Pillows, throws give fresh perspective to old room

DEAR DESIGNER: Will you offer some easy tips to give new life to my living room without doing a complete remodel? -- Edith.

DEAR EDITH: Doing a little maintenance and replacing some of your accessories will give your room a quick pick-me-up without breaking the bank. An easy way to bring a boring living room to life is to add accessories, pillows and a throw. Pillows and fake-fur throws are in. During the last home-furnishings show at the World Market Center, I saw fur throws almost everywhere I looked.

If you have a basic sofa, you can throw out your old pillows and start fresh with new fluff and new colors. This little fix alone will give your room an amazing new look. Animal prints are back with a passion. Consider living on the wild side by tossing in some animal-print pillows, a furry throw and a fun new chair.

Dirty and faded silk plants can make a room look and feel very old. Throw them out and buy new. New plants, real or silk, will help your room look and feel fresh. The same goes for accessories and old candles.

Sometimes we get accustomed to our surroundings and we overlook some very basic maintenance issues. Ask a close friend to walk through your home with you to point out potential culprits. It's amazing what someone else will see that you have overlooked. Keep an open mind, looking for things that might look ragged and worn.

I walked around my home with a keen eye out for maintenance issues and realized some of my off-white candles had yellowed quite badly. After I replaced them, the room felt wonderfully new again. Also take a close look at the mats on your pictures. Sometimes the edges will yellow or turn brown. If this has happened, it's time to remat and/or reframe.

All of these small maintenance issues add up and make a room feel worn and old. It only takes a little time and effort to clean up, freshen up and fluff up -- breathing new life into an old room.

DEAR DESIGNER: I think my living room is too dark and I don't have the money to redo it. Are there some inexpensive ways to brighten it up? -- Sandra.

DEAR SANDRA: There are several ways you can brighten a room that is too dark without spending a lot of money.

First, reduce clutter. A clean and simplistic room often feels brighter. Furniture and accessories absorb light and can make a room feel dark. Keep functional items and remove any extras to create space.

Paint your walls with a light color from the cool-color palette. Cool colors recede and warm colors advance. Advancing colors will draw the walls in on your room and make it feel small and dark, or warm and cozy. Cool colors will make the walls appear further away, giving the illusion of depth and light. Cool colors are blues and greens. Think water, sky and grass. Use the lightest shade of any of these colors. Light colors reflect light and dark colors absorb it.

Many times we stay away from white walls because they can come across as undecorated. However, when you need to brighten a room, painting your walls and ceiling white can be the best idea. Light reflects off of white and bounces around the room. Don't worry that your white walls and ceiling will be boring. Once you add draperies, furniture and a rug, the colors of your furnishings will reflect onto the walls and cast a different glow on each wall. Depending on the colors you place in the room, the walls usually look as if you've painted them different colors.

Use mirrors and lamps. If you hang a large mirror on your wall or mirror an entire wall, any light that is reflected in your room, be it from lamps or a window, will multiply. Mirrors add light as long as they are reflecting something light. Adding a mirror to an already dark room will not brighten your room. Painting a light color and adding a mirror go hand in hand.

If your sofa is dark, consider covering it with a light-colored slipcover. You can add contrasting pillows to give your room more color. Hiding the sofa's dark fabric will go a long way in making your room brighter.

And finally, let in as much natural light as possible. Stay away from heavy draperies or keep them tied off the window. Natural light is the very best way to flood a room with brightness.

Cindy Payne is a certified interior designer with more than 25 years of experience, as well as a licensed contractor. E-mail questions to her at deardesigner@projectdesigninteriors.com or send them to her at Project Design Interiors, 2620 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 189, Las Vegas, NV 89109. She can be reached online at www.projectdesigninteriors.com.