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Chattanooga Home Interior Design Remodel

I’m excited to show you a few before and after photos of a home remodel project for a Kansas City couple who relocated to Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was excited for the opportunity to fly into Chattanooga and take measurements for the furniture and accessory layout, as well as sit down and talk with the clients about what they want for their new home. Since their long term goal is to move back to Kansas City, they wanted the home’s interior design to be movable, meaning no drastic changes. Everything I designed will one day eventually go back to Kansas City with them, and it was important to the clients that the original charming home structure be left untouched.

I began with suggesting changing out the hardware and light fixtures from brass to oiled rub bronze throughout the home. Then we chose a new accent paint, and furniture pieces that would transform the look of the space and cause a potential future buyer to fall in love with the home. Once the truck was scheduled to arrive with all of the furniture, I drove back down to Chattanooga, with a few treasures,  to help with unloading the truck and placement of all the furniture, window treatments, decor and accessories.

Thanks to the help of the homeowners and a couple of great handymen, the delay in the truck schedule did not stop us from transforming the home in a matter of 12 hours!

Take a look and see how much of a difference the right furniture, area rugs, decorative fabrics and decor pieces can transform a home!

Before Living Room

Before Living Room

 

After Living Room

After Living Room

 

before dining room

Before Dining Room

 

after dining room

After Dining Room

 

before great room

Before Great Room

 

after great room

After Great Room

The Decorative Touch LTD

Add Accessories to Your Room for a New Look

With a new season on its way in are you looking to switch up the decor in your room without having to completely redesign it? The easiest and quickest way to transform the look of your room is with accessories. Just as an outfit can transform into something new with the addition of a cocktail ring, pendant necklace or gorgeous pair of chandelier earrings, so can the interior design of your room with a few accessories. Keep these tips in mind to bring a new look to your room with accessories.

  • Follow the season. Add accessories that match the weather of the current season and your design will always have a fresh look.
  • Add a new rug. Breathe new life into your room with a rug that pulls everything together in a new way.
  • Play with pillows. Bring texture to your sofa by adding pillows with touches of colors and bold designs.
  • Use more than one. Accessorize your room by adding multiple numbers of the same item.

Need more help adding accessories to your room for a new look? Put your home in the hands of Janine Terstriep of The Decorative Touch by calling 913-888-1388.

Tips adapted from House Beautiful.

Image from decor pad.

Keeping Up Custom Upholstery

decorativetouch4

Interior design by The Decorative Touch

If you are in the market for a new interior design for any room in your home you may end up with custom upholstery. Using custom upholstery is beneficial because it it specially created for you and your furnishings, and it will be unique to only your home. While custom upholstery is an amazing addition to the design of your room, it’s important to remember it will need special care. If you are investing in well worth, quality upholstery you want to take any and every precaution to preserve and keep it clean. Consider these tips for Keeping up custom upholstery:

  • Choose cautiously. When working with your designer be sure to define your lifestyle so that the fabric chosen is a reflection of it.
  • Avoid the sun. Be sure you keep all your furniture that features custom upholstery away from direct sun to avoid the fabric fading.
  • Fluff and flip. Depending on how much use your cushions endure, vacuum, fluff, flip, and rotate them regularly to even out wear and fading.
  • Clean spills quickly. If an accident occurs on your upholstery clean it quickly by blotting the stain with a clean, white clot. Rubbing may damage the texture of the fabric.
  • Proper placement. Create places for  guests to sit food and drinks on side cocktail tables with coasters
  • Call the professionals. Have professionals give your custom upholstery a deep cleaning once every or two years

Want to include custom upholstery in your home? Call The Decorative Touch today to discuss your design ideas.

Tips adapted from ShelterPop

Switch Up The Seating

While churning our design wheel, we realized how much we love the idea of unconventional dining room seating. Last Tuesday, our post Beach Blues showed a dining room with contemporary sofas as the seating. The sofas brought a different level of comfort to the room while maintaining the formal mood. In addition to using unconventional seating, mixing various types of seating will allow you to please more than one of your design ideas. Having a bench, a chair or two and a sofa all within your desired color palette brings personality and texture to your room. You can even pick the different seating based on your family member’s preferences. As long as there are common elements among each piece, your room will flow perfectly. Call us today so we can help you switch up your dining room seating!

Dining room with mixed seating

Dining room with with mixed seating

Dining room with mixed seating

Janine’s Tip of the Week #4: Look at the Big Picture

decorativetouch3I just spent the weekend taking part in the Kansas City Home and Garden Show at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City.  It’s quite an event and many re-modelers, home improvement suppliers, lawn and garden suppliers bring out their newest and best displays for spring inspiration.

While at the show, the questions I was asked most was “When do I get you involved in my project?” Let me just say, it’s never too early to consult with your designer. I spoke with over a thousand folks this weekend who thought that they might not talk to a designer or decorator until they needed the furniture or paint for the project. Please let me warn you to look at the bigger picture.

If you are thinking about any remodel, building, or updating project in your home or office, you really should consult a designer first. Designers add so much to the process–we actually help you see the project as a larger picture before you start looking at the smaller pieces. What you choose for tile, carpet, paint etc., can only be made by knowing which direction to take and the overall goal of the project. Unfortunately, many people think about one small part of the project, such as “I want to retile my bath” and forget how the tile will affect the walls, window treatments, bedroom off the bath, and so much more. So, before you select the first item in your “remodel,” think BIGGER. A designer can help guide you on the whole picture. There is more than one item in any give remodel and certainly more in every new construction opportunity and every selection fits and connects with the next. It’s like a giant puzzle. Does yours connect?

Janine Terstriep

More About Me: How Did I Decide to Become a Designer?

0_0_0_0_250_373_csupload_15892677Well, it kinda just happened!  I was one of those crazy kids that when my mom would leave the house, as young as I can remember, I would start moving the furniture around, so that by the time she got home…ta da…everything was different!  Before long, she put me in charge of all the holiday decorating and whenever company was coming, I was her right hand girl at preparing the tablescapes and getting things shaped up!

I have had the “knack” my whole life and when I go to the movie theater and the rest of you actually watch the movie, I am focused on the layout of the room: the wallpaper, the light fixtures and the entire scene of the home or restaurant, not so much the actors. A sickness you say, a passion I say.

I am incredibly blessed to truly “love” what I do for a living and I get as much of a “thrill” completing a clients dream as they do. There is nothing I would rather do for work. In fact, most the time it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I am helping someone complete something they could never do without me. It’s pretty awesome.  The ultimate reward is seeing that smile on their face and satisfaction and 5 or 10 years later having them call for the next project.  That says I am doing my job.

Gifts That Will Keep On Giving

One of the best gifts you can give yourself this holiday season is a new piece of furniture, something you’ll enjoy for years to come. Before setting out on your shopping expedition, though, it’s important to do your homework.

Decide what you need
Save time, money and frustration by starting with a solid plan. Take an inventory of what you’ll keep, what you’ll get rid of and what you’ll need to add or replace.

Measure your space
Carefully measure your space from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. With your measurements in hand, draw a to-scale layout of the room (in which 1 foot equals ¼ inch), including every opening and architectural element, including doors, windows and fireplaces.

Measure your furniture

Once you find a piece of furniture you love, be sure to measure it, too. Compare it to the size of your room’s doors (or windows) to be sure that you can get it into the room.

Make everything fit
Using the same ¼ inch = 1 foot scale, cut out templates that represent your existing pieces of furniture as well as those you intend to buy. Move them around on the floor plan you’ve drawn, playing with different room arrangements. Not only will that let you see what works and what doesn’t, it will save your back, too!


By Louise Lange