REDESIGN: loving your home and the way you live in it!

Just like Home Staging is all about preparing a home to appeal to potential home buyers, REDESIGN is all about the home owner.  It’s all about loving your home AND the way you live in your home.  It’s about designing a home that exudes warm, joy, harmony, flow, peace.  It’s an inviting home. The purpose of Redesign is to eliminate what contributes to stress in the home, and embrace the changes, concepts, or objects that enhance peace.  The end result of Redesign is not just a beautiful home that you love, but a home in which you love the WAY you live in it.

REDESIGN TIPS & TRICKS

LIVE in your living room!

Sometimes we get caught in the trap of trying to live in our own homes how other people live in theirs.  How many of us have a “formal” living room that is too stuffy for a game of Scrabble or a romp on the floor with the kids? A formal living room doesn’t have to be for guests only. It’s possible for it to be relaxed enough for game playing and reading a magazine, yet able to be tidied up for guests at a moments notice. Here are some tips for LIVING in your living room!

*Let it Shine as “THE” Living Room!  You can let it shine as the living room, and yet set it apart from other rooms, by indulging in beautiful draperies and furniture with classical lines. It can be beautiful, yet simple and relaxed enough for everyday enjoyment. It doesn’t need to be a museum of “touch-me-not” artifacts, nor does everything have to match!

*Keep it light! If your goal is to have a formal living room that’s lived in, keep it from getting stuffy and formal by mixing your pieces rather than having everything match. Contradicting, yet coordinating fabrics, colors, and furniture can give this room a dynamic edge. You can mix a special hand-me-down sofa with a modern coffee table and casual ottomans for a relaxed and inviting feel.  Feel free to mix your garage sale finds with your Crystal Rock decanter!

*Make your furniture work for you! If you want this room to feel warm and welcoming, invite your family in with functional furniture! A big coffee table is perfect for displaying family photo books and memorabilia, and yet able to be turned into a game table for the kids or extra seating at a moments notice! You might be drawn to “pretty” since this is your living room – that’s ok! Just make sure your furniture is strong enough for the feet that might want to prop themselves upon it!

*Repurpose furniture to another room! If you have some “formal” furniture in your living room that detracts from the way you want to live in the room, try to repurpose the piece to another room.  Perhaps your Grandmothers chair can find new life in your master bedroom? Does the beautiful secretary have new purposes waiting in the home office? It’s easy to get “stuck” using furniture a certain way… thinking outside the box can pave the way to creating the Living Room to live in!

*Let the character of your home shine through! Use what you have and what you love to accessorize your living room. If it’s an unexpected whimsical piece, display it in a fun and relaxed manner. Change your decor with the season! Make it a fun place to be!

*Remember that less really is more! Avoiding excess is key here.  You want pretty, you want a formal edge, but to keep it relaxed and welcoming for your brood, don’t go overboard on fussy pillows or knick-knacks! Avoid overcrowding table tops and bookcases and try to rotate your accessories for an element of fun! Keep your accessories real – a bowl of fruit, books, soft and comfy throws,  and flowers go a long way to keep your living room a room to live in!

Have you ever noticed how you FEEL when you walk into a room  littered with clutter? For most of us, the feeling is negative. Temperatures rise, voices rise, blood pressure rises, and any feeling of general well-being goes out the door.  When clutter is conquered, there is a feeling of calm. Restful. Blood pressure normalizes. Peace is restored. THIS is how we want to live in our homes. One of the first steps in Redesign, overcoming clutter will help you love your home. Because of how you will feel. At rest. Organized. And in control.  The following is an article from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. It’s full of tips and tricks for conquering the clutter in your lives. I hope you find a good place to start! You’ll love the way you begin to live in your home!

25 Easy Ways to Conquer Clutter

BHG,  January 2010

1. Tame linen closet chaos by storing bulk items such as extra soaps, bath salts, and cotton balls in clear cylinders. It’s an attractive, inexpensive solution, and you’ll be able to see when something needs replenishing. Use this trick all around the house – for sponges in the kitchen and detergent in the laundry room. (take a closer look at an organized linen closet at BHG.com/linen)

2. “Keep a donation hamper in your closet. Every two weeks, select an item of clothing you haven’t worn in the past 6 months and throw it in. When the hamper if full, take it go Goodwill.” – Peter Walsh, organizing expert and author of Enough Already!

3. Quit taking brochures, menus, and flyers just because somebody hands you one. Don’t let that extra paper cross your home’s threshold – toss it right into your recycling bin!

4. “Create an indoor mailbox in a central location. Set a time to go through the box once a week. Open everything, pay bills, file important correspondence, and recycle junk mail.”  - Niecy Nash, host of Clean House on the Style Network

5. Shop dollar stores for storage bins and baskets, and buy a bunch of them in the same color. Displayed in multiples, inexpensive plastic or cloth bins look calm and organized plus give tons of storage. Be sure to add labels.

6. From now on, vow to buy only white towels. They’ll give your bathroom a spa look, different styles pretty much match, and it’s easy to keep them looking good by bleaching them. Same goes for bedsheets.

7. “Keep a small notebook with you at all times and use it as a constant brain dump. Go through your scribblings each evening and put thoughts in their appropriate places, such as your calendar or to-do list.”  - Michal Gregus, Los Angeles based professional organizer

8. “Have a pile of cookbooks gathering dust? Scan and print the one or two recipes you use most often and then donate the book. Same goes for recipes in magazines. Tear out the relevant page, then recycle the rest. Put the pages into clear plastic pockets in a 3-ring binder. You’ve just made yourself a customized cookbook with plenty of room to grow.” – Lorie Marrero, author of Clutter Diet

9. Keep a bag or pillowcase in your laundry area. When a lone sock appears, toss it in the bag. At the end of the month, most lost socks will be reunited with their mates.

10. “The next time you sit down to watch TV, pull out a drawer, any drawer. During commercials, sort the contents into four piles: keep, toss, donate or sell, and items to relocate. Then put back only the keepers, using expandable organizers to keep it tidy.”  - Donna Smallin, author of The One Minute Organizer: A to Z Storage Solutions

11. Practice organizational layaway. Keep a box for things you’re thinking about getting rid of but aren’t sure you can part with.  When the box is full, write the date on it and store it. After one year, if you haven’t needed or missed anything in the box, it’s time to toss or donate.

12. Invest in a tabbed wallet for receipts and coupons. It will make your purse into a mini filing cabinet that puts everything you need for shopping at your fingertips. Label the tabs how you like – by store, by date, or category.

13. Tackle that jumble of cords behind your desk or TV. Take a few minutes to figure out which cord is which, then label them so you know what you’re unplugging.

14. “When putting away your holiday decorations, keep only items that are an absolute joy to uncover each year. Donate the rest for someone else to appreciate. Then, store your favorites right. Pack complete displays together in labeled bins, wrapped in tissue paper or bubble wrap as needed. Take inventory so you know what you need for next year, then hit post-holiday sales for good deals. Specialty storage items are often on sale right after the holidays, too.”  - Meryl Starr, author of The Home Organizing Workbook

15. Designate your nightstand as a clutter-free zone that’s a pleasure to wake up to. Limit yourself to a reasonable number of books. Set out a tray to hold change and jewelry. Park a basket below for blankets or magazines.

16. Streamline your cleaning products to five basics: all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, wood polish, abrasive cleaner for bathroom and kitchen, and floor cleaner.

17. “My clutter weapon is a kitchen timer. It’s amazing what setting aside 10 to 15 minutes a day for a power decluttering session can do for your home and soul.” – BH&G facebook fan

18. “I made an inventory list of groceries I buy over and over. I keep it on the fridge to help me make my shopping list quickly. I also keep a list on the freezer of what’s in there so I’m sure I’m using things before they go bad.” – BH&G facebook fan

19. “Each of my four kids has a cubby in the kitchen. Everything I see lying around goes in there, then they have to clean them out when they get too full. It gets things off my counters and tables. The cubbies stack, so they don’t take up much room.” – BH&G facebook fan

20. Convert your compact discs into digital music files, either yourself or using a service such as ripdigital.com or riptopia.com (They give you materials to send in your CDs, convert them to digital, and burn them on DVDs for you.) Then, donate or sell the returned CDs. – Sabrina Soto, host of HGTV’s Real Estate Intervention

21. Don’t get stuck without your reusable grocery bags again. As soon as you unload groceries, put the bags right back in your car or on a designated hook by the door.

22. Use the backs of doors and cupboards for bonus storage space. Shallow shelves, hooks, and over-door organizers make convenient spots for items that chronically don’t have homes.

23. When putting away food storage containers, don’t spend time trying to match lids to bases. Instead, get two inexpensive plastic bins. File all the lids in one and stack bases in the other. Match as needed.

24. Scrapbooking too labor intensive? Try this easy alternative: Collect mementos such as cards and photos in a large envelope, one per family member. Once a year, pare down the stack and transfer to a designated file box.

25. Create zones for kitchen tasks you do on a regular basis, such as making lunches or baking. Designate a shelf for everything you need for the job, including non-perishable foods and special tools or utensils.  - Kathi Burns, author of How to Master your Muck