She's BAAAACCCKKK

So, this morning my son decided to create his own Pinterest board entitled, "When Your Mom's A Decorator" and started taking random pictures of the weird suff in my house.  Then he asked if he could call it "When Your Mom's A Half Assed Decorator".  I gave him permission and thought, "The most half assed decorator AND blogger of all time!"  and decided to get back to it.  In my defense, it was a nutty summer/fall, and I've had a permanent houseguest, which didn't allow for  ton of time to seclude myself and blog.  I did, however, do a few half assed projects and document them, so I'll share them as best I can in the next few weeks.  Bear in mind, it is the holidays, and I'm totally unreliable.  Why I think I'll be able to start blogging four days before having dinner for 32 and six family members coming to stay for the weekend, I have no idea.  That is the true beauty of my blog persona.  I've disclosed myself in the blog title, thus lowering everyone's expectations.

Here's a fun, fast one my houseguest and I did this summer.  A friend saw, somewhere on the internet, a Ouija board table, and said she had to have it.  I think she saw it here:  http://hellinahandbag.net/.  This place is pretty awesome, and I would have ordered the badass glow in the dark table for my friend, but they're custom-made and wouldn't have arrived in time for her birthday.  So Stacey and I decided to try it ourselves.  I'm, in no way, trying to take away from hellinahandbag's business.  In fact, I encourage you to peruse the site and purchase something, particularly the "kitschy Ms. Tissue Head" because it's so awesome.  I have no idea if hellinahandbag's table is the one Darcy saw on the internet that night, when I googled, I found quite a few, so I don't think we stole a copyrighted idea.  We were in a time crunch, and besides, we needed to make the table a little more "Darcy-like", and I thought, "Ouija board table  Huh.  I think I could do that."

Darcy's a hard person to buy for, because her gifts are always so thoughful and different, so she raises the bar.  She's also a fun person to buy for, because she's quirky and fun, with all kinds of interests.  So a plain, black, tasteful Ouija board table woudn't do.  (And I think I'm the first person to ever put those words together:  "tasteful Ouija board table.")  The hardest part of this entire project was finding a Ouija board in two days' time.  I thought I had one, but I must have sold it in a garage sale, which is bound to have some negative effect on the ju-ju in my house, but whatever.  I ended up having to steal Darcy's from her by calling her husband and having him surreptitiously remove it from their house and have my husband meet her husband in a parking garage (okay, technically their carport) for a Deep Throat-style exchange.  For the table, we used my printer table, which was bought, unfinished, at Lowe's in 2000, for $25, I think.  It had fourteen layers of paint on it, from it's various incarnations as an end table in every room of my house, through twelve different color schemes.  Doesn't matter, it was going to be covered anyway.  Darcy decoupaged her dining room table with vintage recipes and food-related photos, so I took her idea and ran with it. 

I google-imaged tarot cards and various other occult-related items, printed them out on standard paper, and cut them out.  I found awesome, ancient Magic 8 Ball ads, Kreskin kit ads, etc.  We the began to decoupage the legs and outer edge of the top of the table with Mod Podge.  If you've never decoupaged before (I don't think I have, at least not since kindergarten), you basically brush glue on the back of the paper, stick it to the surface, then brush more glue on top, completely covering it.  Make sure the ink on your printed images is completely dry before you brush the glue on, or it will smear. When we ran out of images, we printed more, and even stuck a few playing cards on there.  I believe we secured the Ouija board to the table with hot glue.  Then came the fun part.

Since the Ouija board is some sort of unholy cross between the occult and a children's toy, our decoupage reflected that.  Since we used tarot images and other occult-related things on the paper, we decided to use toys to create a border around the Ouija board.  I dug through the kids' unused game pieces, old craft supplies, and the miniture section at Hobby Lobby and we hot glued everything to the border of the table.  We also glued some flatter, smaller objects to the legs.  A few of the items we used:

-discarded dice in all colors and materials
-felt flowers
-checkers
-Scrabble tiles
-Clue cards (I was lucky enough to have a travel Clue set that had tiny cards with the characters, the weapons, etc.)
-Cameos
-marbles
-tiny witches brooms
-small straw hats
-plastic doll eyeballs
-game pieces
-plastic spider rings from Halloween with the ring part cut off
-bottle caps
-those cube shaped beads with letters on them

When you decoupage, it's fine to let things overlap.  It's fine if you do a bad job of cutting out the images, because you'll cover them.  It's supposed to look messy, so it's the perfect project for the half assed.  Since we had no idea what we were doing (I tend to look at things like my ten year old does--"I could do that"--and then, just like him, be completely shocked when I can't), we just looked around Michael's and Hobby Lobby for something to coat the table so that nothing would fall off, no one (like kids, ahem) could pick off the toys, and you could set a drink on it without fear of destroying it.  Remember, decorative stuff that isn't functional is just frivolous.  So we bought a couple of different coatings for the table.  Here's one:

http://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Technology-32-Ounce-Pour-On-Finish/dp/B000BZYYQ0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1353261827&sr=8-6&keywords=resin

And here's the other:

http://www.amazon.com/DecoArt-TG01-36-Triple-Thick-8-Ounce/dp/B000WWM6QM/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1353262707&sr=1-1&keywords=triple+thick+gloss+glaze

I think we actually brushed on the Triple Thick first, then poured on the Pour On finish afterwards.  Unfortunately, these photos were taken before the final gloss coats, so they don't show the final look, which was a much thicker, resin-y coating that completely enveloped the 3D parts.  Also, some of the decoupage glue hadn't yet dried clear, and you can still see it on the checkers, but you get the idea!

 

 

This is a bit of a time consuming project, in that you have to wait for glue to dry in between coats.  Do it over a weekend where you'll have 20 minutes here and there to work on it, and put on a good movie.  It fits in great with Darcy's decor, and it's still functional as a Ouija board.   Happy gluing!

 

I had to edit this to add that I've become completely thrilled with the idea of decoupage that I want to do something in my house.  I had bought an old, hideous 1000 pound coffee table for the loft/playroom upstairs and spray painted it white.  Since it's a low, wide table, the kids all tend to use it for a stage (of course) and it's completely nicked and scuffed up.  I thought it would be the perfect table for a project like this.  My kids are really into legos, on and off, so I'm planning to buy the large base pieces and glue them to the table, then make a border around the edges.  Not only will the lego bases discourage standing on the table (ever stood on a Lego?  I'm pretty sure they used that as a form of torture in the Middle Ages), when they build their creations on the base, they will be harder to knock over.  Alas, I keep losing out on eBay bids for the bottom pieces.  One day...

What You Don't Need

I promise that at some point, I will move beyond all of this philosophical BS and show you some actual photos and projects.  But if you've avoided decorating until now, these are probably the reasons why.

1.  "I'm just not creative!"  Neither am I.  Really.  I'm a thief, plain and simple.  Just about every idea I've ever had has been stolen from a magazine, Pinterest (if you aren't on Pinterest, get on NOW--tons of great ideas), or a friend.  Friends are key.  Associate yourself with some artsy types, and you'll never have to think for yourself!  I couldn't do my job without my partner--she's the one who comes up with the random, creative ideas, and I just take credit for it.

2.  "I'm as handy as a drunken monkey."  Yep, me too.  But my philosophy is, if it's not working, what's the worst I can do--make it more broken?  Assess the worst that can happen, and if it's not too scary, just dive in.  I decided years ago that I hated the cheap looking 12", peachy colored floor tile that surrounded my fireplace.  I told my husband (who really is as handy as a drunken monkey) we should bust it out and retile it.  He said it was beyond our scope.  I tried to envision the ways it could go horribly wrong, and couldn't think of any, probably because I had no idea what I was doing.  I decided that if I really screwed it up, it would cost less than $200 to have a professional fix it, so I was going to give it a try.  He left the country on business, and before his plane even took off, I was hacking away at the mortar with a screwdriver and hammer.  The result?

I'll go over this project with you in a while, and believe me, it's truly Half Assed, but it's pretty, right?  And by the way, before you comment, I'm clued into the fact that my husband's "It can't be done" routine is simply his way of not having to do it.  It's a universal talent of those who possess what my doctor friend called the "broken X (y) chromosome."

3.  "I don't have the budget to decorate."  Well, you could be right.  Only you know your finances.  But, as I've said ad nauseum, I am extremely cheap.  I'll try to give you an idea ahead of time how much a project will cost.  Most will be no more than it costs a family of four to eat out, so make some homemade pizza and hit Redbox one Friday night and make your house pretty instead.

4.  "I don't have the space/time."  If you feel that way, you probably don't love decorating.  If it's fun for you, you'll make the time.  I will often forgo making dinner for my family because I've gotten caught up in a project and we all have to eat sandwiches instead.  That's okay with me, my kids love sandwich night, and they love it when I'm in a good mood because I got to do something I like.  When I get to Half Assed organization and purging, we'll talk more about small spaces.

The Powder Room: Express Yourself!

When I decided to redo my powder room a few years ago, I decided that this tiny room is the perfect place in your home to add some whimsy and really express yourself.  I had found a really cute french memo board and decided to create a place for my guests to express themselves.  I hung the memo board on the wall, and a small shelf on which I placed colored scraps of cardstock and metallic gel pens, then let my guests do the decorating for me,

Since then, I've moved, and the new powder room didn't have a big enough space to hang the memo board, so it now hangs in our guest bath, along with these:

My husband got me these vinatge paper dolls for Christmas a few years ago (Grace Kelly and Bette Davis) and I decided it was a crime to keep themn the book where no one would see them, so I mounted them on textured black craft paper with double sided tape, framed them with cheap frames, then hung them up.

I still wanted that bit of irreverence in the powder room, though.  Since I had ordered a bunch of vintage ads from eBay a while back to put in my laundry room, I brought them into the powder room.  They're hilarious, they provide a bit of reading, and they add the fun aspect I like to see in there.

Lastly, I stole this idea from a magazine:  frame a fortune cookie fortune.  And when your fortune cookie tells you to "Never smell the inside of a hat," it's begging to be framed.

I saw an idea on Pinterest where someone had taken Polaroids of guests each time they came over and tacked them over the fireplace.  While I wouldn't put them over the fireplace, I would definitely cover the walls of my powder room, so as soon as I can pick up a cheap Polaroid camera, I see this happening at my house.

If you're a bit too traditional to go nuts in your living space, try working outside the box in your powder room.  Your guests will appreciate it!

Found Art

I'm all about instant satisfaction.  If there's a blank space, I must fill it immediately.  And when you're Half Assed and cheap, that's pretty easy.  Look at those blank areas in your home.  If you're waiting for just the right thing, why not fill it with just the okay thing for now?  If you already own it, or if it's really cheap, why not use it as a temporary place filler?

I was at a friend's recently.  She has been telling me for about two years that she needs my help picking out something to dress the two story wall over her fireplace.  While we were discussing it, she mentioned a large mirror she had sitting on the floor of her bedroom.  She said she didn't know if it would work.  Well, there's only one way to find out!  I picked it up and brought it in and leaned against the wall on the mantel.  Then we took a few items from around her home and finshed the space off.  It took all of ten minutes, but she'd kept the space blank for two years.  It may not be the perfect arrangement she's been dreaming of, but it looks 1000 times better than that blank space, so it fits the bill perfectly until she finds the perfect things.  So let's work with what you have and fill some blank areas.

I have found that you can turn just about anything into something decorative.  If it's flat, add a mat and a frame and it's art.  If it's three dimensional, paint it to match.  Here are some nontraditional items I've turn into decor.

Vintage ads from old magazines.

T-shirts. 

Paper Dolls

Vintage menus

Jigsaw puzzles (kids room)

Mouse pads (kids playroom)

Old records

These are old recipe cards from the 70's I stuck to the pantry door.

I've matted and framed children's book covers to decorate my son's room.  I've stuck cool looking coasters to the wall near the bar with Command velcro strips.  My kitchen is full of cheap, melamine plates with cool desgns on them that I stuck to the wall, again using Command velcro.

My partner is the best at three dimensional found art.  I recently found a box of old pencils from my grandfather's company.  They're different looking-a little smaller than standard, and they definitely look old.  She pointed out how cool they'd look in an old jar next to the metal pencil sharpener I'd also gotten.  In an office, on a shelf, they'd be great decor.

In other words, stick something, anything, in that empty space, leave it there for a few days, and if you still don't like it, take it down.  Just do it!

Ultra Cool Wine Bottle Light Fixtures

Guest post by Lynn.  I have two things to envy about Lynn (well, two that I'm mentioning here):  One, she's a better writer than I am.  By far.  And Two, she has a very handy husband.  I'm the handy one in my house, which really only means I'm the one willing to give it a shot and figure it out, not that I have any actual skill.  So, without further ado, heeeeere's Lynn!

Pinterest is a thing now. I was fairly late to the party, many of my friends found it ages ago. But it has been a spark for some ideas lately, and I love sparks.

 One spark led to several projects inside and outside our home. I saw this idea posted a few times on Pinterest, and followed the photos to blogs, but sadly, there were no instructions, so I did my own googling, and researched how to make these lights on my own.

 http://pinterest.com/pin/217158013251941620/

http://pinterest.com/pin/217158013251941468/

The hubby took over the grunt work, as is his habit, and experimented with several techniques, before landing on what works best for him. There are several tutorials on how to go about cutting wine bottles, none of which worked exactly as the instructions spelled out. What we settled on was a method which used the best of several tutorials. I won’t go into all the details, if you really want to pursue the project, you can shoot me a message, or do your own googling and experimentation.

 Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the glass cutting process; much of it went on after I’d gone to bed, because hubby didn’t care for my kibitzing. J The gist of it is as follows:

• Obtain a good supply of wine bottles, the break rate tends to be fairly high, especially at the beginning (save your favorites for later, when you’ve gotten the hang of it. Clean them and remove the labels – or leave them on for a more rustic, bar-like look.
• Purchase a glass cutting implement. Hubby attached ours to a wooden block and a vise, to stabilize the bottle while scoring it with the glass cutter. You’ll need to score the entire circumference. Once or twice around with the cutter should be sufficient.
• After scoring, dip the bottle into boiling water for 15-30 seconds. Then dip it immediately into an ice water bath. You should be wearing protective goggles for this, just in case.
• The bottle should go back and forth between boiling water and ice water until you hear a distinctive popping sound. At this point, the portion of the bottle below the score should have popped off the bottle.
• If you’ve gotten a clean cut, the next step is to buff the edge to a smooth surface with a dremel or sandpaper. Hubby used several grades of dremel bits to get the finish we wanted.

Okay, so once you’ve collected enough cut bottles, you’ll need to purchase the pendant lights. We found them at World Market for just under $10 each while they were on sale, and after coupon. http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11652058 They also carry white and silver. We prefer the look of black cords and housing/mount.

We decided to play around with height and placement, so hubby used painter’s tape to mask off the placement of the countertop, and then measured out where we thought the lights would look good. We taped rope up, and moved it around a few times, until we were happy with how the placement looked both from the family room and both sides of the kitchen.

This was an integral part of the planning… where we had originally planned to hang the lights looked simply awful once we taped up the rope to look at it. Had we hung them, there would have been much regret, and the added expense of repairing drywall and moving the lights.

 After living with the taped up ropes for a few days, we then hung eyehooks, and tied the ropes up, hanging several bottles. This helped us figure out the appropriate height for each bottle, and let us play around with shapes and colors, work out whether we preferred symmetry to randomness. Again, proper planning allowed us to avoid a costly mistake. Once the pendant cord is cut, there is no adding it back… at least not cheaply.

We got the arrangement where we were happy with it, and then the installation of the pendant lights began. Hubby has these wired into the existing can light he recently installed above the sink, but eventually, they will be on a separate switch, because we want to be able to dim these even when that light is on full blast.

The placement of the lights also takes into account our eventual plan to replace the heinous white laminate countertops with granite, and the bar counter will be significantly wider then, allowing for barstools along this expanse of counter.

Again, I’m not sure if this is half-assed, because hubby actually used to work for interior decorators, as a contractor and carpenter… but it was super cheap, and a lot of fun. The result is something we know no one else we know has, but several have expressed interest in copying. Oh, and the other project I alluded to is this vegetable garden edging. We got so many bottles from a neighborhood Italian restaurant that we decided to put our recycling to good use. Our home decorating doesn’t have to end at the front and back door, you know!

Oh, and we’re about to get our Etsy shop back up and running, and will have some of these lights listed, for anyone who doesn’t have the time, patience, or inclination to undertake this project, but wants to have it in their home. http://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkPolkaDotPoodle/sold

Thank you Lynn, for saving this Half Assed blogger!

Half Assed Apology

Who knew that I would be Half Assed about blogging?  Life gets particularly crazy here around the end of the school year, but I am actually working on several posts.  I have one in the hopper about last summer's master bathroom makeover, and one in mind about decals, but I need to actually have ten minutes free while someone else is here to film me.  I've also been spray painting everything that isn't alive in my backyard, so it wouldn't hurt to take some pictures of that.  I'm hoping to catch up this weekend.  In the meantime, I will follow this "I suck" post with a guest post by the fabulous Lynn.  Her projects are not Half Assed, but they are definitely DIY and stunning, so give them a shot.

How To Be Random

I am so the wrong person to be writing this post.  My partner is the one who's good at the random.  I'm the anal retentive one who puts everything in a straight line, where it looks too....anal retentive.  I truly have to force myself to be random, and it doesn't always work.

You may ask me, how can you possibly be both Half Assed and anal retentive?  I really don't know.  I'm certainly not a perfectionist (as you've seen, if you've been reading this blog), nor am I a clean freak.  My toilets might get a good five minute's cleaning a month, if we're lucky.  But I am a neat freak.  In other words, random crap strewn everywhere will make me so uncomfortable I can't sleep, but my sink might look like someone threw up in it at any time.  Obviously, this does not make me very nice to live with.  But I digress...

1.  Pick different heights.  As you can barely see in this Half Assed photo, when I applied the two decals to the wall in my living room, I "hung" the chandeliers at different heights.  Even though the shelves are balanced, and it would have looked perfectly balanced to hang them at the same height, I forced myself into random mode and hung one higher.  Even better would have been to hang them both together, on one side, at different heights, but I wasn't ready to go there yet.  Give me a few more years of therapy... 

2.  Consider "weight".  You can be both random, and balanced at the same time, if you "weight" your items.  Look at the objects and assign them a "weight", based on their size.  Imagine for instance, if  you're constructing a mantelscape, and you have three candlesticks of different heights.  One is seven inches tall, one is four inches tall, and one is ten inches tall.  If you place the two smaller ones on one side, they will balance out the taller one on the other side.  (7+4=11, 11 is fairly close to 10) and yet there's still a feeling of balance.  This is a good method to apply when you're dressing an entire room or rearranging furniture.  You don't want the room to look too "heavy" on one side, but two small chairs can balance out an overstuffed love seat, while still looking more interesting than two identical loveseats.

3.  The Rules.   If you're anal retentive, you'll need rules if you're ever gonna be random.  This is what I've heard/read about decorating.

When grouping items, odd numbers are always better than even ones. Check out these images from the Pottery Barn website:

When working with items of varying heights, the tallest should go to the left.

Don't ask me why, I have no idea, this is just what I'm told.  I do what I'm told.

Chistopher Lowell used to say that you needed to always leave 36" of walking space between furniture items.    I don't buy that one.  My coffee table is about 17" away from my couch.  Any further, and I couldn't put my feet on it or reach my drink--what's the point of that?  But obviously, don't place the furniture too close together.

4.  Don't be afraid to mix shades of colors and patterns.  Who says you can't?  One of the main reasons people are afraid to decorate with color is that they're way too worried that a chosen color will be hard to match.  If there's no matching involved, there's no worries!  My lime green living room isn't exactly lime green.  In fact, the walls are a tasteful beige and dark brown, and I've picked up items, pillows, and fabrics in probably a hundred different shades of "lime green".  Basically, if it's a green that's more yellow-y than brown-y or bluish, it works.  (In my mind, anyway).  I've zoomed in on a photo from that room and identified the different shades of green:

And the patterns?  I count at least seven in these two photos alone.  If the colors are in the same range, they'll be fine.  If the patterns are in the same style (preppy, mod, romantic, etc.), they'll work together. 

5.  Work outside the box, literally.  Don't be constrained by the natural lines of the room and the items.  This is really hard for me to do, I usually have to enlist the help of friends.

T

This was a room redesign we did years ago.  The frames placed outside the picture moulding vastly improved the look of this mantelscape.

This photo was shamelessly stolen off the 'net.

One of the big advantages to being random is that it suits the Half Assed lifestyle.  Rather than using a laser level to hang two pictures at exactly the same height (and getting it just a tad off, not to where anyone can notice it, but just enough to bug the hell out of you), hang them at two different heights, and you never have to worry!  The biggest sign of a decorator look is the injection of the random, and my clients' all-time favorite features of the rooms we've done have always been the random features.  Stack your books in a vertical pile rather than horizontally, and stick a random object on top and feel the rush of being a rebel!

More Using What You Have: Old Dressers

Or chests of drawers, or chester drawers (yes, they really do say that in the south!)

When my husband and I first got married, his father let him clean out the family's storage facility, which was full of things that belonged to my husband's grandmother.  A load of mid-century marvels.  Mid century was not a thing back then,and the furniture was definitely considered dated and out of style.  Plus, we had a three room apartment at the time, and nowhere to keep half the stuff.  I cry when I think of the amazing stuff we sold at garage sales to pay the rent back then.  But I digress.  What we did hang onto were the dressers, because we needed somewhere to put our clothes.  These dressers found their way out of use in the bedroom, but who can part with extra storage, especially cool, fashionable mid-century storage?  To be honest, I think I tried to sell them at one point, but had no takers.

If you have the extra room in your living space, a nice dresser can become a credenza, a buffet, a bar...use your imagination.  We put one in the living room, against a wall (gasp!), behind the couch, with walking space in between.  It houses all of my scrapbook stuff (I'm a Half Assed scrapbooker as well), and supplies for the kids' school projects.  Normally, it's dressed on top with a lamp, some tchochkes, and a photo or two, but here it is dressed up for Christmas:

The other one became a buffet/bar in the dining room.  Here's a photo and video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R7LU6Ij3Es

Maybe I'm deluding myself.  Maybe these dressers look like bedroom furniture in the living space.  Who knows?  All I know is it's functional.

Grouping For Impact: The Furniture

Please, please, PLEASE, if I teach you nothing else, don't push all of your furniture up against the walls.  Back before even the days of Trading Spaces, I watched a lovely man named Christopher Lowell on the Discovery channel, I think.  Though I watched all the time, I don't remember anything he did on the show but three things:  He liked to put an uplamp on the floor under a ficus tree, he had a deathly fear of white ceilings ("It looks like a bedsheet draped up there!"), and he advised against putting the furniture up against the walls.  While I don't fully understand the white ceiling thing (to me, it's kind of like the Trading Spaces vendetta against ceiling fans), I completely agree with him on the furniture.  And until I saw him screeching about it, I had my furniture up against the walls.  But once I moved it in a bit, I realized the how proper furniture placement can make even a room with cheap, mismatched furniture look 1000% better.

My partner and I offer a service called a room redesign.  For a flat fee, we will spend about five hours remaking a room with what the client already has.  Then, we leave the client with a decorating plan--colors, shopping ideas, etc.  It hasn't taken off as a concept as much as I'd like, and I can see why.  I mean, most people don't relish the idea of spending $250 and not getting anything new, especially if you think what you have already is ugly.  But I can swear to the fact that the few clients who have made the investment have been completely satisfied with the value of the service.  Just rearranging the furniture and making better use of the decor can result in a transformation that's pretty overwhelming sometimes and leave the room looking like a decorator has been there.  The very first thing we do in a room redesign is rearrange the furniture.

Now, mind you, we're not the Trading Spaces people.  We know that in Texas, you must have a ceiling fan.  We don't pretend that most people don't spend the bulk of their time at home in front of the TV, so we're never going to suggest that a client sacrifice their comfort and the practical uses of the room for style.  That would be silly.  As silly as gluing straw to the walls of a home with children living in it.  But it's possible to arrange the living room furniture so that you can still see the TV from the best vantage points, yet it might look like someone would have an actual conversation in there.  (You don't have to actually do it, but if the room looks like it's arranged for it, it will look better.)  Pull your furniture in from the walls.  Make a circle with it, or a square, or a square that's open on one side (for the TV).  Keep the furniture close enough that, if you were actually having a conversation while sitting on couches, love seats, chairs, etc., you could actually hear each other without shouting.  At first, it will look cramped to you.  That's because you're not used to it.  Unless you have a toddler that needs to practice their tumbling nightly on your living room floor, any more than eight feet of space between two pieces of furniture that are facing each other (or a couch facing the TV) is wasted space.  And wasted space, beyond being a waste, makes the room look cold and impersonal.  Take a look at how our first room redesign client had her furniture arranged:

How was anyone sitting in that rocking chair going to talk to anyone on the couch?  Sign language?  Why do you think most guests congregate in the kitchen?  Because they're closer together and they can talk to each other!    Now look what happens when we bring the furniture in:

You can still lay on either couch and watch TV, but it looks inviting, right?

If you're thinking that your space really only allows for one particular furniture arrangement, you may need a fresh set of eyes to help you.  Invite a friend over for some coffee (or wine) and heavy lifting.  (Put those Moving Men I mentioned in my toolbox post to work, and it's really not difficult.)  That's really what our clients are getting when they pay for a room redesign--that fresh set of eyes to find the new uses and arrangements.

While you (and your drinking buddy) are reassessing the space, consider a different angle, literally.  People tend to have the furniture echo the lines of the walls, and this is not always the most efficient use of space.  Thinking this way is too limiting, but it's something we all fall into.  Remember my living room photos?

Even I, the girl who rearranged my living room every time my husband left town in our last house, couldn't see another potential arrangement in this room.  Our TV was in a built-in niche opposite the couch.  Well, we recently inherited a ginormous TV from my father in law, and it didn't fit in the niche.  There was nowhere else to put it, so I had to rearrange.  I first put it against the window (the one my back was to when I took this photo, moved the couch to where the green chairs are, moved the chaise to where the couch is, and had the green chairs in front of the fireplace (not up against the fireplace, a few feet in.)  This arrangement meant that the very first thing you saw when you walked in my front door was a ginormous TV.  Not the impression a decorator wants to make.  Not to mention the eerie blue light that shone out every one of the windows in the front of my house at night.  So I had to start thinking on the angles instead of the walls.  I had the couch line up with the bar from my kitchen instead, essentially rotating everything about thirty degrees.  I wasn't sure at first if it was awkward, so I made myself live with it for a week.  Now I love it.  And I've gotten tons of compliments on it already.  As with every experiment I suggest, spend a week or two with it, even if you hate it at first.

I never know how to end these posts.  So that's it.  Get to work!

Grouping For Impact: Making Small Objects Larger

A big mistake most people make when decorating is spreading things out (artwork, furniture, decorative objects).  Later this week, I'll take you through one of our room redesigns, where we remake a room using what the client already has, and then we'll discuss furniture, but right now, let's talk about artwork and objects.    If you have, say, a ten foot wall and two small pictures, doing this:

only serves to make your wall look empty, and the pictures look smaller.  But if you group them together, like this:

the look is more thoughtful, and the pieces, combined, look like a larger piece of art.  You don't need to cover all of the empty space, you need a place for the eye to focus. 

If you have a lot of small pieces that you're attached to, consider grouping them together for more impact.  For instance, photos can be put in matching, or similar frames, and then "collaged" on a wall.

All of our sepia-toned, older family photos are grouped together in a hallway in silver frames.

These are current black and white shots, in silver frames.  Some of them could use some straightening!

Or, you could go completely nuts and cover the wall entirely.  I did this in lieu of a headboard, before we got one.  I think I saw the idea in a Pottery Barn catalog, though in the catalog, the frames were all different colors.

The same can be done with small objects.  If you have several similar items, they will make more of an impression in a group than scattered about the room, even if that means you have a few empty spaces here and there.

Do you have a collection?  Frogs, clocks, cameras, lighters, vintage hand mirrors?  Put them in a group!  We have taken old, empty frames and collaged them on a client's wall for impact.  She loved it.  This is a great budget method as well--if you need something to fill a spot, consider buying random, old candlesticks individually at yard sales and grouping them together.  Or cheap vases and paint them the same color, or different shades of one color.

When collaging photos on a wall, I saw an idea on Pinterest where they used painters masking tape surrounding the frame to evenly space the pictures.  If you're really OCD, that might be the way to go.  Since I'm usually adding pictures over time, I just eyeball it.  Don't over think it.  That should be my motto.