Spring Decorating

Sunshine now glares through our windows, highlighting faded fabrics, stained paint work & damaged surfaces to remind us that these need to be dealt with. Instead of looking at them as hassles you should feel enthusiastic about the idea of redecoration! You now have a good excuse to change the color scheme of a particular room, update the upholstery or window treatment, freshen up the walls, floors & furnishing!..

As we discussed in the Spring DIY article, the key to successful and hassle-free decorating is to be organised. Having finished your Spring Cleaning, you should have noticed and noted down things that need to be changed, fixed, redecorated or completely revamped.

Redecoration needs careful planning. First recognise what needs to be changed and how. Then decide on a concept – not necessarily on a theme, but an overall concept that reflects your personality and lifestyle. Try not just to follow fads & fashionable styles or copy magazine shots- these are carefully and skilfully staged to seduce you!  But do be inspired by them – cut out images, ideas & shapes; collect samples of textures, colors & materials. Put them together in a scrapbook that fits easily into your pocket or handbag. This scrapbook will be your best friend during the decorating project. Note everything in there – ideas, contacts, prices, dilemmas etc. Be free and creative – let your imagination and desires flow – but don’t sort them just yet. You’ll be surprised how well all your ideas and findings will come together in an overall picture.

Remember to think about your home as whole – there should be an overall feel to it, not a mish-mash of ideas, themes and styles. Also take into consideration the building, including its aspect and location. Certain colors just don’t work in certain climates – whilst north facing spaces require different decorating treatments to south facing ones wherever you are. 

Try to reuse your old furniture and ornaments – with a little imagination you can give them new life and save yourself a lot of money!

Another important factor is practicality. OK, decoration is fun, but you don’t want to worry about precious objects and fussy surfaces – choose easy maintenance materials, fabrics and surfaces. Read more about how to decorate cleverly to avoid too much cleaning & regular redecoration.

When you have achieved the final vision in your mind, start being organised and practical – decide on the stuff you want (and can afford), and make a list of all equipment, materials, accessories etc that are needed to carry out the decoration. Source and buy everything possible before you allocate a date for the work. You don’t want to waste trips to DIY/Home Stores on the day you should be doing the work. 

Decoration doesn’t have to take a long time, as long as you know what you want and how to achieve it. You can be experimental with techniques – but this might take you a lot more time than you anticipated.

In the next article we’ll discuss problems that cannot be solved with simple redecoration. Sometimes remodeling is necessary.