Business & Tech
HGTV-inspired Room Makeover
Grocery store chains have recently spoken out on their beef standards. Some are pulling the lean finely textured beef, others never carried it.
Redecorating began the day my son moved out to his new wheelchair-accessible apartment. That is when I discovered the three rows of holes his wraparound shelving left in all the walls and poster mounts that couldn't be removed. Panic set in as I realized that my friends were coming that afternoon to help me move my bedroom furniture back in.
I remembered watching the Home and Garden TV freestyle shows where a decorator would create a new look for a room, using just what was available in the house. That kind of free decorating turned my panic situation into a fun challenge!
Since I'm an art instructor, I had many class display oil paintings in storage that I used to cover the holes that no one noticed. Also in storage were two huge oil paintings and I finally found the perfect place for both – to cover the viewless windows! Remembering all the tips and decorative tricks, I was on a roll to create a colorful bedroom that doubled as storage for my artwork, projects and collectibles.
Since it was warm outside, I used a vintage designer sheet as a spread for the bed and with a sharpie pen, I repeated the design on the satin pillowcase. The beautifully upholstered hope chest at the foot of my bed held all the fabrics for my sewing projects. I found an extra Macaw fabric panel to hide the boring dresser and my long tiger T-shirt covered the tutorial tapes in the video storage rack. I put a buffet top on my long dresser to hold my collectibles.
I wasn't finished with the paintings yet because the safest way to store art is on the walls. Over sixty of my class display oil paintings were hung edge to edge, like a huge art quilt, to hide the uneven walls in the long hall. I even hung a pair of paintings above the washer and dryer to disguise the outdated cabinets. Photos of the walls are in my gallery, in the 10-20 album. It's an old show trick of directing eyes away from the faults.
When I found a glass wall table, I tackled the clutter of paintings in the foyer. A Feng Shui consultant on the HGTV show said "Having an elephant with the trunk up in the house brings good luck and if it's back is facing the door, it will draw in money." The elephant also hides all the wiring behind it.
The decorators on the HGTV shows kept saying "Make furniture do double duty and less is best" and that is what saved the day and brought my paintings out of storage.
