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May 7, 2004
Big improvements, little cost
Small changes in color, fabrics or carpets can give a home new
life.
KYLE BERGER AND LEANDA GRANDER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
There are many different ways to change the look of a bedroom,
living room or even an entire home. While many people assume that
a lot of time and money are needed to make these changes, this doesn't
have to be the case.
The Bulletin spent some time talking with various local companies
and learned how easy it can be to make a significant change. One
of the most drastic modifications you can make in any home is to
pick a new color for a room or two.
While painting your home can be an intimidating task, Joanna Fazzino
of Coast Decorating said it can be pretty easy to do yourself. If
your ceilings are not too high and you're not afraid of heights,
it is not necessary to hire a professional painter. She noted that
you could also save hundreds of dollars doing it yourself.
"Probably the most difficult part [of painting] is the prep
work," she said. "It's going to depend on what conditions
your walls are in, how much patching is involved and how much masking
is involved. Other than that, painting itself is fairly easy to
do. Paint is very forgiving."
Fazzino said the most common mistake people make is playing it safe
when choosing their color. "There are a lot of people who will
not veer away from the traditional bone white," she said. "If
you add even the slightest amount more color to a room, you completely
change the look of the space.
"Many people also tend to follow color trends that they see
in magazines that are not necessarily going to match with what they
already have," she added.
When Fazzino does a consultation with clients, she said she considers
the furniture, flooring, carpeting and anything else that has a
presence in the room. "When I walk into a room, I can pretty
much gauge a person's sense of style," she said, before noting
that the color of the walls is very important to how someone might
feel in that room.
While bright spring colors in the pastel ranges are popular right
now, Fazzino said earth tones have never gone out of style. "They
have been around for a long time and they are a good neutral backdrop,"
she said.
If someone is unsure which color to choose, they can pick a color
and paint only one wall in order to get an idea of how it would
look after the whole room was painted.
Coast Decorating also offers a large variety of wallpaper, which
can be an excellent way to hide imperfections in a wall that patching
may not be able to cover perfectly. "Also, if you want to go
a little bit bolder in a room, wallpaper is always an option,"
Fazzino said. "There are numerous patterns out there that you
would never expect to exist."
Please have a seat
Once you've picked out the new colors for your home, you might decide
that it's time to change your furniture as well. This doesn't have
to mean throwing out the old and buying brand new. Re-upholstering
your current furniture can be a much cheaper option.
"Sometimes people just have an old piece of furniture they
want to make new," explained Cheryl Kalmek, owner of Luxcious
Upholstery in Vancouver. "Sometimes they want a completely
different look in a room, so they re-paint the walls and re-upholster
the furniture to match."
Another big reason people bring in their furniture to be re-upholstered
is because the item has sentimental value or was inherited. Kalmek
said that re-upholstering is always a good idea as long as you have
a quality frame that is going to last.
"It is cheaper than buying a new piece of furniture that is
of really good quality, because you already have the frame,"
she said.
Luxcious has thousands of different style and colors of fabric in
the store, and customers can take pieces of several fabrics home
with them for a few days to see what they like. The store can also
have your furniture sent to someone who can work with the wood or
the metal on it to repair or freshen it up.
The amount of time it takes to re-upholster your furniture will
depend on how busy a store is. It could take anywhere from one to
three weeks because they might have to order the material you choose.
The price for a love seat at Luxcious would be $500 to $600 depending
on the material chosen. Another option for re-upholstery are slip
covers, which are often cheaper and easier to clean.
Be kind to your feet
Finally, you might want to make the final touches on your "new
look" home with something special like a Persian carpet. It
can add color and warmth to a room and is less expensive than wall-to-wall
carpeting.
Salari Carpets has an enormous selection of rugs that were handmade
by Persian tribal peoples. As it is rare to find more than two carpets
that are alike, you will be able to find something that goes with
either modern or antique furniture. Another advantage of Persian
carpets is their longevity – they can last hundreds of years
– and their care requirements are simple: they should be vacuumed
regularly and brought into Salari, or another store that sells Persian
carpets, every few years so they can undergo a special hand cleaning.
At Salari, you may also be able to bring in a used carpet and trade
it in for a new one, as the quality of the wool and craftsmanship
is so high that it is impossible to tell the difference between
the new and used Persian carpets that Salari sells. Some of the
stores' carpets were even used by Persian tribal peoples before
being brought to Canada.
A Persian carpet can cost anywhere between $200 and $2,000, depending
on its size and the weave density.
Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer
living in Richmond. Leanda Grander is a Language Studies
Canada student on a short-term internship at the Bulletin.
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