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Design on a budget: Keep it fresh, keep it simple

By Rick Seltzer
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The economy keeps falling and, as money gets tight, your plans to redecorate have run into, well, a wall. The redecorating window doesn't have to be closed, though.

Interior decorator and TV star Christopher Lowell has seven tips for designing on a budget. He adapted them from two of his most popular books, “Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Design: Fearless, Fabulous Decorating,” and “Christopher Lowell's Seven Layers of Organization: Unclutter Your Home, Unclutter Your Life.”

The tips aren't going to teach you how to make a designer lamp out of papier-mâché – they're focused on making smart decisions with whatever money you can spend.

On his new television show, “Work That Room With Christopher Lowell” for the Fine Living Network, Lowell visits different homes and consults with homeowners to help them solve their design dilemmas.

On his new television show, “Work That Room With Christopher Lowell” for the Fine Living Network, Lowell visits different homes and consults with homeowners to help them solve their design dilemmas.

For the dilemma of a tight budget, here are his ideas for design on a dime.

Let the paint do the heavy lifting:

"One of the things that people don't realize is that you can spend a tremendous amount of money with furnishings, accessories and all of that kind of thing, but if the walls are still left white, you're never going to get the kind of designer look that you see in magazines.

“Introducing color to an all-white space, it'll give you a brand new look for very little money. And the place will look fresh, smell fresh, etc. That is probably the cheapest way you have to make everything in your home look completely different.”

Less is best:

“A lot of times we run to get the painting done, then we run out to our local Bed Bath & Beyond, or whatever, and we buy everything that's in that color. But as it wears on you, you begin to realize your home looks like Bed Bath & Beyond.

“The goal here is once you get past that painting stage, give yourself the time, be comfortable living with emptier spaces than you're normally used to and really take the time to purge your home of the things that don't really reflect you accurately today.

“If you can close your eyes and can't remember half of the things that are in that room, you're probably taking it for granted and you don't need it.”

"One of the most important things to understand when working with fabrics is that print motifs are the first to date a room. So you can certainly have a lot of fun with them in things that are very easy to change out, like pillows or a table runner or an inexpensive pair of drapes.”

When choosing upholstery fabrics, keep them pattern-free:

“When you're choosing upholstery, taking a pattern that you like a lot and locking it into a very high-ticket item that should last you a lot longer, it's really just a big no-no.

“Today it's really appropriate that we understand that texture and solids can do just as much work in getting a beautiful layered look. So one of the big tips is if you've got a fabric and you're not quite sure, if you squint your eyes and it appears to look solid, you're good to go.

“There's a lot of retailers who will put these fabulous patterns in the store on the floor to draw your eye and really, you can get exactly the same look by doing a neutral background and simply taking that pattern that you love and doing a couple pillows.”

Value uninterrupted walls:

"Most people instinctively push their couch up against the wall, and that's a huge waste because that uninterrupted wall, that's where you want storage. And the idea is, check out your favorite hotel lobbies. You'll notice all of the furniture floats in the center of the room to create conversation areas.

Avoid room dandruff:

“The big thing is accessories. Here again, the idea is to really purge your home of the things that don't tell your story. So be careful of taking those very valuable surfaces and filling those up. The thing is, if you do collect something small, group them all together. There's power in numbers.”

Plants and lighting:

“Probably the most ignored thing in most people's rooms is the lighting. We tend to decorate our rooms during the day, on a weekend. We forget about the fact that we're going to probably live in that room at least 50 percent of the time after the sun goes down. So the idea is to understand the dynamic of how light can add a lot of theater.

“One of the areas where that really pays off is the combination of trees, interior lights and uplights on the floor. The uplights will cast shadows up through those leaves. The shadows create intimacy, and intimacy is what creates mood. And that's what people are looking for in today's environments.”