January 2nd, 2008
Simple rearranging can create a new look
Cynthia Smith is a professional “arranger.” She is owner-designer of Remarkable Rooms based in Louisville, Ky., and www.remarkablerooms.com. Here she answers questions about how repositioning belongings can have dramatic results on the look of a room.
Q. How does interior arranging differ from traditional interior design?
A. Interior arrangement provides a more cost-effective alternative to traditional interior designers and decorators. It’s not only cost- effective, it’s also quick. You can have the main living areas of your home professionally arranged in maybe four to six hours.
It doesn’t take as much time as traditional interior design, and it’s not as much of an invest-ment.
In this time of mobility, interior arranging has a lot to offer homeowners. People tend to move around a lot now, and they want to feel at home as soon as possible.
They face the challenge of how to place their furnishings, how to combine and edit them. An interior arranger can help them configure their new space in beautiful ways.
Interior arrangement can also help people who have lived in their homes for years make a dramatic improvement in their environment.
Q. How can interior arranging improve the way spaces function?
A. Furniture is often placed in ways that divide and close up spaces.
For example, a sofa in a living room might block off easy access to doorways and to the dining room area and kitchen. By changing the location of the sofa and other pieces of furniture, there’s the opportunity to highlight architectural features such as a fireplace with a mantel or a built-in bookcase.
At the same time, you’re leaving plenty of space for moving around the room. Sometimes, after living with furnishings for a long time, it’s hard to see the possibilities.
A professional interior arranger can often see new possibilities that homeowners might miss.
Q. What’s the interior arrangement process?
A. You start by completely emptying a room and looking at it as a blank canvas. Then you identify the focal point and start placing the major furniture, locating the primary seating so that it addresses the focal point.
You fill in with tables and lighting and accessories from around the house. You can draw from resources from all over your house. Some of the furnishings that end up in the room might have been in there to begin with. Other pieces may be taken from the room and are available to be placed elsewhere.
Furniture is placed in such a way as to complement the architecture. Accessories are placed so that they tie the furnishings to the walls and create an interesting pattern that the eye can follow around the room. Placement is the key.
Homeowners are delighted to discover that they don’t have to go shopping. You can create a new look without purchasing new furnishings.
Most people have resources in their home with untapped potential - - plates, candleholders, quilts, musical instruments, collections that may not have been on display in the past.
These items can be relocated and you won’t have to buy a single new piece of furniture or accessory for the room.
I find that homes are really rich with belongings that express personal style and history. The homeowners’ style is inherent in the belongings they have already chosen. The goal is to maximize and showcase what they already have.
Q. What about cluttered spaces? Do they pose a special challenge?
A. People tend to accumulate things over time, and as a result rooms become overfilled. The eye cannot really rest and focus on the beauty of individual pieces if a room is overfilled.
Have a design or decorating question? Write Catherine Murrell at the Courier-Journal, 525 W. Broadway, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky., 40201-7431. Individual replies are not possible.