Banish Winter from Your Home with These Design Tips
Winter Provides an Opportunity to Make Budget-Friendly Changes to the Interior Design of Your Home.
Make Changes to the Interior Design of Your Home This Winter
A long winter offers the opportunity to spend time around a fireplace or in the kitchen. These are both positives. But, over time, that can also wear you down—the winter blues, as we know them. One of the quickest ways to escape winter is to escape. But a Caribbean vacation is out of the question for most of us, and we’d all love to find effective, budget-friendly solutions to help us coast into the warmer spring months.
If you’re looking to take on this challenge with your interior design skills, start by working with the room that serves as the hideaway for your winter months. While several periodicals offer design options, it’s tough to turn down the vast bounty of the Internet, which is best served by platforms like Pinterest and Houzz for the interior-design inclined.
If you’re even moderately skilled with a sewing machine, repurposing unused fabrics with a straight stitch can turn a neglected dress or curtain into a new pillow for your living room. Even if your house has no spare linens, you can find some for just a few bucks at most local fabric or craft stores.
Even without sewing skills, you can add that much-needed color enhancement with a fresh coat of paint. Before you become overwhelmed with repainting a room, remember that an accent color on a single wall is often enough to provide a welcome and needed change. For a living room, this wall would be the one on which you feature your sofa or fireplace.
A bare wall, no matter the color, needs elements of interest. Start by collecting any old picture frames around your house. (A quick coat of paint can transform them, too.) Unless you’re a professional photographer, you may not have the necessary images to fill them, but that’s not a problem. Thumb through your favorite magazines and take advantage of the high-quality, professional photos that abound. These are the perfect accompaniments to your freshly painted accent wall.
And when it comes to repurposing or repainting, this can be true of your furniture, too. Everyone loves getting a new piece of furniture, but few of us have the budget to spring for a new end table each time the mood strikes us. That’s where paint comes into play once again. A new coat of paint on a forgotten or neglected piece of furniture can make it a sudden focal point for a room full of brilliant color.
So, as it turns out, winter may be here to stay (at least for the near term), but the design of your room is ready for revamp. Use these tips to transform it with a combination of handiwork, paint, and those forgotten items in your closet or basement.
About Debbe Daley
Debbe Daley is New England’s leading interior design expert in the fields of design, decorating, and styling of interior spaces. She is a professional speaker, educator, influencer, and business coach in interior design. She also teaches creative interior design and change-of-career-minded individuals at her School of Interiors. These courses provide mentoring and hands-on training. Debbe is currently an installed Design Services member for the Boston Design Center. She also is an educator and instructor at Middlesex Community College in the field of interior design.
Contact Debbe at ddaley@daleydesigns.com or (978) 697-0288.
