How is your home? Are you thrilled to come home and lounge in perfectly primped rooms or does the sight of your décor leave you yawning and wanting turn off the lights?
It may be time for a big impact makeover of your space! I moved into a new home a few months ago and thought that the neutral palette and safe colours would be perfect for my new state of mind but a few months in and I’m craving something fabulous and edgy in my home. It’s time for big impact.
I was having a discussion with my fellow Design Divas about my dining room set which I love but which is very dated. We began brainstorming about re-upholstering and reworking the look to make it more modern and the idea came up to paint it…RED.
Paint the buffet and hutch a glossy red (like C2-053 Infrared…sexy) and leave the table and chairs their natural reddish brown wood tone. Completed with polished red velvet fabric on the seat cushions and voila….BIG impact. As I’m writing I’m fearful for when my mom reads my article and phones reprimanding me for painting her dining room set! It’s just a concept at this point Mom, I promise.
Next thing I want to tackle is my two-piece main floor bathroom. I am currently teaching the fall session of my interior design course and have such a wonderful group of students! We were studying pattern mixing last night and digging through wallpaper books while co-coordinating fabrics with the amazing wallpaper patterns and I was struck by lightning. I found a wallpaper pattern that I absolutely LOVE! It is a chartreuse and gold wave and I think it would look wonderful in my bathroom with the chocolate brown cabinets and tile. It would not be just a big impact but a giant impact in that room but it is such a beautiful pattern, I don’t think I will be able to resist.
Both of these projects would be easy, relatively inexpensive and would give my little place a big personality which I think is necessary. It is time to up the fabulous factor; like buying the perfect fall lipstick with the co-coordinating nail polish, a quick pick me up instead of a major overhaul! It’s the ideal way to get a completely new look without having to take a hammer to your piggy bank. Sometimes it is necessary to rescue us from our ho-hum interiors – to shake things up just a tad but enough to create that room or that feature that you just can’t stop staring at.
You can plan your big impact makeover on any scale or at any price point, from a new toss cushion to a roomful of paint and new drapery. Coincidentally, I just purchased some chartreuse cushions for my sofa which are frilly and feminine, they completely match the colour and pattern of that gorgeous wallpaper I discovered last night…it’s like it was meant to be. The wallpaper is going to cause a reaction for sure; big impact!
Take a day for yourself in the next week and plan your big impact makeover. It can be fast and furious or more labour intensive. Does anyone want to volunteer to hang wallpaper for me?
Kim Lewis is an interior designer in Red Deer with Carpet Colour Centre. Contact her at 403-343-7711 ext 227 or email her at klewis@carpetcolourcentre.com.
