Rearrange to redecorate

Time for change

You have lived in your ‘new’ home for a few years now and the ‘newness’ has worn out. The same room, with the same furniture and the same decor, is getting on your nerves. You are itching to move or at least redecorate but you know this is not the right time. Indeed we have all been in this frustrating spot.

Do not despair. A total rearrangement of your furniture can do wonders for your room and psyche. If nothing else, the vigorous workout and the family bonding the exercise offers will give you a new perspective on things.

Let’s start with the living/ drawing room, which, in your opinion, needs some new life. You can take some steps with your room decor that is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Our goal here is to work with what we have rather than head out the door armed with a credit card. Granted you will need to do some physical work, so make sure you have “all decks on hand!”

The first step is to take a long, hard look at everything in the room. Have a little notebook and pencil handy and make a list of things that absolutely must stay in the room. Arrange this list from the largest to smallest items. Every family member should give inputs and you should genuinely value everyone’s opinions.

Now, you will see that there are some items in the room that are not on the list: these are the things that are taking up valuable space in the room but that you may be able to do without. This could be an easy chair, a couple of end-tables or even a bookcase.
The next step is to take out everything from the room that is not on the list. Hopefully, the room will be left with pieces that are vital and it will also look a little more spacious since some items have been removed.

So far you have been doing what I call pre-arranging. The re-arranging is the fun and creative part. You will notice, quite likely, that your existing plan consists of furniture placed against the walls; and have been in the same spot for the whole time you’ve lived in this home!

Instead of this conventional arrangement, imagine your room has a hexagonal (six-sided) shape around the perimeter. This gives you six smaller walls to work with instead of the four you had. You may even draw a hexagon on the floor using chalk.

Now arrange all your ‘must-have’ pieces of furniture (and yes, your TV if it is not wall-mounted) starting with the largest upholstered pieces along the hexagonal lines. Let yourself go and play around till you have the exact look you want. Essentially, you have re-arranged the furniture at angles away from straight walls. This gives a starkly different look to the room. When you have completed the re-arranging of the “critical,” you can arrange the smaller pieces around the larger ones. Try and ensure that the smaller pieces are now in a different position in relation to the larger ones, from where they used to be.

After you are completely satisfied with your efforts so far, bring in the accessories and follow the same routine.
And, voila, the rearrangement has created a ‘new look’ for your room! Sit back and enjoy.