The Three Step Room Makeover

Host: Welcome back to Studio5. If you want to update or makeover a room in your home but maybe you can’t afford it. Well skip the fabric swatches carpet samples and furniture catalogues. When your designer says instead redecorating you can just rearrange.

Angela Ingo: Hi. I'm Lisa.

Host: Yes, Angela.

Angela Ingo: Nice to meet you.

Lisa: Come on in.

Angela Ingo: Thank you.

Host: Angela Ingo is not your average decorator.

Angela Ingo: What I want to do is help teach people that there are some specific principles they can follow and take things they have in their home already and create a room that feels really comfortable and cozy, a place you want to be in.

Host: It concept she refers to as at home decorating using items you already have and a few basic principles to create a new fresh and cozier space.

Lisa: This room needs a lot.

Host: Our cameras followed along as she applied those principles to Lisa Hardy’s living room. Lisa loves the high ceilings open lighting and simple to core but says something was just wasn’t clicking.

Lisa Hardy: The way I put things together, they just do not quite fit and I do not know why, it just does not seem cozy enough for me.

Host: The house hunt began.

Angela Ingo: Now one of the things we are going to be looking for is something fairly large for the wall because what we are wanting to do is create a focal point.

Host: They found that focal point in Lisa’s bedroom a large painting hanging above the bed.

Angela: And this has got some really great colors in it and I think you could pull into that room. We are also going to be looking for tables this room does not have any tables and tables are very useful in helping to create a cozy space.

Host: And buried in the basement.

Angela: Well now this little table might be just right. This is a great possibility.

Host: Two tables, if you count the old sowing bench hiding in the storage room. They snatched a few throw away books from the home office.

Angela: You take hard bound covers and you take the dust covers off of them. You can then. It just gives it a library feel.

Host: And rolled up a dining room rug. Angela really got excited when Lisa dug out gold color tough pillars in a throw lying at the bottom of the closet.

Angela: Look at it, beautiful colors to go with what we are looking for. Now, would you have though?

Host: With treasures in tow the transformation began and Lisa’ living room got a serious shake up. And after applying a few basic design principles a little elbow grease and a lot of creativity this became this.

Lisa: I think it turned out fantastic so we got all these elements that we’re able to pull into this room.

We were able to create a feeling for using lighting and natural elements and fabric. Does it feel like a space that you want to come in and be in?

Lisa: Yes come and just relax. I could pick up a book. I could sit in here and read a book. I definitely feel comfortable in here.

Angela: Do you feel warmer.

Lisa: Yes, I love it, I love it, I really liked what we have done.

Host: I love it too. One word wow, Angela is joining us now to share kind of the tips and tricks of holding your own at homemaker.

You say it comes down to 3 basic principles and I think talent, you have an eye for this. That was amazing to see what you did but we want to talk about those 3 basic principles because you say they can apply to any room and any style, right.

Angela: Absolutely, yes.

Host: The first one you say is lighting.

Angela: Lighting is so key, if you even can put one lamp in a room it makes a huge difference, you have to turn it on though.

Host: It has got to be lit.

Angela: In order to make it feel comfortable.

Host: And a tip you have is to arrange them in a certain shape.

Angela: Yes, if you can get 3 lamps, put them in a triangle pattern in the room it creates a more cozy comfortable space.

Host: A triangle pattern so we are working for those points on any end of the room.

Angela: And it does not have to be if you do not have 3 you can start with one.

Host: And build as you go and that is a great concept too to this at home decorating ideas that you can build and grow.

Angela: Yeah.

Host: In Lisa’s home you added a few lamps and it made an instant difference I think.

Angela: Oh it made a huge difference, if you were to do only one thing one thing a lamp is it that makes a big difference.

Host: How many lamps do you think you can get for 10 bucks?

Angela: I go to so many homes and they have lamps but they do not turn them on.

Host: Turn them on, that’s the key. Get a lamp and turn them on.

Okay another tip you have, natural elements. Include some natural elements and greenery and some foliage and sunflowers if you can into the room.

Angela: It can be anything natural, a bowl of apples. It could be a pot with some sticks that you have trimmed from your backyard bushes. Really anything natural, a bowl of pine cones, great to take one little sunflower or a tulip, put it in a vase.

Host: In Lisa’s home it was the stick theory that you are talking about, just some sticks from the backyard that you put into a pot there. Angela:

Yeah. Well those are sticks you already had at a pot and a different place but we pulled them together and brought them into that room and it made them really nice. They just, each one of those things, layered on top of each other creates one step closer to a more comfortable room.

Host: And I noticed you do a lot of layering and kind of combining elements that they put out interest in that texture.

Angela: Yes, and the reason you do that is it creates a focal point, a place for you to put your eye, a place for your eye to rest and that makes it really comfortable when you walk into a room rather than having so much there that you do not have a place to pause.

Host: So a grouping in a sense, we are pumping a little bit. Okay so you got the lighting, the natural elements and you also say fabric is a great way. I know Lisa was not thrilled that we put a camera into her linen closet. But it was amazing what she found in there just some old linen and some old toss away pillow that really dressed up the room and gave her an extra sense of wow.

Angela: You know; it is amazing what fabric can do and it is so fun because I will go to people’s homes and say oh I have nothing. Oh really, there are lots of things that you can pull out of closets. You could pull out of cupboards and what happens is a few things that you had from an old comforter set that you do not use anymore on the living room couch it made a huge difference.

Host: And you did not prepare a lot of fun colors and that ties in to another tip that you applied to Lisa’s home and that finds a source of inspiration in her home it was that picture that used to be hanging about the bed that not only became a focal pint but you pulled colors from that picture that previously in the room at all.
Angela: Yes, if you ever find one thing, if it is a painting, if it is a rug, if it is a pillow that has got a pattern you really like. If you can pull 3 colors out of there and move them throughout the room to using a fabric, a little toss throw, I mean a little toss pillow or a throw it could be curtains those things all add those layers of coziness.

Host: Now I was surprised to see what you did with that, that sowing table that you found. You did not put it really where the eye could see. You hid it behind the sofa and it became what you call a unit. Explain that idea.

Angela: Yes, so what we wanted to do was create when you walked into the room a place that your eye could go to that was not just the painting, the painting was part of the unit with the couch. We put the table behind the couch and put a few things on the table so that they could create a unit so there were some natural elements. There was a lamp and there were candles I think.

A little, a couple of other things so you want to have odd numbers and put them together in a grouping and it makes a place that’s really nice to rest your eye.

Host: They are great tips, they really are Angela. Thank you so much for sharing.

Angela: Welcome.

Host: Anyone can do to any room in the home and of course Angela always has great tips on her blog. She has great visual as well and really breaks it down in a simple way so even as non-designers and non-decorators I think can gain anything from that.

To learn more, visit her blog, Imaginecozy.com we have got her tips and her link to her blog on the studio 5 website.