Excerpts From: A quick makeover for your rooms - Interior arrangers offer decorating alternative : Before and after a professional rearrangement.
Until recently, Desann Moody had a love-hate relationship with her condo. She loved its sweeping layout that combined the living space with a dining area and kitchen. But she just couldn't get the furniture arrangement right. "I was fighting it," says Ms. Moody, who lives with her sister in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. "I just didn't know how to define the space."
After months of struggle, Ms. Moody's sister hit on a novel idea while cruising the Web. She found a local furniture arranger, Julea Joseph, who specializes in one-day room makeovers. Ms. Joseph was hired and spent about four hours rearranging the furniture that was already there. "Wow! I loved what she did," says Ms. Moody, a sales rep for New Jersey-based printing company Nomad Worldwide LLC. "I didn't change a thing."
Homeowners strapped for time and money are turning more frequently to interior arrangers - a new breed of designer. The arranger works with items already in the home, forgoing the expense of buying new things. There's also no eight-week wait for new furniture.
"I didn't want to buy all new stuff," says Larissa Klavins, who hired an interior arranger to fix her Glencoe home. "But we got a totally new look." The makeover of three rooms in Ms. Klavins' house took about a day. And, so far, she hasn't changed anything back.
The specialty of interior arrangement is relatively new. In 1995, there were only 10 certified interior arrangers in the country, according to the Interior Arrangement & Design Association, a Dallas-based trade group. Today the organization has 300 members, half of whom are also interior designers.
Certified interior arrangers undergo a four-day training program. They also must have six months of experience actually re-arranging rooms.
"The idea of hiring an arranger is very appealing to homeowners," says association president, Lisa Billings. "People are really fearful of starting over with a room. And we sell a service, not a lot of furniture."
The media has helped spark interest in interior arrangement too. In the hit TV series, "Trading Spaces," neighbors redo a room for each other. HGTV has a popular show called "Decorating Cents" that gives quick and inexpensive tips.
Interior arrangers are more commonly found on the East and West coasts than here in the Chicago area. There are only a handful of local certified arrangers. But interior designers and decorators will do furniture arrangement too.
Interior arranger Ms. Joseph started her business, Reinventing Space, about five years ago in San Francisco. She says the idea was an immediate hit there.
Ms. Joseph moved here two years ago, and it took a year, or so, before her Palos Park-based business finally caught on. "Now, I've never been busier," she says.
Many interior arrangers also ready houses for sale - a process called staging. Since the objective is to generate a sale, the outcome is usually quite different from an arrangement for a house where someone intends to stay. Staging a house for sale focuses on simplifying rooms to make them look neutral. That way anyone touring the house can imagine living there.
For homeowners, an interior arranger typically conducts an initial interview and assessment of the job. The arranger wants to determine the likes and dislikes of the homeowner. The arranger also wants to see how much work is involved.
A living room may only take about three hours to rearrange. But a group of rooms - living, dining and family - usually takes all day to finish. Arrangers charge from about $100 to $150 an hour. Homeowners can expect to pay the higher rate if the arranger has an assistant to help move furniture...
...Interior arrangers may also suggest that certain items must go. One arranger filled two big boxes with little things that cluttered a room. It was up to the homeowner to pitch the stuff, or store it elsewhere.
Homeowners tend to make the same interior errors, arrangers say. Rooms typically don't have enough lighting. And furniture is the wrong size - usually too small - for the room.
But the most frequent mistake is furniture placed right up against the walls...
...Most often, homeowners are asked to leave while the arranger works. Homeowners just get in the way and slow down the process. Arrangers also enjoy the element of surprise. "The best part is when the homeowner jumps up and down and cries," says interior arranger Ms. Joseph. "It's really fun for me because they get a new house in a day."
Besides the novelty of a new room arrangement, homeowners also get to keep their things. Special objects, or a favorite piece of furniture, reflect the personality of the homeowner. Cherished things also give the family a feeling of comfort that new things can't...
...That doesn't mean new pieces are completely taboo. Both designers and arrangers agree that a room may lack something that has to be purchased. Arrangers usually leave the homeowner a shopping list of items that would improve the room's look. The only new item suggested by Ms. Moody's arranger was a lamp. The arranger even brought some fresh flowers and put a bowl of bright green limes on the table. "My place is amazing," says a content Ms. Moody. "It was money well spent."
| © reinventing space |
| e-mail: jjj@reinventingspace.com |
| phone: 708.448.7500 • fax: 708.923.6426 |
| mailing address: P. O. Box 130 • Palos Park, Illinois 60464 |