Colorado Springs Real EstateThe Real Estate Resource

When you moved out of your parents’ house, did some of their old furniture follow you? Did Great-Aunt Millie’s china cabinet find a place in your Uhaul?

Some of us are “lucky” enough to get hand-me down furniture. Sometimes this is a blessing, sometimes a curse…especially when guilt is thrown in for good measure. How can you turn that piece of furniture from drab to fab?

Side tables:
-Chipped, dented, dinged up from lots of “love”? Take a palm sander to it, and refinish with varnish or primer and a paint color for a fun accent piece.
-Take off handles and replace with something more modern for an updated touch.
-Gather photographs and place on top of the table, find a piece of glass (or have one cut) and place on top of the photos. This will hide the blemishes, and be a photo album for all to see your fun adventures.
-For glass tables with metal legs, sand down the paint on the legs, remove the glass top, and use metal spray paint to give new life to the table.

Hall-way tables:
These tables tend to collect stuff. Keys, mail, coupons, loose odds and ends, etc. How can you jazz them up?
-Following the side-table ideas, you can also find a neat plate or collecting dish for loose change and keys while adding a touch of style.
-Can’t find a “neat plate”? Have a night out at a paint-your-own pottery place and create one yourself!
-Have a basket for your chargers and electronic devices to hang out in.
-Small hooks can be added to either end for umbrellas, light jackets, or keys.

Large pieces of furniture like that huge china cabinet…
-If there are doors on the bottom half of the piece, consider putting on new glass doors, or if it has glass doors, find some trendy fabric and put that in to bring in some color.
-Replace handles with new ones if some are broken, missing, or just horribly outdated and ugly.
-Before doing major rehab, ask your parents about the piece and if it is ok to alter it. If they are ok with it, consider tahing the top half off, and using the bottom half as additional kitchen storage, dining room storage for napkins, placemats, runners, table cloths, candles, candle holders, or decorating pieces. Other storage may include wine, serving plates & bowls, or any other items that are pulled out for special occassions.
-Use the top half as a knick-knack holder, or place on a bar top, install some glass holders and use as a display case for your nice barware. Don’t want the fussiness? You could also display your liquor collection.

Mirrors:
-Sand & repaint
-Paint a funky design and use as an accent piece.
-Add tile around the edges
-Take the frame off and use as a frame for a painting instead.
-Have a new one, but want the aged look? Paint a base color, then crackling paint, then your top color.

FREEDOM! Is that the first word that comes to mind when you open the door to your first place? It was my first word, followed by a tummy-turning acid stomach that felt bad for feeling so good.

This Mini-Series of posts is dedicated to all of you first-timers dying on the vine for ideas to make your first place as comfortable as possible without moving back in with your parents.

Many of us move in our few possessions and wonder where to start. Think about your place and where you think you will spend most of your awake time. For a majority of us, that would be your living/dining area.

In your living room, pick a paint palate (if you are renting, check with your landlord first to avoid paying $$ when you move out) that is neutral to work with most everything you will likely add to it. Mauves, topes, beiges, light sage greens, or light yellows all work. If you can’t paint, there are other wall solutions available, such as hanging blown up photographs, paintings, or other artwork. Think about your walls as a blank canvass and display these pieces like a museum might.

Next look at the flooring. Quick fixes for any problem areas are colorful rugs. Pick a rug that corresponds to your wall color, or if your walls are bright white, choose a colorful rug that has the colors you WOULD like to have in your room.

Peek-a-boo, I see you! If you dont’ want your neighbors to see your every move, window coverings are a must. Shades are typically used, but if you want to bring in more design, choose panels that bring in added color. If you are looking for a comfortable space, choose like colors. If you are looking for more drama, pick contrasting colors.

Finally, where are you going to sit? If you are lucky enough to move in with one, great. If not, consider buying a comfortable futon (can double as a guest bed for those nights you want to have friends stay the night). Or watch for sales at your local furniture store! You might start out on camp chairs, but this will get old fast, so really consider buying a decent piece of furniture. It doesn’t have to last forever, but it should be able to last awhile. If you have some furniture, but it doesn’t match, consider re-upholstering it for a unified look! Don’t know how? That’s ok, there are books and people out there who do it all the time, and chances are it costs less for them to do it than for you to buy new.

Going ‘green’ and staying eco-friendly while decorating is a trend seen this spring and is one that is likely to continue. So if you want your home to have a lasting design, going eco-friendly is perfect and with toxic-free house paint, antique cabinet hardware and eco-friendly furniture stores, you will have no problem finding exactly what you are looking for to go ‘green.’

Vintage light fixtures and cabinet hardware are a great way to make a statement in your home this spring. Chandeliers and brushed metal hardware, are great for giving your home a romantic feel. If you can’t afford antique store prices many home improvement stores and consignment stores may have what you are looking for, even IKEA and Walmart have inexpensive options.

According to Pantone, which is considered the world-renowned authority on color, Splashes of Sunshine is the color palette for this spring. However instead of having bright and colorful accent pieces, the bright colors are being seen in the furniture and wall color. Some of the popular colors this spring are turquoise, violet, coral and bright yellow.

Be inspired by the outdoors, this spring beaches, mountains and coastlines are a huge inspiration for this spring’s color palette. Ocean blue, mossy green and turquoise (voted color of the year by Pantone) are colors that are perfect for decorating your home this spring.

Mix up your colors, mix bold and bright with neutrals. If you are a bit worried about painting an entire room a bright color don’t worry you don’t have to, instead paint your walls a neutral color, pink champagne and violet gray are popular this spring and then keep the bright color choices for furniture and accent pieces.

With nature as a popular theme for this spring don’t forget about natural fabrics, from your throw pillows to area rugs natural fabrics are in this spring. Wool, jute and seagrass are perfect materials if you want your home to have a natural appearance without going completely ‘green’ (which is much more costly then simply buying new accent pieces and throws and giving your walls a fresh coat of paint).

Metallic accent pieces are great for creating contrast if you have a room that is overall pretty neutral in color. A great way to do this would be to add a metallic framed mirror or picture frames to a neutral wall for example, a pink champagne wall with a brushed gold mirror or picture frames would give your room a vintage warm appearance. This would be a perfect for any master bedroom.

BEHR also has another way to create contrast with bright colors this spring, which is to mix colors of the same color palette, for example a dark blue with a light blue. A way to do this is to use one color on the wall and use the other color for the accessories. To keep the room from going to color overboard beige and cream furniture work great to offset the color.

The recession may have you staying put instead of moving up. How can you upgrade your current digs and see a return on your investment?

The American Institute of Architects reports that “without the rapid appreciation in home values seen between 1995 and 2005, design of kitchens and bathrooms has recently been somewhat more modest. Functionality is now preferred to more and larger kitchens and bathrooms within U.S. homes. Households are placing a premium on products and features that promote energy efficiency, and adaptability in the use of space for seniors and those with accessibility concerns. … Integrating kitchens with family space remains a design priority, as does including areas devoted to recycling, pantries, computer workstations, and spaces devoted to recharging laptops, cell phones and PDAs.”

This kind of “reverse growth” is a blessing when it comes to cost savings. The average U.S. household spends around $1,900 a year on utility bills. The U.S. Department of Energy says green ways can cut your bills by up to 25 percent. Functional design is a good place to make big changes. Other energy saving ideas include:

•LED lighting: The abbreviation for “light-emitting diode,” these environmentally friendly lights give off the same light as regular 40 watt bulbs, but they last 50 times longer, making them a cost-effective option for lighting your home.

•Water saving toilets: Low flush toilets use only 1 to 2 gallons of water per flush compared to the usual 3 to 5 gallons.

•Renewable flooring: All renewables are not made the same, and a savvy homeowner should explore what option best fits their needs. You can choose from bamboo, natural linoleum, cork flooring, and even wood floors.