Shuffle and switch up your furnishings to redecorate and rejuvenate your home this spring!
The change in seasons often brings about the need for change across many aspects of our lives. Spending the winter cooped up inside may have you ready to redecorate the space you've been stuck staring at over the last few months. Breathing new life into your home may not be in the budget every spring but working with your existing decor is an easy, cost-effective way to update your space. Your home may be full of furniture you've had forever but is it living up to its full potential?
For most of us, it's all too easy to push our furniture against the wall without a second thought. While this might make sense for some spaces, it's not the only way to arrange couches, beds or benches and, with a little creativity, you can create a more functional and aesthetically pleasing space and freshen up your home.
“When you are starting off with a completely blank space, decide what the room is going to be used for: a family room, piano room, conversation area, reading room, or a TV room,” says Laura Grist, principal at Laura Grist Interior Design. “Some rooms have to double as both a family room and an office, so decide how many functions your room has to manage.”
Before you begin lugging that couch across your living room, pull out a tape measure and do some preliminary planning. Mapping out your room will save you some heavy lifting and allow you to explore all options without moving any furniture. Drawing a floor plan will show you what fits where and perhaps spark several new ideas that wouldn't otherwise have been obvious.
Instantly update a room by eliminating one piece of furniture. This automatically opens up the room, provides more living space and offers you other options for styling the remaining furnishings. Keep in mind that having a couch, a loveseat, ottomans and end tables doesn't mean you need to have them all in the same room; it's okay to skip certain pieces of furniture if they don't suit your space.
While it's most tempting to add more to a room to update its look, subtracting furniture can make a space look larger, especially if pieces are decorative, unnecessary or could be put to better use in another room. If your bedroom closet is large enough, consider moving your dresser inside it. If you have a bookshelf holding clutter more than it does books, try it in an office or guest room instead of your main living area.
Is your room too symmetrical? Or not symmetrical enough? A simple swap of chairs or lamps may be all you need to bring balance back to your room or add visual interest.
Is your living room uninviting? Create comfortable groupings of furniture by pushing seating closer together around a natural focal point. Whether it's around a fireplace, television or set of windows, you can reposition your furniture so you are drawn into the space.
“When you walk into a room and there is the back of the couch facing the entrance, it feels like you are not welcome in the space,” says Grist. “By having an opening into the room that allows you ease of access to any of the furniture for sitting, it makes the room much more welcoming.”
You may think you're stuck with the only setup you've ever known but what about moving furniture between rooms? Those nightstands in your guest room that never get used may make the perfect end tables in your living room. Or an underused armchair may be just the type of seating you could use in that corner of your bedroom. While it may not seem like a quick game of musical chairs will give you the update you've been hoping for, think about your house as a whole instead of just redecorating room-by-room. Your options can instantly increase by mixing pieces all throughout your house.
For instance, the space behind your sofa doesn't require a sofa table; shelving, a credenza, a desk or a breakfast nook are all useful alternatives that may not have been in your first floor plan. Similarly, a dresser doesn't only belong in a bedroom. Dressers can be functional and decorative in offices, kitchens, TV rooms or entryways. By ignoring the obvious use of a piece, you may find a more useful place for it.
“One of the most common problems I find when trying to rearrange peoples furniture is the complaint “that’s not where the plug is/cable/stereo output is!”
Remember, moving an existing cable for the TV is not that difficult, pretend there are no constraints as to where things go for the perfect placement,” Grist says.
Rearranging your existing furniture can create a whole new room without the financial investment in new pieces. A quick change of chairs or a new use for an old piece may be the fresh start you and your furnishings need this spring.
