SEATTLE — Over time, even the most well-loved living spaces can start to feel stale and uninspiring. Refreshing a room doesn't have to take a lot of time or money. Christy Yaden of Christy Yaden Interior Design shares five ideas to give your room a fresh new feel.
1. REARRANGE FURNITURE
Consider a furniture layout that creates comfortable conversation. The most comfortable way to sit and carry on a conversation is by sitting in an "L"-shape. Sitting across from each other is not as comfortable as sitting next to each other. You can float the furniture in the center of the room or have the largest piece against the wall and float the rest of the furniture. Your coffee table should be 15-18" from your coffee table or ottoman so that you can get into the chair/sofa but not too far from it for using it for drinks. If you end up sitting across from each other no more than 8' is the most comfortable distance to still be able to carry on a conversation. Try not to have too many pieces in one space.
2. ADD A STATEMENT or INSPIRATION PIECE
Find a piece to inspire and build the room around. It can be art, a cool rug, a fabric, or a furniture piece. The floral pillow fabric was our inspiration piece for the entire room. We created a neutral palette and took the floral fabric, and designed a very tailored pillow so that it wouldn't feel too feminine. We also selected a more modern art piece to contrast with the floral to give it balance. We redesigned the fireplace with black marble and brought touches of black back in through the space.
3. ADD COLOR/TEXTURE
Find a color that you'd like to highlight. This can be in your art or in contrast with your art. We pulled the accent colors from the client's existing art. We used three different fabrics for the pillows – a solid fabric, a small-scale patterned fabric, and a large-scale patterned fabric. We carried these colors over to the adjacent breakfast nook. If you have a modern space you can just use two solid colors and a shape like a medicine ball to reinforce your concept. If you have a boho space you could use soft pinks and textured creams to reinforce the concept.
4. BRING THE OUTDOORS IN
I love to use fresh greens in a vase in a room to give it life but since they are temporary you can change it around as opposed to a plant which would normally stay in the room much longer. The great thing is that they last longer than flowers, they're easy to style, and if you have access to shrubs or trees outside you can clip them from your yard. I am okay with using faux greenery. I suggest placing faux greens in a solid vase as opposed to glass.
5. CREATE A TABLESCAPE
There are so many ways to style a coffee table. I love the idea of a tray. They're portable and you can take everything off the table all at once if you need to use the table for games or food. You can use the tray alone. If you want to add to it, my simple formula is plant + candle + fun object.
Segment Producer Rebecca Perry. Watch New Day Northwest 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.