Top 10 Ideas to Spruce Up a Room

12/15/2008 11:10:55 AM


Want to spruce up a room? Special event coming up? Relatives coming over? New home? Need some quick, easy things to freshen things up that don’t cost a lot of money? Here’s a top 10 list of ways to do just that.

1. Paint. This is still the easiest way to add pop to any room. Paint an accent wall, 2 accent walls, the wall on a focal point in the room (like a fireplace), a square on a wall behind a picture, etc… You will be amazed at the effect a can of paint can have.

2. Clean. This seems obvious, but the room will feel fresher if you move all the furniture and vacuum, dust, clean the windows, air it out, etc….

3. Rearrange the furniture, use furniture pieces in new ways. Ex: an armoire could move from a bedroom into a living room to hide a TV, a single chest in a bedroom can become an entry way piece. Move the loveseat from a  matching furniture set and bring it into a master bedroom, or put a slipcover on it to make it more eclectic.

4. Create conversation areas. Many people automatically assume that they should place furniture on the walls which can create an 8-10 foot span for conversation. Rearrange to tighten up conversation areas to a comfortable 4-5 feet.

5. Create an inviting reading spot. Move an existing chair into a corner, put a table next to it, place a lamp on it and toss a throw on the chair. It will instantly become the most sought after item in the room!

6. Lighting. This can make or break any room. Make sure you have many different sources of lighting… some overhead, some task (like reading lights), and some ambient lighting (like an up-light on a floor plant). Hanging fixtures over a dining space, at the correct 30” off the table, create a real sense of intimacy that is hard to create in any other way.

7. Be aware of all the senses. Lighting& furniture takes care of sight, varying textures take care of touch, and candles for the season also go a long way to create the ambiance you are after.

8. Create seasonality. In addition to citrus candles in the summer, spice candles in the fall, pine & cinnamon candles during the holidays, create seasonality with color. Fall colored runners and placemats in September give you a bit of freshness that can be reused every year, and can be fairly inexpensive.

9. Create a collage wall. Take your existing family pictures, and copy them in black and white, put them into coordinating but varying frames (ex: all silver frames, but different sizes), and put them together on a wall. Take a couple of your favorites, and blow them up to a much bigger size, or put them on a long shelf on the wall. You can even just lean some of them.

10. Put together an "ideas" folder.  As you read through your favorite decorating magazine, pull out the pictures of things you like and place them into a folder. Many people have a hard time describing their style and likes, but a picture is worth a thousand words.


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