STOP!  Before you start shoving your furniture back into its old spots after you’ve packed away your holiday décor, consider this instead – why not give your space a new perspective by re-styling things? After all isn’t the New Year all about making changes?  And don’t give me the excuse that if you move stuff around what will you do about those carpet divots. Please…

A fresh perspective is a good thing, especially in your home environment.  Here are some things you can do to up-style and reinvent your rooms and home spaces.  

Move What You Have Around:  Start with what you already have.  Take a stroll through your home and inventory the furniture you have from attic to garage.  Could that consignment shop find desk up in the spare room work as a sofa table or would that rug in the dining room look really nice in the living room? After you do some mental inventory, address the room you want to reinvent. Consider flip flopping the sofas, changing the room's focal point to a different wall or changing the entire feel of the space by swapping pieces from other rooms to make it more formal or casual.  If these suggestions are a bit overwhelming to you, try swapping out or repositioning smaller pieces such as accent chairs, tables, rugs and lamps. 

Accessory Re-Styling:  Rotate it, archive them or repurpose it!  From tabletops to bookcases to wall art, your accessories can always use a new look. The same family photos in the same frame in the same space aren't even seen anymore.  Your very favorite piece of art hanging in the dining room isn't being celebrated there - move it to a spot so you can view it all the time.  That boring bookcase or China hutch could make your room POP if you rotated and swapped the pieces.  Give a lamp a new look with a new shade, harp or style - by raising it up with a stack of books.

Furniture Reinvention: Can you reupholster, slipcover, paint it?  If your furniture is good, if you love the lines or it has sentimental value, keep it and improve it.  

Paint Color UpGrade:  Once you get your room rearranged, you may want to take the next step and change the paint color as well.  If you have had the same color on your walls for years, a new hue can upgrade your furniture, accessories and art.  

A Few New Purchases: Any room could use a few new things.  It could be as simple as a lovely potted plant on your cocktail table to a super shaggy custom rug to take your formal living room from boring to spectacular.  Feel free to shop for a few new items, but only after your room has been re-styled. Consider the new items as the frosting, not the cake.

Don't have the time or talent to do this yourself?  Good news, we can help.  We're interior arrangement experts, have fabulous ideas on how to give your old stuff a new life and don't even get me started on what we can find with our shopping skills!  Give me a jingle, send an email my way and let's talk.  We offer both on-location and e-makeover sessions.  Let's get your home refreshed, restyled and reinvented.  Biz phone: 708-448-7500 Email: Julea@Julea.com.

Oh... and those divots - Add crushed ice to the dent, let melt and then use an old hairbrush to re-fluff your carpet. Refluff again after drying.  Divots gone!