Breaking up with your furniture

I have a confession to make: I’ve had some unhealthy relationships in my time. In my zeal to make things work and despite my best efforts, I only managed to make things worse. You see, I was one of those women you always hear about – I was a furniture hoarder.

Of course, I’m not the only person whose afflicted with this problem. For most, it starts in college; poor students have to furnish their humble dwellings with hand-me-downs and cheap superstore offerings. Without serious decoration intervention, things can quickly get out of hand. Why? It’s hard to justify getting rid of functional furniture, and the result is a decor nightmare. Of course, it’s good to hang on to high-quality custom appointments and antiques. If you find your furniture collection disjointed, oversized, worn, and generally hard to design around, however, it may be time to dump some of your stuff.

Here are a few tips help you know when it’s time to say goodbye:

1. Unless you’re a carpenter, let the broken and worn things go. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to older pieces that need a little restoration and love. Send your grandma’s china cabinet off to a refinisher; go ahead and chunk the sagging Target futon.

2. Resist the urge to buy the same things over and over again. Avoid picking up strictly utilitarian furniture, and consider multi-function solutions. Don’t add another mismatched love-seat to your family room. Think about creative and modular seating solutions like padded ottomans. Practical architectural additions like built-in shelving will save you floor-space and money on bookshelves. These solutions are more attractive, cost-effective, and consolidate space.

3. Don’t buy furniture suites. These mass-produced matching sets are often poorly constructed, bad for design, and rarely save you money. Instead of picking a room out of a showroom, focus on finding unique pieces that really appeal to your taste. That way, you can continue to create new layouts by mixing and matching instead of being stuck with the same old look.

4. Look carefully at what you have and what you need. You may find you have a lot of pieces, but they aren’t making your life any easier. Start seeing these things as the space-wasting clutter they are.

5. Replace items one at a time. There’s no need to spend a fortune updating you furnishings all at once. Make a list of things you would like to update and swap them out once you find the funds and the perfect additions to your home. Building a beautiful home is a slow process. Don’t rush it, and don’t get into debt.

When you do decide to get rid of some of the furniture cluttering up your home, please don’t let it end up in a landfill. There are many charities that are ready and willing to pass on your well-loved possessions to the less fortunate. Some even have curb-side pickup services. Otherwise, send them off to be recycled.

Check out a few other opinions on redecorating your home:

• Newbie here. I just finished re-decorating my nyc apt. let me know …

- My theme is mixing european arts with asian high tech gadgets. living room with antique estonian painting, italian byzantine plaques and globe, sharp air purifier, samsung lcd, and denon speaker. remote art lights and chinese lucky …

• i can’t stop redecorating

- i have been on a huge redecorating/organizing kick lately. you’ve already read the blogs about the pantry, basement and dining room, but i have yet to tell you about our bedroom and living room. i have been wanting nightstands forever! …

There is much more to furniture design than matching color, pattern, and form. The size and placement of large pieces is likely to affect the feel of the room more than any accessory. Think of their layout as the foundation on which all of the flashy finishing elements will be laid. Without a good foundation, your whole room can turn into a disaster, so pay close attention to what you are doing with furniture.

Start with a Plan
It may be tempting to run off the the furniture store, but hasty decisions can often lead to buyer’s remorse. Consider the function of the space and make mental notes about seating, table space, and traffic. Before you start moving furniture in, it helps to plot things out on paper. A detailed sketch will help you visualize the room and allow you to play around with the footprint of each space without doing any heavy lifting. There are even many types of design software available for those of us who are not gifted with artistic talent.

The most important part of your planning should be making sure that the space is usable. You may have the most beautiful furnishings in the world, but they are useless if they are all crammed into a small area. It’s always a good idea to look at magazines and home design programs to find arrangements that keep things livable .

Balance it Out
Keep in mind that each piece placed in a room creates a visual weight. A good decorator should position things so that the room is balanced. For instance, large couches in living rooms are often placed opposite armoires or fireplaces. This assures that every section of the rooms feels filled. (Don’t confuse balance for focal points. Both are essential for good design.)

Finding a balance also involves selecting furnishings that are the correct size and similar in style. You should be able to calculate the ideal dimensions for each piece of furniture from your finished plan. When picking out your new appointments, make sure that each of them holds a similar visual weight.

Make it Work
So you’ve sketched your sketches, furnished your furnishings, and arranged your appointments, but it doesn’t work. Last minute changes are commonplace for even the most experienced designer, so don’t fret. Keep your receipts and get ready to change your mind.

Many of the most distressing furniture setbacks have simple solutions. Too crowded? Get rid of something. Too sparse? Go shopping. Tricky layouts? Rearrange until you find the perfect fit. Sooner or later, you’ll be ready to move on to the easy stuff.

Furniture is a tricky thing. It can fade into the background, create an exciting focal point or absolutely ruin an otherwise acceptable layout. As much as I love home decor, I hate picking out furniture. Finding something with charm that also fits and complements a room is a difficult task. Oftentimes, those of us without the means to redesign spaces from top to bottom have to make concessions as far as furnishings are concerned.

Having to make old furniture work or picking out an new suite both present their own challenges. Check out these tips for making things work no matter which end of the spectrum you find yourself on:

- Pay attention to style. All good design concerns itself with style. If a large piece doesn’t mesh with the rest of the area, it can be distracting and unattractive. For instance, it would be unwise to try to cram a chinese bed into a room full of country or patriotic decor. Some discordant features, such as over-embellished legs, can be hidden with slipcovers and creative placement, but you should try to avoid using such tactics by choosing elements with a congruent style.

- Think about scale. One of the most common mistakes a home decorators and seasoned professionals make is picking things that are not to scale within the room. This problem usually begins with a fantastic find (“Who thought I would happen upon the perfect coat rack for my front hall?”) or five (“Well I can’t pass up this Bald Head Light replica! It goes with my lighthouse decor.”) and ends with you trying to convince your family members that it’s okay you’ve blocked the front door. Good design should not make a room cluttered or impossible to navigate, but encourage the flow of traffic though the home. Consider the footprint available for the piece you are looking for before you head off to the home furnishings store and bring a tape measure. In some tricky situations, it is even possible to choose something that is too small for the room, so visualize and measure before making a decision.

- Refinish and reupholster. Don’t be intimidated by these projects. Once you learn how to use a sewing machine and a can of stain, you can cut your project budget in half by rehabbing dumpster and antique store finds. Start by gathering inspiration from online success stories . You’ll find that basic carpentry is possible even for the most inept among us. You might even become skilled enough to start crafting your own wildlife furniture .

Of course, these pointers are only the beginning of good furniture design. If you’re looking for more tips on smart home decor choices, check out my painting and DIY ideas.