Fixing Up Interior, One Step at a Time

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Karen Shotting realized she had an extensive redecorating project ahead when she moved into her condominium in 1989. She knew she didn’t want to live with the glaring plaid wallpaper in the powder room, and she needed new furniture.

But, she also didn’t want to go into debt.

She decided the best approach was to hire an interior designer on an hourly rate to help her formulate a plan and get the most for her money.

Shotting and Elaine Hankin of Elaine Hankin Interior Design in Huntington Beach decided to redecorate in stages. They have finished a downstairs powder room and have almost completed the living room.

“We started off with just a couple of things, and we’ve been building ever since,” said Shotting, a tax accountant. Her approach to affordable decorating is to save money, purchase a few items and then save for her next purchases.

This decorating-in-increments approach is just one of the many ways you can make home decorating more affordable, according to Orange County interior designers. And, they say, hiring a designer can often save you money because they can make a plan that avoids costly mistakes and they have access to resources not available to the public.

Shotting immediately replaced the plaid wallpaper in her powder room. Delicate pink roses now wind across a white background on the walls and ceiling, making the room look larger. The sink now has brass and porcelain fixtures.

Her living room now has two white sofas with bright blue and pink throw pillows. “The pillows are all silk, which is not inexpensive, but that’s (Hankin’s) way of adding a nice elegant touch at not much cost,” Shotting said.

The sofas face a large coffee table with a brass base and a glass top. The base was purchased separately and then the heavy glass top was cut and beveled to Hankin’s specifications. The coffee table, an end table and a nest of tables totaled less than $2,500, Hankin said.

The lamps at each end of one sofa were purchased at a lamp manufacturer, at a price considerably lower than retail. One of the lamps is one-of-a-kind. The base is a vase painted with pink and blue flowers on a gold background. A custom shade was made for it, as well as the other lamp, which has a double candlestick base.

Accessories also play a major role in the living room. A grouping of crystal items on the coffee table, a crystal bowl on an end table and a stunning Chinese-style vase on a tall pedestal give the room an elegant look. These items and a few others totaled about $1,500, according to Hankin.

For a sliding glass door in the living room, Shotting and Hankin selected a vertical pleated shade on a track (about $350) to replace vertical blinds. The white shade, which gives privacy and plenty of light, is topped by a silk valance in soft pink, which offers the elegance of silk draperies, for a fraction of the cost.

The planning that has gone into Shotting’s redecorating project is a crucial step for any home design project. Nancy Bailey of Jon Jahr & Associates in Corona del Mar said planning is “even more important if you have less money.” This means deciding what you will need to accomplish the desired look and knowing how much money you can spend on each item before you go shopping.

Once you’ve done that, there are plenty of ways to save money:

Bathroom Fixtures

Used knobs and faucets can add real character to a bathroom. “You can go to wrecking yards and pick up old fixtures that are still wonderful and have a great deal of life left in them, and they’re very inexpensive,” Hankin said.

Furniture

If you’re moving into a home and you have a small budget, consider purchasing white resin patio chairs that “can be used inside until your funds permit the purchase of quality chairs,” said Betty Hyde of Ultimate Designs Interiors in Laguna Niguel.

These are available from about $8 to $50 each. Add some brightly colored tie-on cushions to create a comfortable, attractive seating. When you’re ready to move up in quality, Hyde said, move the patio chairs outside.

Furniture versatility is a consideration to people who move frequently. “Sectional sofas can often be grouped only in one direction, which eliminates them from future use,” Hyde said. A more flexible choice would be two 7-foot sofas that can be grouped in a variety of ways, including being separated into different rooms.

Several decorators recommended garage sales, estate sales, used furniture stores (not antique stores) and swap meets as good sources for pieces that can be either refinished or covered with contact paper.

Reupholstering

While reupholstering can sometimes be as expensive as buying new furniture, designer Lana Barth of Huntington Beach said it can be a money-saver; sometimes saving 50% or more of the cost of new furniture. “If you like the general shape of (the piece of furniture) and if it’s comfortable, then it probably is worth reupholstering,” she said.

Barth also suggested collecting a variety of secondhand wood chairs for the dining room. The seats could be upholstered in matching fabric and the wood could be refinished or painted. Slipcovers can be even less expensive than reupholstering. Upholstery shops make custom covers and department stores sell ready-made ones.

Sears’ 1991 Spring/Summer catalogue carries couch and chair slipcovers in a variety of styles and colors. Prices range from $50 to $60 for a chair cover to $105 to $134 for a couch cover. Matching draperies are also available.

Kitchen Cabinets

Kitchens cabinets are a big-ticket item in home redecorating plans. One way to reduce this cost is to reface rather than replace cabinets.

This involves replacing cabinet doors with new ones and attaching a veneer or wood skin to cabinet exteriors. This process can save 50% or more over buying new cabinets, according to Barth.

If kitchen cabinets are constructed of hardwood and are in good condition, refinishing them and adding new doors can create an updated look, Hankin said.

Overhead fluorescent light fixtures in kitchens can be inexpensively spruced up, according to Hankin, by replacing old plastic panels with new white ones. If they are a standard size, most home improvement stores carry replacements. If they’re not standard, you’ll have to find a place that will cut them to size, which adds to the expense.

Before installing the panels, Hankin said, line the recessed interior with foil stapled into place or paint the interior with silver paint. The reflection disguises the shadows of the fluorescent tubes and makes the lighting more efficient, according to Hankin.

She also suggested painting the ceiling and any trim surrounding the fixture white to make the whole arrangement as unobtrusive as possible.

Sheets

Sheets, pillow cases and table linens can be used in unexpected places as a way to achieve high style for a moderate cost.

Flat sheets, Bailey said, can be used to upholster a wall. Staple the sheets to drywall or tack to a tacking strip. A lace tablecloth can be draped loosely over the taut sheets for a softer effect. This treatment works well behind a headboard. The sheets can also be gathered on a rod and hung like a drapery behind a headboard.

Sheets can also dress up a bathroom, according to Hankin. An attractive flat sheet in a bold print can be used with a plastic shower curtain liner instead of buying an expensive fabric shower curtain. Measure and hem the sheet, then hang it with snap-on shower hooks, or use a tension rod to place it at ceiling level and pull it back with fancy tie-backs.

Lace tablecloths can be placed on top of comforters. “The pattern or solid color shows through the tablecloth and gives a really pretty effect,” Bailey said.

Window Treatments

The layered window treatment look can be made more affordable if built in increments, Bailey said. Start with a wooden blind or a Roman shade. Add a valance later on, then the side draperies, followed by sheers to soften the whole look.

Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of choosing a less expensive treatment that achieves a similar look. Barth had a client who originally wanted shutters, which would have cost $2,000 to $3,000. This expense exceeded her budget, so Barth suggested vertical blinds instead, which cost about $500.