So many design lovers fear that in order to get a truly beautiful room, they have to start from scratch. Many more believe that, “Start from Scratch,” is the only way design clients work…as in…throw it all out and start from ground zero.

Let me clear up a few things, my lovely. 🙂

Sure, design clients generally do fit into one of the gradations categories of “the affluent.” – since hiring a designer is a luxury purchase.

But you may find it comforting to know that roughly 99.9% of design clients in my luxury design firm come to us with the hopes that we can re-use at least some of what they own. And provided that the condition, size and style works for the end-result they’re asking me to create, it’s an easy YES.

And also popular….while you’re looking at how “the other half lives,”….about 99.99% of design clients who come to me for a total redo in rooms A, B & C will ask if we can do something a bit more budget prudent in Room D by reusing some, or much, of what they own.

It’s always a wise decision to maximize your design resources, meaning not only your money today, but also the money, time and energy you spent yesterday!

The point is…you are not alone AT ALL in the concern that to get a truly beautiful design result, you have to start from scratch.  It’s not necessarily so.

Fear not, and enjoy this walk into the design garden of what’s possible: How beautiful and transformed can a room really become on the design spectrum that runs from Total Redo to Major Surgery to a Facelift only.

Here’s what’s possible and realistic, plus the lowdown on the true pros and cons to help manage your expectations on cost and timelines.

Option 1: The Total Scrap and Start From Scratch

Design is a sum-total sport, an additive sport, meaning: It’s the sum total of ALL the elements in a room that equal the stunning outcome…what the room looks like in total.

A Total Scrap and Start From Scratch can mean that 80% – 100% of a room is changing. These changes likely include adding new:

• Artwork
• Furniture
• Flooring
• Light fixtures
• Millwork detailing might be added such as base, chair or crown molding, or other built-ins
• Pillows (if applicable)
• Table top accessories
• Wall color or wall covering
• Window coverings

To be sure, if you want to TOTALLY reinvent a room, this is your surest bet.

The pros and cons of the Total Scrap and Start From Scratch:

Cost:   Highest Cost

IE: The average cost of a small living room from Pottery Barn: $9,000

Ethan Allen $17,000

Designer To-The-Trade $32,500+ Plus design fees

Timeline: 4-6 months for design, fabrication, delivery and installation.

OK – I heard that thud. I see I have at least 1 fainter out there. J Total Start from Scratch always costs more, and takes longer, than any design lover thinks it should, expected it to, or wish it did. That’s just how interior design works: it’s a @#$#. And yes…those Pinterest rooms you love…they don’t come cheap!

What’s the next option down on the price point and timeline spectrum?

Option #2: The Major Redesign or Redo

This is a great option when there is SOME budget available, and you have a couple, or a good number, of workable pieces in your room. With a Major Redo, you’re looking at keeping 40% – 50% of the room’s appointments, to include possibly even face-lifting an item or two with re-upholstering or painting.

With a Major Redo – you will usually do more cosmetic things rather than those things that cause large upheaval to a home like adding recessed lighting. With a Redo you are seeking to leverage what you own and refresh it by adding an equal or slightly larger balance of new items in the room.

With a redo, and 50% – 60% of a room changing, here’s what commonly changes, to include adding new:

• 1 Key furniture piece or a few supporting items
• Re-upholstery enters the mix
• Repainting Furniture enters the mix
• Wall color or wall covering
• Lighting fixtures
• New Table top accessories are added to existing items
• New wall art is added or reframing of existing art
• Pillows

What may or may not change due to budget constraints:

• Flooring
• Window coverings
• Table top accessories
• Artwork
• Pillows (if applicable) and
• Millwork detailing such as base, chair or crown molding,  or built-ins

Since we’re speaking in generalities, in a ReDo, it’s of course possible to combine elements from the “What Usually Changes” list with some of the “What Usually Doesn’t Change” list…so long as it fits with the budget and accounts for only a 40%-60% addition of new elements in the room.

ReDo’s that are strategic and well planned can markedly change the look and feel of a room.

The pros and cons of the Major Redo:

Cost: Mid-level cost vs. Total Start From Scratch
Timeline: 3-4 months for design, fabrication, delivery and installation
Cons: You must have some good pieces (good condition, right size, right style, right color) to get the result you’re after.

But what about for the design lover who is impatient and wants it done fast or who is budget pressed and wants it done for under $x AND fast?!?!?

Then my dear, that would be the ever so yummy….

Option #3: The Room Facelift

People are always amazed at the transformative power of a strategically well done Room Facelift. There is so much that’s possible using wise strategy, you have no idea!

With a Room Facelift, you’re talking about replacing 20% or less in the room, recycling, re-arranging and revamping what you own – all to a new and greater effect.  And let me tell you, when you know what you’re doing and know the strategies involved, the results can be SO gratifying and a real jaw dropper.

The art – and strategy – of arrangement and how things are styled becomes paramount.

With a Room Facelift, when you are replacing only 20% or less of the items in a room, you go after the “lowest hanging fruit first”. Changes can include SOME but not all of the following:

• *New wall color or wall covering
• *Improved accessory arrangement
• *New accessories added to existing accessories
• *Improved art installation (of existing pieces)
• *New art added to existing pieces
• *Improved furniture arrangement
• *Refaced, recolored and / or re-upholstered key furniture item
• *New light fixtures
• *Optional & Not Usual: New readymade window coverings or new area rug

The pros and the cons of the Room Facelift:

Cost: Lowest Cost 🙂 (yay!)
Other Pros: Totally kicks your existing design up a notch & lowest cost.
Timelines: 4-6 weeks 🙂 (also a yay!)
Cons: You need to know what you’re doing to get the real effect – by that I mean, knowing what to do and how to do it in order to get an appreciably more beautiful and changed room.

People are surprised at the significant difference overhauled accessories ALONE can make in a room, but it shouldn’t be that surprising.

Here’s why:

Consider the average living room. If you add up the running linear feet of surface areas that accessories touch or cover, it’s pretty major! You’ve got accessories on: the coffee table, 2 end tables, possibly a console or cabinet, plus the lamps and decorative overhead lighting if any. Then there’s the wall art on the walls and pillows on the upholstery.

When my son was a little boy he used to line up his Matchbox cars in one long line that would stretch through our home. Well, if you decided to line up all of the accessories I just mentioned in that average living room example, those items could easily span 25 – 30 running feet…versus let’s say the 7’ running feet taken up by just the sofa!

Accessories – all of them – from table top, to wall art, to pillows, to lamps and light fixtures actually touch and spread through SO much of your rooms!  SO, why wouldn’t updating and changing them have a big impact on a room?

🙂

Sure a new sofa will add new panache to a room, but if I’m charged with making a major and fast change to a room….a Facelift…I go for the “lowest hanging fruit”,  PLUS “biggest bang for the buck” moves. J

That’s worth a smile right here…Facelifts are lowest cost and shortest timeline and they need not be the booby prize!

When I have to super charge a room so it can be photographed, or when I have to quickly super charge and refresh a room for a family alongside one of their Start From Scratch spaces I’m working on, I jump right to the Facelift.

In the end, as with all design that is Pinterest worthy and beautiful – it’s all about the DESIGN STRATEGY you use. Often times, that’s more important than the size of the home or the size of the budget.

So get wise my lovely. Take heart knowing many things are possible for you and your home!

All you need is a little of the right and wise design strategy to get you there.

I’m rooting for you! And now that you’re all ready to start your beautiful room transformations, sign up below for my FREE Checklist: Accessories to Keep; Accessories To Toss (…What To Store Away)