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photos by maddy jones| index-journal . home remodel by Help Around the Home, LLC
dispersed throughout the room for a harmonious
effect, Lowell says.
Other layering approaches might start
with the room’s focal point or color palette.
Whichever approach you take, the first
step should be planning and measuring, not
shopping, says Sharon McCormick of Sharon
McCormick Design in Durham, Connecticut.
You can draw the room to scale on graph
paper and experiment with different sizes
and arrangements of rugs and furniture, or
tape their dimensions on the actual floor.
This will show you what fits and works in the
room, McCormick says.
Once you’ve determined that, say, a sofa
and love seat work better than a sofa and two
chairs, the plan then becomes your shopping
list.
“What often happens is people see something
they like on sale and they buy it and
it doesn’t work, or they buy something that
catches their eye and just start there. That’s
when things go awry,” McCormick says.
In contrast to Lowell’s system, McCormick
considers a room’s lighting in the earliest
stages of planning and puts off painting
until upholstered pieces have been selected.
“Even if you aren’t changing lighting fixtures,
you may need extra outlets for lamps and
you’ll want those installed before you paint,”
she explains.
A layered approach is not intended to
lock people into an inflexible system but to
provide sequencing for those who are intimidated
or on a budget and need to decorate
in stages. Just don’t stall out, warns Lowell:
“Most homes look like Sybil designed them
because people stop and start and stop and
start.”
Progressing in layers gives them the confidence
to keep at it.
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