Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Initial Meeting--The Job Begins
So many people are stymied when they want to redesign "problem" rooms–they don’t know where to begin, or how to know if they are headed in the right direction. This is a blog that will allow you to follow a design project from beginning to end–with photos, step by step tracking of what works and what doesn’t, and what you can take away so you can Love Where You Live.
Hi, I’m Linda Turner owner of House to Home Staging and Interior Design. I am a certified professional stager and interior designer serving the Los Angeles area. I just began a design project for new clients–Lonnie and Sofia. They have lived in their home for decades and want to update their kitchen, living room and den. The style they want is updated and modern.
Our initial meeting started with a tour and lots of questions. What do they like in each room, what don’t they like? What is their ideal outcome–emotionally, in terms of how they want to use the rooms? What would be a homerun…or a disappointment?
Some highlights: They hardly ever eat in the kitchen, don’t have a dining room, but set up a large folding table elsewhere when they have company. They NEVER use the living room (the brightest, sunniest room in the house). Instead they watch TV in the smallest, darkest room in the house and have transformed the master bedroom into an office, workspace, storage room and most basic of sleeping quaters. When I asked why, all they could say is that’s the way it has developed over the years. So we took a tour of the rooms:
Living room: scratchy, uncomfortable sofas and chairs, all with no arms; dated mirrored fireplace with no mantel; dirty stained carpeting; no lamps; large expanses of the room that that they had never figured out how to use, so they never were–just furniture taking up space. The fireplace is placed in the the dead center of this long room but all furniture is on either end with nothing in the middle.
Kitchen: already put in granite counters, stainless steel appliances and range hood. But eating table is too small for company and a design holdover from a kitchen design 20 years before. The matching chairs are long gone, so they’re using metal outdoor chairs. 6inch recessed lights are placed where the kitchen and eating areas USED to be before the last update. HUGE windows facing the street where the table is–with no window coverings, plus various random pieces of furniture like the living room.
Den: smallest, darkest room with one solid wall of built-ins overflowing with books (including an encyclopedia set) plus sofa, love seat, vertical blinds, few if any lamps plus the usual random pieces.--and a large untrimmed tree right next to the house outside the window. (does any of this sound familiar??)
The end goal: Serenity, calm, pleasure–modern, updated, warm and very comfortable. Make use of every room to it’s best advantage. Fresh, welcoming, inviting home for themselves, plus family and friends. They want to feel "wow" followed by "ahhh" in each room.
We talked about LOTS of options and alternatives the first meeting. The next step is for them to think everything over and call me when they are ready. Then I'll come back so we can agree and itemize all the surfaces and construction details that we want a contractor to change and get three bids. We'll then know if we'll be able to do everything that might be possible at once or whether we'll have to do it in stages.
When you walk into a room in your home, does it help you relax, make you even more tense or it’s been the same for so long you don’t even notice it anymore? It’s not difficult to make simple changes that can have a significant change in the way a space makes you feel. If you start a design project on your home with an emotional goal in mind–you are much more likely to achieve a satisfactory result. How do you want to feel when you come in the room? How do you want your friends to feel when they walk in? How do you want to use the room–for calm, energetic or entertaining activities?
Welcome to this design adventure. Next blog: photos of how the rooms look now, the budget, the prep steps, my recommendations based on how they answered my design questions.
I hope you join me, Lonnie and Sofia on this design adventure.
Hi, I’m Linda Turner owner of House to Home Staging and Interior Design. I am a certified professional stager and interior designer serving the Los Angeles area. I just began a design project for new clients–Lonnie and Sofia. They have lived in their home for decades and want to update their kitchen, living room and den. The style they want is updated and modern.
Our initial meeting started with a tour and lots of questions. What do they like in each room, what don’t they like? What is their ideal outcome–emotionally, in terms of how they want to use the rooms? What would be a homerun…or a disappointment?
Some highlights: They hardly ever eat in the kitchen, don’t have a dining room, but set up a large folding table elsewhere when they have company. They NEVER use the living room (the brightest, sunniest room in the house). Instead they watch TV in the smallest, darkest room in the house and have transformed the master bedroom into an office, workspace, storage room and most basic of sleeping quaters. When I asked why, all they could say is that’s the way it has developed over the years. So we took a tour of the rooms:
Living room: scratchy, uncomfortable sofas and chairs, all with no arms; dated mirrored fireplace with no mantel; dirty stained carpeting; no lamps; large expanses of the room that that they had never figured out how to use, so they never were–just furniture taking up space. The fireplace is placed in the the dead center of this long room but all furniture is on either end with nothing in the middle.
Kitchen: already put in granite counters, stainless steel appliances and range hood. But eating table is too small for company and a design holdover from a kitchen design 20 years before. The matching chairs are long gone, so they’re using metal outdoor chairs. 6inch recessed lights are placed where the kitchen and eating areas USED to be before the last update. HUGE windows facing the street where the table is–with no window coverings, plus various random pieces of furniture like the living room.
Den: smallest, darkest room with one solid wall of built-ins overflowing with books (including an encyclopedia set) plus sofa, love seat, vertical blinds, few if any lamps plus the usual random pieces.--and a large untrimmed tree right next to the house outside the window. (does any of this sound familiar??)
The end goal: Serenity, calm, pleasure–modern, updated, warm and very comfortable. Make use of every room to it’s best advantage. Fresh, welcoming, inviting home for themselves, plus family and friends. They want to feel "wow" followed by "ahhh" in each room.
We talked about LOTS of options and alternatives the first meeting. The next step is for them to think everything over and call me when they are ready. Then I'll come back so we can agree and itemize all the surfaces and construction details that we want a contractor to change and get three bids. We'll then know if we'll be able to do everything that might be possible at once or whether we'll have to do it in stages.
When you walk into a room in your home, does it help you relax, make you even more tense or it’s been the same for so long you don’t even notice it anymore? It’s not difficult to make simple changes that can have a significant change in the way a space makes you feel. If you start a design project on your home with an emotional goal in mind–you are much more likely to achieve a satisfactory result. How do you want to feel when you come in the room? How do you want your friends to feel when they walk in? How do you want to use the room–for calm, energetic or entertaining activities?
Welcome to this design adventure. Next blog: photos of how the rooms look now, the budget, the prep steps, my recommendations based on how they answered my design questions.
I hope you join me, Lonnie and Sofia on this design adventure.
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