Instant Home Makeovers

Room Redos on the Cheap


Lisa Lewis
Photo By: Kristen Loken

Yearning for a change? For less than the cost of a new armchair, you can bring in a designer to give your house a one-day makeover. It's called interior arrangement (or interior redesign), and it's growing in popularity with homeowners who want a new look without a big investment.
    "We come in with a completely fresh perspective and provide instant results," says Nicole Yee, a local interior redesigner. "In a matter of hours, we can completely rebuild what clients have and transform their homes."
    Yee works from the bottom up, removing all furniture, rolling up rugs and removing pictures from the walls. Then she moves the main pieces of furniture into place, focusing on optimizing furniture placement and overall flow as well as enhancing interesting architectural features of the house. She also creates ambience using lighting (a frequently overlooked aspect of design, she says).
    Finding just the right spots for art and accessories completes the look. "The result is a home that's not only more functional, but more inviting."
    Yee recommends interior redesign as a first step, even for clients who are considering buying additional furniture and accessories. "You may find that after you've placed things optimally and worked with what you have, you no longer need to buy anything."
    Lisa Billings, co-founder of the Interior Arrangement Design Association (one of two major associations dedicated to the field), attributes part of interior rearranging's popularity to an increasing do-it-yourself approach to design. "Americans love to shop and pick out their own things," she says. "Then, they get home with the things they love and still can't get the results they want. We come in and put a designer spin on things."
    "A lot of it is helping them determine what not to use," she adds. "You don't have to display every single thing you own to make a room wonderful."
    Interior arranging can also be a godsend for people who have just moved but don't know how best to position their belongings in their new homes, Billings says.
    In other cases, clients turn to a design specialist to help them with life changes. Cheryl Clifford, a local interior arranger, specializes in redoing home environments for people going through life transitions who want to update their living spaces accordingly. "We've made people cry-they're so thrilled with the results," she says.
    In 2004, Clifford worked with a woman whose husband had recently passed away. "She wanted to honor her husband's memory without making the house a shrine," Clifford recalls. Because the woman had been caring for her husband at home, the master bedroom had housed a hospital bed. Clifford was able to revamp the space by hanging lots of floral pictures, bringing in an antique couch that had been used elsewhere in the house and displaying collectibles that had previously been relegated to a closet.
    Another scenario might involve personalizing a senior apartment for someone who's downsizing from a house to a managed-care facility. "When someone has to move from an environment where they've been for 40 years, it's very difficult," Clifford notes. "You need to find out what's important to them."
    Clifford says a typical room makeover averages $350 to $600 and takes less than a day. "I have the client leave on the day we're doing the arranging. Then I empty the room we're doing and start over from scratch." Clifford says she'll "shop" throughout the house, often bringing in pieces from other rooms to provide a new look.
    Yee prices by the day or half-day (based on the size of the house and the amount of furniture involved) and says that makeover projects are typically under $1,000. That includes the main living areas, such as the dining room, living room, office and bedrooms.
    "Interior design is no longer just for people who have a lot of money," Clifford says. "I work with everyday people trying to make their homes livable for their real lives. It's not just a showcase-they want to live in an environment that's comfortable for them."

THE DETAILS
CHERYL CLIFFORD
A New View: Interior Enhancement by Cheryl
(510) 638-0911
www.interiorenhancement.com

NICOLE YEE
NY Interiors
(510) 531-3973
www.nicoleyee.com

INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT AND
DESIGN ASSOCIATION
www.interiorarrangement.org

INTERIOR REDESIGN
INDUSTRY SPECIALISTS
www.weredesign.com