If you're like me, when a redo impulse strikes, your first thought is about what you should buy. While sometimes that's a legitimate response, often it's more satisfying — both for your psyche and your bank account — to scour your house for pieces that may be the perfect solution when given a coat of paint or a new location. After all, the satisfaction of resourcefulness is hard to beat!
Between my visits to Marya & Rick's Layered and Luminous Arlington Retreat, some rooms had a noticeably different feel although the layout and the majority of pieces themselves had remained unchanged. It struck me how swapping just one piece of furniture for another, or changing even the trim color of a piece, had the ability to give the room just enough of a shake up that it could feel fresh and new without necessitating an full-fledged makeover. It's also a doable course of action for those of us suffering from what fellow DC blogger, Colleen, dubs DIY envy.
Often, altering one spot sparks a wave of smaller redos in other rooms, thus lending a fresh sense to almost the whole room since when one thing goes out, something else usually comes in from another room to replace it. Such seems to be the case in Rick and Marya's home, specifically in their bedroom.
Let's take a look at their little home shopping spree and shake up:
• Picture 1. Marya borrowed the bureau originally found in her son's room (picture 4). She painted the trim from green to cream to fit in with the airy whites and ivories of her bedroom.
• Picture 2. Originally, the spot in picture 1 had been occupied by an old Ikea dresser. While it lent a strong visual presence, it also distracted from the light, airy vibe of the room. The switch allowed the rug to really shine.
• Picture 3. Marya used another dresser to replace the one from her son's room that now graces her bedroom.
• Picture 4. The original dresser that now sits in Marya and Rick's bedroom once served as baby James' changing table.
• Picture 5. Originally the snuggery housed one of the lamps now found on their bedroom bureau.
• Picture 6. Marya borrowed the lamp from their entry console to warm up the snuggery. The ceramic lamp has a cozier feel than the acrylic one now gracing the bedroom bureau (picture 1).
• Picture 7. The foo dog lamps originally found on the blue bedroom dresser (picture 2), found a new spot in their in-progress basement, lending the cozy spot a shot of color.
In case you missed their house tour, be sure to check out Marya & Rick's Layered and Luminous Arlington Retreat for the full effect.
When I left Marya's I was inspired to see what things in my own home could be swapped in order to give whole rooms a new feel. I've found it's the perfect antidote to chronic decorating redo impulses, which seems to be fairly common in blogland!
What are your most successful home shopping spree purchases?
Images: Leah Moss
Jessica's Crafted Space
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
Catch Up With Friends: Menu for a Casual Dinner Party with Fresh Comfort Food
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
I love this. I'm all for making do with what you have (or if you are like me and starting out, I scour second-hand shops and websites). LOVE the feeling of finding something for nothing that has had a previous life.
This is one of the joys of the Foreign Service & no doubt other jobs where you move a lot. You don't see your things for some months, then you open the boxes in a whole new space & get to furnish and decorate it. I've done many configurations in many places, and it forces you to thin out and refine. I also grew up in the FS, and my mother had a friend who hung the same set of living room curtains in every house they lived in for 30 years -- hemmed or let down depending on the windows. That's thrifty but I'm amazed she could stand looking at the same curtains for that long ... the other thing is that all my sheets & towels are white. You never know.
This is exactly what I've been contemplating doing in my own home. After illness left me spending an undue amount of time staring at the walls all winter, I'm sick of the whole place and am hoping that rearranging a few things will make me less grumpy.
I enjoy doing this. I highly recommend Carole Talbott's book, Decorating for Good: A Step-by-Step Guide to Rearranging What You Already Own.
P.S. Also, Lauri Ward wrote books about this that I found well worth reading.
My husband just suggested we do this. Move that in there, take that and toss it, move that there . . .etc. It's gotten me excited about our space again!
Wow the dresser switch is beautiful! I've been doing this in my own home. I've moved most of what we owned into the attic..cept for key pieces like beds and the couch. I'm having issues with my accessories and wall art. I felt too cluttered and now I'm not sure where I want stuff to go..and I'm having a huge issue with my furniture in the living room arrangement..I'm just stuck..but I feel free'er cus most of my stuff is up in the attic..and not down here cluttering up stuff!
The one time I used a storage facility was when there was too much here for me to decide how best to weed and arrange the furnishings. My husband thought it was a waste of money, but I disagree. We rented a nearby small storage locker for only a month. Getting much of the obvious surplus out of our home for a few weeks was like smashing apart a Rubik's cube to reassemble it correctly.
i love posts like this, because my husband and i are constantly "shopping in our home" for new and different ways to use what we already own. as parents of two young children on a tight budget we have to be creative-- but that does not mean we have to sacrifice our aesthetic. right now i am pondering removing everything from my living/dining room and starting from scratch- something about having a blank canvas can be so inspiring and as i am currently on maternity leave and spending quite a bit of time at home i am noticing all the little things i want to change.
So fun! Doing this in my friend's apartment right now and was really glad to see this post. She was on the verge of moving...but instead we've moved everything around in the apartment and created a completely different home!. Amazing to see. Suddenly become a place that feels new, elegant, cozy...we all want to hang out there!
For instance, I unstacked a couple of stackable wooden bookcases from her office and put them singly on either side of her bed as night tables. Because they are long and low, they ground the bed and unify the room with the large wooden wardrobe and dresser. the room has gone from eclectic to elegant with this simple switch. The room feels furnished now, more stable, sexy.
Shop your home, loving it!
this has been my favorite way of decorating for a long time. i love rearranging for a whole new look.
I'm with you imsovintage, I've been redo-ing my relocating for ages. Seasonally there are pieces in my home that work better in different places, some get moved out onto the porch, others nearer the bed, etc. And it really refreshes a home to move things around. I have a whole cadre of pillows, candleholders, vases, etc. that come and go depending on the seasons. Soft furnishings and accessories can really change the 'vibe' of a room!
Love this post...I like to rethink all of my furniture as well, but I take it one step further and shop at my parents, sister and brothers home as well. We all do. In fact I wrote an article called the Web of Giving and created a visual web describing how furniture has spun around our family! I'll post it some day...maybe this week!