The Home Cure

You made it! (Or, at least, are hopefully on your way – that’s ok too!) Three cheers to you for putting time, effort and creativity into your home – it’s absolutely always worth it. Design and decor are meant to be evolving, so there will inevitably be changes to make and more to do, but it’s important to appreciate the things you accomplished this month, regardless of what other plans you have on the horizon.

What you choose to decorate your walls with is one of the things that makes your style truly yours and all that matters is that you love it! Whether it’s high or low, rare or mass produced, permanently placed and lit or a constantly changing casual display, taking the time to hang artwork with care will make the most of it. Today’s the day to get the job done right! OR, if you are all set with artwork, spend a little time dressing up your space for the holiday season ahead.

There is a concept in fashion that suggests that, when getting dressed, you accessorize and then remove one thing for a more streamlined, sophisticated look.

A big round of applause to everyone on making it to the last leg of the Style Cure, with an shout of “congrats!” if you tackled the big paint job this past weekend. I know its tempting to zoom to the finish line and completely set your room up at this point, but if you can keep your foot on the brakes for just a bit, today can be an interesting day – let’s focus on getting the furniture placement done right.

Time to knock this job out of the park. By now you’ve carefully chosen your color, gathered your supplies, prepped the room – no excuses, it’s time to get those rollers humming! By Monday, your room will be transformed… Paint! To help out with the biggest weekend chore of the Cure, we’ve gathered together our most helpful posts on how to get the job done right. Click through, get smart and get going! Have questions or need a little moral support? Questions?

Are you planning on painting as part of the Style Cure? If so, what happens next is very important. It’s time to clear out your room and prep it for the work ahead, so when the weekend rolls around, you can have everything ready to go and get an early, organized start. As anyone who has ever tackled a DIY paint job knows, the work you do before you even pop open the first paint can makes a big difference.

You’ve been focusing on your project and the overall visuals of your room: the colors, textures and patterns. Today is a chance to take a bit of a breather and think about the physical space and your layout. A little work goes a long way here and you may be able to improve the flow of your room with just a few small shifts. Let’s dig in on one of Maxwell’s lessons… Maxwell writes, “Energy can flow in one of three ways: quickly, slowly or not at all.

So we’re all-in with the kitchen update, and I’m excited to say that I think we’re almost there! I didn’t know if it was going to be doable with two little ones underfoot, but thanks to a lot of help from both sets of grandparents in both the babysitting and manpower departments, I think we may just finish on time.

After what I hope was a successful shopping weekend, I’m guessing you may have already dug in on your projects. If so, think of today as a chance to make a little more headway. If not, GET STARTED! With supplies and info in hand, today is the time to really dig in and start making some progress toward your goals. While spending a longer stretch of time is always preferable, even if you can only spare 30 minutes today, do it. Putting your mind to it is half the battle!

Today is an important day for the rest of your Cure. It’s time to sit down and make note of what you need to get the job done, which means that those of you who put some time in on the research assignment yesterday should be able to conquer this step handily. If you still need to research your project or product, no worries, just roll that into today’s “homework”.

Welcome back to our kitchen update, phase ten gazillion. My husband is currently en route to pick up our butcher block counters, while I’m at home trying to decide on paint color choices for our lower cabinets. We love the two-tone look, so we’re not going with the same color (white) as the upper cabinets. Even though our appliances are white, we’re hoping a slightly deeper tone will add more visual interest and character to the space.

Alright, this is it: your room transformation is about to REALLY begin. The time has come for the weekend cleanup and clearout. (I know, sorry! But, just as I’m sure you knew it was coming up, you also know you’ll feel GREAT when it’s off your list.) Taking some time this weekend to do a really good, thorough decluttering and cleaning of whichever room your are curing can be a big job, but it’s absolutely a key moment in the Cure journey. You can do this!

There won’t be much moving or rearranging happening in our kitchen this year. We’re updating on a tight budget, so we’re not replacing the cabinets or splurging on new appliances. We’ll be painting the lower cabinets (we painted the uppers white during last year’s Style Cure), switching out the dated laminate countertops for butcher block, adding a wood plank backsplash, and installing an inexpensive apron-front farmhouse style sink from good ol’ IKEA.

Today’s assignment is a quick one. Five minutes of reading and you’re done, but the color concepts you’ll learn will start you thinking in the right direction when it comes to color for your room. It’s time to gain some confidence for your upcoming design choices – you can do this AND you’ll do it well – but it’s important to feel prepared.

Ok, here we go, getting down to business. Today’s assignment will take a little time but it DOES help move you forward in several areas. One, it’s easier to be objective about problems and issues in your room when you go through the process of simply reducing the space and items in it to a 2d plan – it gives you some emotional distance. Two, it will be helpful to have all your measurements recorded in one place.

The Style Cure is all about making one room in your home more beautiful, organized and healthy. The outbox concept is a bit of a magic bullet – in one fell swoop, it will help with all three missions. Even though it’s a powerful tool, it will just take you a few minutes to get one in place, so let’s do it today… We’ll be prompting you to use the outbox throughout the Cure to help you get things decluttered and organized.

We’ve spend the first two assignments of the Style Cure thinking about, discovering and gathering images of things we like in general, but today, we’re about to get much more specific. It’s time to commit! Go for it and decide exactly which room you are going to “cure” this month and start the makeover…in your mind.

Welcome! We’re at the very start of our step-by-step group decorating project. Over the course of 22 assignments, we’ll work together to makeover a room in each of our homes. We’re on a timetable that will give whichever room you choose a fresh, up-to-date, clean, organized and renewed look for you to show off and enjoy over the holidays – we’ll be done a week before Thanksgiving. So, now’s the perfect time to make this happen. Let’s do this!

Ok, so now that you’ve got a clean room (good job!) and a stack of paint chips, today’s assignment should be a breeze. (And if you didn’t clean yet, don’t worry or get discouraged – just set a timer for an hour and get some done today – you’ll catch up!) The time has come to think about what will help make your room look and feel more complete and comfortable.

Day 18: Monday, January 27 Assignment: Catch up on whatever bits and pieces of your assignments still need a little more attention Can you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Happily, the biggest, baddest assignments of the January Cure are behind us now; this week is about wrapping things up and taking care of the finishing touches. But, before we get into the final handful of specific assignments, it feels like we could all use a “catch up” day.