room makeover

How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

May 16, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 11 Comments

As a Nashville Interior Decorator and Color Consultant, I often am asked what can be done to “spruce up” a dining room. The tricky thing about dining rooms is that they are often filled with wood, with little color or fabric going on.

DSC 6445 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

Typically, there are lots of wood furnishings and wood flooring – the main opportunities for color or pattern are chair fabric, window treatments, and wall color. If the wall color is a neutral, the dining room can really lack personality. Here’s the “before” state of a recent client’s dining room:

DSC 4381 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life Dining Room Before

My client has lots of lovely antiques that unfortunately don’t have a lot of presence with such a colorless backdrop. A rich, moody color was prescribed by The Decorologist:

DSC 6431 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

Dining Room After

Now her wood furnishings look rich and the room pulls you in. Here’s another view from the entry of the room “before.”

DSC 4379 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

Dining Room Before

New color and furniture rearrangement made all the difference in this dining room.

DSC 6428 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

Dining Room After

We haven’t yet changed the fabric on the chair bottoms, but I’m thinking something like this to update the overall look:

il fullxfull.299254942 300x264 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

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or maybe this:

blue fabric How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

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Don’t be afraid to inject a little color into your dining room. It might be just the pick-me-up it needs!

DSC 6432 How to Make the Wood in Your Dining Room Come to Life

If you need help finding the perfect colors for your home, contact The Decorologist to schedule a Color Consultation today: kristie@thedecorologist.com

Filed Under: Color Consultation Tagged With: blue, color, color consultant, color consultation, decorator, decorologist, dining room, green, interior decorator, nashville, room makeover

Loving the Fireplace You Used to Hate

May 14, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 12 Comments

Ah, the fireplace. The heart of the home, the hearth, the focal point of any well-appointed living room. But what if the heart of your home fills you with contempt?

Lovely, Non-Contemptuous Fireplace

In the photos I’m going to share with you below, the wall color stayed the same and no new furnishings or accessories were purchased. A lot like that old show on HGTV, Decorating Cents (that I still miss!), this makeover is what most people refer to as an “interior redesign,” aka, “working with whatcha got and not buying anything new.” Here’s the “before” of the living room. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design Intervention Tagged With: black paint, color, decorating cents, fireplace, hgtv, living room, paint it black, pinterest, redesign, room makeover, the decorologist

Paint Your Paneling, Change Your Life

February 13, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 56 Comments

There is simply no reason you must live perpetually with a dated wood kitchen if you don’t want to. Or live in a dark, wood-paneled den just because your home contains one. And, no, you don’t have to rip the wood paneling out.

Pull Up a Comfy Chair and Read This Post

You need to paint it. I know, I know: your husband says “No way, Jose!” Men have lots of reasons for leaving wood in its natural state as I expounded upon in my post, “Why Men Fear Painting Wood.”

Men Think Wood Paneling is Sexy, But It’s Not

My clients spent 16 years with dark, dated wood cabinets and wood paneling in their kitchen and adjoining den. Because their Nashville home is a 1970′s ranch, they honestly believed that they had no other choice but to live in that era as long as they lived in that home. Not true!

Before of Kitchen with Dated Wood Cabinetry

Honestly, it took a bit of convincing to reassure my clients that my plan would work and not result in a half-baked result. They thought they needed to rip out all their cabinetry and start over, which would have been prohibitively expensive. They were paralyzed by fear and lack of vision. Once I gained their trust, we began moving forward towards an amazing outcome. The proof is in the photos. Get ready for the transformation . . . [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design Intervention, Popular Posts Tagged With: 1970s ranch, beadboard backsplash, beadboard paneling, benjamin moore, black accents, blue, dated, decorologist, how to, inexpensive, interior decorator, kitchen, living room, nashville, paint, painting, paneling, room makeover, update, white, white kitchen cabinets, wood paneling, Woodlawn Blue

Going to School with The Decorologist

January 30, 2012 By Kristie Barnett 25 Comments

DSC 3690 1 Going to School with The Decorologist In the part of the country where I live, there are many families who decide that homeschooling is the best option for their children. I have had multiple clients over the last few years who homeschool and have particularly challenging decorating dilemmas.

This particular family has been successfully educating their 5 children in their home for many years, but their surroundings had been less than inspiring. This is the front room of their home as it was before The Decorologist stepped in:

Before – Homeschool Room

It was lined with bookcases full of books and curricula, a few tables and chairs (most of which were too small for their growing children), and various toys and other items.

Before – Homeschool Room

Interior Design for a Nashville Living Room and a Few Designer Secrets for You!

December 2, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 34 Comments

This is one of my favorite room makeovers to date – just finished this one on Monday. The client and her daughter follow my blog and contacted me a while back about doing a revamp on their living room here in Nashville. The reason why I love this project is because it was all about enhancing the beauty and function of the space while using what was special and meaningful to this family.

Ok, let’s get started! This is the view of the living room from the entry of the house when I first arrived. To be fair, my client had pulled a couple of extra pieces of furniture into the room for me to consider, like that wood dresser in the front. Anyway, she was looking to freshen up the paint colors (currently sage green in the living room and light yellow in the dining room. She also really wanted to add an electric fireplace, but feared that it might look too fakey in the room.

living room before

My 3 Secrets to Living with Antiques Without Getting Bogged Down in the Granny

November 11, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 13 Comments

Do you love antiques? I certainly do – surrounding yourself with things that have history and meaning is a wonderful way to live. Unfortunately, it’s easy to unintentionally overdo it. So here’s 3 of my secrets to keep you from getting bogged down in “the granny”.

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How to Arrange Furniture in a Room with a Corner Fireplace

August 22, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 35 Comments

I have worked with 5 different clients just in the last few months who have the same decorating dilemma: the dreaded corner fireplace!

Decorating Dilemma: The Corner Fireplace

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a perfectly lovely piece of architecture, but it can be difficult to figure out how to arrange furniture in a room like this:

Living Room Before

You may not believe how simple the answer is to this dilemma. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Design Intervention Tagged With: arranging furniture, corner fireplace, how to, living room, room makeover, the decorologist

Afraid Your Decorator Will Make Your House Look Like Everyone Else’s?

July 11, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 17 Comments

You may remember my colorful post: Throwing Your Caution (and Your Floorplan) to the Wind. Today I’m going to show you the rest of what was accomplished in a home whose artsy homeowners were ready to shake things up a bit. This family had no desire to make their home look like everyone else’s – they wanted something more colorful, a bit more quirky.

Living A Colorful Life

Upon entering the home, a living room/dining room combination runs to the right of a long open hallway. Here was the dilemma: the front “living” room had little purpose, except as a holding place for furniture that didn’t fit anywhere else. Because my clients love bold color, they had painted these front rooms dark orange. Problem was, the black furniture gave it a Halloween-all-year-round kind of feeling. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Color Consultation, Design Intervention, Popular Posts Tagged With: 364, benjamin moore, benjamin moore citrus burst, citrus burst, colorful rooms, dining room, living room makeover, nashville decorator, office makeover, room makeover, the decorologist

A Touch of Turquoise

May 30, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 23 Comments

I’m at the beach this week, so it seems fitting to share a recent home make-over with a touch of turquoise. The homeowner had a penchant for neutrals, but wanted to inject turquoise into her color scheme.

Kristie Barnett

You might recognize the living room from an old post of mine called “One Day Makover.” That one day makeover was the beginning of my relationship with this client who has been working toward making this new home her own. This is the before of the living room:

Kristie Barnett

That first day, I rearranged my client’s furniture and helped her re-think how she was going to use her public spaces. You’ll see more about that in a bit. Remember this family photo wall I created? Since then, my seamstress made custom pillows to fit her style exactly.

Kristie Barnett

Here’s another before of the entire living room:

Kristie Barnett

After creating a new furniture arrangement throughout the house (no new furniture was bought), we started interjecting the turquoise color in carefully selected spots.

Kristie Barnett

Here’s a view of the right side of the room before:

Kristie Barnett

We traded out the piano for an airy console table and a pair of lamps from the bedroom. I stacked a couple of mirrors to reflect light and add a little glamour. My client painted this wooden dresser stored in the garage according to my instructions.

Kristie Barnett

I chose a fun Benjamin Moore turquoise called Spirit in the Sky. One of my all-time favorite songs, by the way! Here’s another piece we decided to paint turquoise:

Kristie Barnett

This fun dresser makes a great spot for keys and such in the entry of my client’s beautiful home. We found the gorgeous lamp in downtown Franklin, TN.

Kristie Barnett

Here’s a before as you enter the home – the door is to the right.

Kristie Barnett

Now the entry is warm and welcoming. It’s really important to my client to only use accessories and art that have specific meaning to her family – we used lots of family photographs and things passed down from her family of origin.

Kristie Barnett

Now, if you follow my blog you already know I like to shake up a floorplan if it isn’t working for the family I am decorating for. This was formerly a living room, but it was adjacent to another living room (which seems redundant, no?). The previous owners of this house set their home up in a similar way, which influenced my client in how she set up hers when her family moved in. See how the dining room is at the back of the space in front of the french doors.

Kristie Barnett

We moved the dining room into this space, which is directly next to the kitchen. And we exchanged the crystal light fixture with this large burlap pendant from Pottery Barn to better-fit my client’s style.

Kristie Barnett

While this area was formerly for dining:

Kristie Barnett

Now it’s a sitting area where my client can read a magazine as she watches her children playing in the backyard. The bookcase (formerly dark green) was also painted in our Spirit in the Sky. I really love the pillows – I came up with the design and my seamstress from Ruffled Linens brought them to life.

Kristie Barnett

My goal is always to take the things that are important to my client and make it all come together in a beautiful and cohesive way. I hope that’s what I’ve done here.

Kristie Barnett

If you need help making your decor dreams come true, contact kristie@thedecorologist.com to schedule your appointment today!

Filed Under: Color Consultation, Design Intervention, Popular Posts Tagged With: benjamin moore spirit in the sky, decorating, dining room makover, living room makeover, room makeover, the decorologist, turquoise, turquoise and neutral, turquoise room

Throwing Caution (and Your Home’s Floorplan) to the Wind

May 16, 2011 By Kristie Barnett 29 Comments

I typically begin Design Consultations by walking through the home and talking with my clients about how they use their space and how it functions for their family. And more times than not, I find that people let their home’s floorplan dictate how they live in it. Even when it really isn’t working for them! In this home, we actually switched around 3 rooms - today I’m going to share 2 of them.

Random House Floorplan

This is the dining room before I started switching everything around. This room is carpeted, which doesn’t make it ideal for a dining room – especially when there’s a space open to the kitchen that is hardwood (it was being used as a living room). The homeowners LOVE color, especially bold color. They favor modern design, but with a retro twist. They are artlovers, as well, and the husband is a gifted artist, so it just seemed as though their home should have the feeling of an art gallery. Art galleries typically have a neutral backdrop so that the art really stands out – so we decided to mute the background a bit and add bold punches of color.

Dining Room Before

The homeowner had a desk tucked back in a corner of her bedroom where she used her computer. As we talked, it became obvious that with two small children, it would make more sense to have her office area in a place where she could monitor family activity better as she worked. So, we started moving around the furniture . . . [Read more...]