Good Change

I often hear that “change is good”, but what if the change is not good? I don’t like trying a new meal at a restaurant and not liking it. I don’t like getting a different haircut and crying when it is done. I don’t like getting low fat cheese by accident because I did not read the package! So then the life lesson is that change is good when it is good change. What happens when you know you want change but it must be good change? In the world of decorating, change can be good but all change equals money and we don’t want to waste money. Let’s take a peek into a living room in which the homeowners had a vague idea of what they wanted but they needed help to bring it all together and make good change somewhere just beyond the heart of The Villages.

• GoalsFireplace Image - Finishing Touch - Home Décor by Ruth Dyer
The room looks inviting, cozy and well put together in the before picture. The colors are on the autumnal side and the furniture was dark but everything is attractive. However, the homeowners, wanted light and bright! They wanted to white wash the brick but they weren’t sure what else needed to be done. Also, the art was equestrian/English and they wanted to change it to reflect nature and Florida.

• White wash brick
This is the most amazing change in the space. The homeowner wanted to whitewash the brick to make it appear lighter in the space. The man of the house is very handy and he tackled the job. It looks amazing! The mantle looks better and the windows seem to be less pronounced by blending into the whitewashed brick. It looks sophisticated and current and I love it!

• Wainscot
I suggested that the man of the house (Terry) also put wainscoting all around the room. The wainscot is a chair rail and below the chair rail boxes are added to the wall with quarter round. The entire wall and railing should be painted white from the chair rail down to the floor. He liked the idea but did not see the need for all the smaller boxes when most of them would be covered up by furniture. I urged him to do the boxes because I thought it would look half-done if he left that off. It looked good without them! In this living room when the chair rail is most of what you see, we did not need the small boxes to make it look complete. That money savings would allow for more spending elsewhere. Yay!

• New paint
We needed to paint a new color above the wainscot and we chose Window Pane 6210. This is a very light neutral gray blue that added a feeling of lightness and calm to the space. Also, this color complemented everything in the space and made all the existing and new molding pop!

• New couch and chair
The homeowners purchased a new sofa and chair in a much lighter color. We removed the printed chair and moved the gold recliner into place as an accent chair until we decide if we need to replace that chair. For now, I thought it looked good.

• Rug
A new rug was in order and it had to have some blues and greens to work with the new art that we would install. The homeowner fell in love with a rug covered in palm fronds and it looks really good in the space. We went from an 8×10 rug to a 5×8 rug and it fit the space a little better. The pattern on the rug is large but it fits the visual story in the space and makes a great statement.

• Art
We replaced the English/Equestrian art with art that reflected natural Florida. We chose the James Audubon Louisiana Heron over the Fireplace to ground the room and enhance the focal point. A historic Toucan complements the heron on the left wall of the room and above the couch we chose two large palm trees with lots of blue and gold tones. The new art looks great and changes the entire feel of the space.

• Lamps
I liked the golden elephant lamps that were in the space but the homeowner loved the large golden pineapple lamps and had to have them! They look beautiful and are a perfect finishing touch to the space.

P.S. –Attention all club presidents! We give free decorating seminars. It is lots of fun and very informative. Call and schedule your club today. Also, we are on-line check out our web-site at www.ruthdyer.com and you can always e-mail us at ruth@finishingtouchfl.com or Call Ruth your full service decorator at
352-804-2056.

Before and After Pics Below