it is often impractical to apply the Marie Kondo method of clearing them first. Leave the books in place, but rebalance the weight by straightening them, lying a few of the books on their side, and create some clearing space to add accessories for interest.
One of the last steps is to add the artwork to the room.
With these tips, your living room can feel like a whole new place by reusing what you already own. Interior Redesign is a cost effective way to transform your home and bring warmth and joy to your family and guests.
How did you do on the end table quiz in the video at 01:55?
Behind the Scene of HGTV's Decorating Cents
For this Decorating Cents episode, we were working at the home of Governor Jesse Ventura's political campaign advisor, Bill Hillsman, in Minnesota.
A few things I wanted to share with you regarding the making of this episode of Decorating Cents is that Bill was not that happy with the finished project... at first! After I gave him a chance to be in control, he began to love the end result.
One issue was the large oil painting done by a friend. Though it was a great scale and perfect fit for the camera, it was not the final finished art. It was one of the prototypes the artist had done, and the final piece had a completely different size. Bill had us put back the original finished art in the space over the bookcase. At first, I thought this would unbalance the whole design. However, the room was so well balanced that the smaller artwork did not shift the weight of the room.
Another issue Bill had was he felt like we did not use all of the available space in the room. Once I pointed out you need at least 2 1/2' to 3' walkway around the conversation area in a circular room, and after I pulled everything out a couple of inches, he was happy.
Once again, Bill felt empowered and in control.
After we made these two changes, Bill started enjoying telling me about his treasures on the bookshelves. This is a great reminder that change is hard for all of us, and it takes time to adjust to a new arrangement.
So don't let fear of change keep you from hiring a designer to see what they can do for you.
Another tidbit you might have noticed: Joan Steffend calls me Carol at one point on the tape, but this error was corrected (thank goodness) before airing. The video you saw is from the Master Tape HGTV kindly sent to us and was not the final version that aired.
Are you ready to Redesign your Living Room?
Call/Text me today at 650-703-0738, or email me at connie@conniehammond.com, and let me redesign your home using what you already have or by purchasing a few new items and reworking the entire space.