Spokesman Review
September, 5, 2006
A look that works
Make home more inviting by repositioning existing
pieces
Cindy Hval / Correspondent
When Delene Fitzpatrick purchased a leather sofa and chair, she had just
one problem: She couldn't figure out how to make her new furniture work in
her existing living room.
"I know my limits," she said. So she called in an expert, Linda Keturakat of
ReDazzle Design.
Fitzpatrick watched in amazement, as in just four hours, Keturakat
transformed the stark, cold room into a warm, inviting haven.
Keturakat calls redesign the most affordable type of decorating around.
"You can hire me to do a room for less than the cost of a new chair," she
said. A redesigner's goal is to use existing accessories and furniture
already in the home, but to reorganize it and switch it around so the rooms
look better.
"We're selling a service, not a product," she said.
When Keturakat met with Fitzpatrick in her home, she shopped the house,
looking for things she might want to use in the living room.
"Clients get used to seeing their own stuff," she said, but with her fresh
perspective, items relegated to closets or basements can be seen in a new
way and find a new purpose.
The first thing Keturakat did was clear Fitzpatrick's living room. She moved
every item into the dining room and kitchen. She placed saucer-shaped
coasters under the corners of the furniture to slide it effortlessly out of the
way. Then she was ready to tackle Fitzpatrick's dilemma.
"The problem is Delene's beautiful, new pieces are working against each
other," she said.
It took 15 tries for Keturakat to find the perfect position and angle for the
large, leather pieces. Next, she added tables and lighting.
The table the TV had been placed on was moved into a space behind the
sofa grouping. A chair was brought up from the basement, and metal
artwork that Fitzpatrick bought, but never hung, was grouped on the wall
above.
A new office/homework area was created where a blank space had been
before.
Finally, she had Fitzpatrick bring in every throw pillow in the house. From
these Keturakat selected a few to bring out the coppery hues in the print
she'd placed above the sofa.
Strategically arranged plants brought much-needed life to the room.
Candles and vases of varying heights added texture and color.
Fitzpatrick was thrilled with the results.
"It looks like I went out and shopped for this room instead of pulling things
from other areas of the house."
Her 16-year-old daughter, Jacy, agreed: "It looks like a page out of a
magazine."
Delene Fitzpatrick, left, and Linda
Keturakat remove items from Fitzpatrick's
front room. Keturakat is a redesigner and
is giving the room a makeover without
purchasing new furniture. (photos by
DAN PELLE/ The Spokesman-Review)
Keturakat remove items from Fitzpatrick's
front room. Keturakat is a redesigner and
is giving the room a makeover without
purchasing new furniture. (photos by
DAN PELLE/ The Spokesman-Review)
Redesign Do's and Don'ts •Don't: Arrange your furniture around the periphery of a room like little soldiers. "You may think the room looks bigger," said Linda Keturakat, "but you're really just creating a big unusable space in the center of the room." •Do: Angle your furniture to create conversational groupings. Keep in mind the primary focal point of the room. Is it the windows, the television, etc.? •Don't: Hang art too high. •Do: Place art no more than 6 to 10 inches from the back of the sofa. Lower is better than higher. Keep in mind you spend more time seated in a room than standing in it. •Don't: Think of seasonal throw pillows as only holiday-themed pillows. •Do: Change your pillows according to season – warm tones for autumn, lighter hues for spring. "Throw pillows are a great way to add new life to a room," said Keturakat. •Don't: Relegate accessories to certain rooms of the house. •Do: "Shop" your own house. Move accessories from one room to another. •Don't: Display collectibles in unmatched groupings. It will just look cluttered. •Do: Group like things together; teacups, lighthouses etc. This will highlight your treasures. Redesigner Linda Keturakat can be reached at (509) 230-4586 or at www.redazzledesign.com. |
| RADIO Listen to "Linda's Living Room" on Spirit 101.9 and pick up some great decorating tips! |
Photos from file
Spokesman Review
Wednesday, April 3, 2007
A Tudor's transformation
Couple's dream home retains 1920s character
Kristina Johnson
Correspondent
April 3, 2007
During her college years, Beth Viren fell in love with a fellow student. She also fell in love with a house.
Beth sighed nearly every time she and her then-boyfriend Paul passed by the striking Tudor home sitting on a small hill across from
the main entrance to Whitworth College.
"We'd drive by it, and I'd say, 'That's such a beautiful house. I just love that house,' " says Beth, who along with Paul graduated from
Whitworth in May of 1978. The couple married the same month.
Five years later, relatives told them about a house for sale near their alma mater.
"We thought, 'It can't be that house,' " says Beth, recalling how the excited young couple ignored the late hour and rushed out to
discover it was that house.
"We drove out there in the dark and peeked in the windows."
The couple won over the seller before the house officially went on the market.
"The place when we bought it was a wreck," Paul says of the house built in 1920. "It needed TLC."
The roof leaked. The radiators creaked and groaned and didn't work well. Dirt and wax buildup had turned the hardwood floors
black. The main hallway was painted a dark green, and its floors were black linoleum.
"It looked like a tunnel," Beth says.
The couple made changes right away. They hung floral wallpaper and stripped the hardwood floors.
As time and money allowed, they took on bigger projects. They built a new garage, and Paul laid more than 20,000 bricks on the
circular driveway. After their daughter was born, they added a family room off the kitchen. They took pains to match the original,
iron-flecked, bricks which were fired in a foundry that disappeared during the depression, Paul says.
Paul ordered five different colors of brick and hand-mixed the colors into piles for the bricklayers, says Beth. The resulting mix of
brick shades makes it nearly impossible to tell where the new addition starts.
And then, about two years ago, they decided they needed a change. The 1980s and '90s decorating looked dated. They felt
overwhelmed by the accumulation that comes with living in a house for more than 20 years And, like many old houses, their home
lacked needed storage.
The Virens considered a new home with bigger closets and bathrooms. But they loved their old home's charm. So they hired
architects who drew up plans for major renovations. Every proposal seemed too expensive and too intrusive.
"We needed to embrace the home for what it was instead of making it into something it wasn't," Paul says.
"What we love about this home is that it's different," Beth says. "But it has tiny bathrooms, tiny closets and no storage. So how could
we improve on this without disturbing the character of the house?"
Linda Keturakat, an interior designer who specializes in helping clients work with what they have, came and helped them choose new
colors such as gold and sage for the walls. She encouraged them to look at their home with new eyes.
"We needed to simplify, to make it more peaceful," Beth says
A painter stripped walls down to the brick and in the process, uncovered five layers of wallpaper and "who knows" how many layers of
paint, Beth says. He also found a hidden doorway, remnants of a set of French doors that until the mid-1940s bookended the
fireplace in the living room.
New hardwood floors in the hallway, family room and kitchen match the quarter-sawn oak in the dining and living rooms.
"We replaced almost every fixture, redid almost every surface," Paul says.
Each step along the way, they hired local businesses, "true craftsmen," he says.
Paul redid the master bathroom himself, tearing out big wooden cabinets and an oversized vanity, and replacing them with smaller
cupboards and a pedestal sink.
The construction began in November and ended in February. Before it started, they removed all their belongings from the main floor.
The couple and their 20-year-old daughter lived in the "grandma's attic" upstairs, which has two bedrooms and a small sitting area.
They kept a microwave and refrigerator in the basement and ate dinner at a card table.
Once the work was complete, they made careful choices about what to bring back into the house, keeping only sentimental antiques,
such as the 150-year-old end tables given to Beth by her grandmother.
Beth now keeps her collections contained. Her knickknacks fill a curio cabinet in the hallway. Her vintage metal-mesh purses lay in a
coffee table with a glass-covered display area.
For now, no pictures hang on the wall. Their old artwork doesn't match the home's new style, Beth says. They plan to take their time
replacing it.
"We're trying to resist the urge to fill the house with all the stuff we had before," Paul says.
"We've got to have a new vision, to see the house in new way," Beth says. "As Paul always says, 'It's a work in progress.'"
A Tudor's transformation
Couple's dream home retains 1920s character
Kristina Johnson
Correspondent
April 3, 2007
During her college years, Beth Viren fell in love with a fellow student. She also fell in love with a house.
Beth sighed nearly every time she and her then-boyfriend Paul passed by the striking Tudor home sitting on a small hill across from
the main entrance to Whitworth College.
"We'd drive by it, and I'd say, 'That's such a beautiful house. I just love that house,' " says Beth, who along with Paul graduated from
Whitworth in May of 1978. The couple married the same month.
Five years later, relatives told them about a house for sale near their alma mater.
"We thought, 'It can't be that house,' " says Beth, recalling how the excited young couple ignored the late hour and rushed out to
discover it was that house.
"We drove out there in the dark and peeked in the windows."
The couple won over the seller before the house officially went on the market.
"The place when we bought it was a wreck," Paul says of the house built in 1920. "It needed TLC."
The roof leaked. The radiators creaked and groaned and didn't work well. Dirt and wax buildup had turned the hardwood floors
black. The main hallway was painted a dark green, and its floors were black linoleum.
"It looked like a tunnel," Beth says.
The couple made changes right away. They hung floral wallpaper and stripped the hardwood floors.
As time and money allowed, they took on bigger projects. They built a new garage, and Paul laid more than 20,000 bricks on the
circular driveway. After their daughter was born, they added a family room off the kitchen. They took pains to match the original,
iron-flecked, bricks which were fired in a foundry that disappeared during the depression, Paul says.
Paul ordered five different colors of brick and hand-mixed the colors into piles for the bricklayers, says Beth. The resulting mix of
brick shades makes it nearly impossible to tell where the new addition starts.
And then, about two years ago, they decided they needed a change. The 1980s and '90s decorating looked dated. They felt
overwhelmed by the accumulation that comes with living in a house for more than 20 years And, like many old houses, their home
lacked needed storage.
The Virens considered a new home with bigger closets and bathrooms. But they loved their old home's charm. So they hired
architects who drew up plans for major renovations. Every proposal seemed too expensive and too intrusive.
"We needed to embrace the home for what it was instead of making it into something it wasn't," Paul says.
"What we love about this home is that it's different," Beth says. "But it has tiny bathrooms, tiny closets and no storage. So how could
we improve on this without disturbing the character of the house?"
Linda Keturakat, an interior designer who specializes in helping clients work with what they have, came and helped them choose new
colors such as gold and sage for the walls. She encouraged them to look at their home with new eyes.
"We needed to simplify, to make it more peaceful," Beth says
A painter stripped walls down to the brick and in the process, uncovered five layers of wallpaper and "who knows" how many layers of
paint, Beth says. He also found a hidden doorway, remnants of a set of French doors that until the mid-1940s bookended the
fireplace in the living room.
New hardwood floors in the hallway, family room and kitchen match the quarter-sawn oak in the dining and living rooms.
"We replaced almost every fixture, redid almost every surface," Paul says.
Each step along the way, they hired local businesses, "true craftsmen," he says.
Paul redid the master bathroom himself, tearing out big wooden cabinets and an oversized vanity, and replacing them with smaller
cupboards and a pedestal sink.
The construction began in November and ended in February. Before it started, they removed all their belongings from the main floor.
The couple and their 20-year-old daughter lived in the "grandma's attic" upstairs, which has two bedrooms and a small sitting area.
They kept a microwave and refrigerator in the basement and ate dinner at a card table.
Once the work was complete, they made careful choices about what to bring back into the house, keeping only sentimental antiques,
such as the 150-year-old end tables given to Beth by her grandmother.
Beth now keeps her collections contained. Her knickknacks fill a curio cabinet in the hallway. Her vintage metal-mesh purses lay in a
coffee table with a glass-covered display area.
For now, no pictures hang on the wall. Their old artwork doesn't match the home's new style, Beth says. They plan to take their time
replacing it.
"We're trying to resist the urge to fill the house with all the stuff we had before," Paul says.
"We've got to have a new vision, to see the house in new way," Beth says. "As Paul always says, 'It's a work in progress.'"
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Spokesman Review
Before
Additional photos from file
Wednesday, April 17, 2007
How sweet it is to be 16
Teen receives custom-designed bedroom for her birthday.
Allyson Bedford
Correspondent
April 17, 2007
Denel Lang, a bubbly Spokane teen, received a big surprise for her 16th birthday last week. The athletic,
blond-haired, blue-eyed teenager couldn't believe it when she heard her parents' plan for her birthday gift.
Lang was going to get a large, newly made-over bedroom for her birthday. When she heard the news, her
excitement spilled over with an exclamation of "That is SO cool!"
Denel's mother, Renea Lang, says that she, husband Mike and their two daughters, Denel and Taylor, moved into
their newly built home in 2001. Since then they have settled into every room except the "bonus room," a spare room
sometimes included in the builder's package.
After tossing out a few other ideas, Lang decided to assess the needs of her family to decide what to do with their
bonus room. Her oldest daughter, Denel, was turning 16, and Lang decided to present her daughter with the room
as a birthday gift.
The 525-square-foot room has its own deck and a small office connected to it that Lang shortly plans to turn into a
walk-in closet. Lang realized she would need to have the room completely made-over for her daughter. A business
associate recommended Linda Keturakat to help with the creation of the room. With a budget of $2,500, the only
guideline Lang gave Keturakat was the fact that her daughter's favorite colors were pink, lime green, maroon and
"maybe a little bit of orange."
Lang felt that her eldest daughter especially deserved this new bedroom, which includes all new bedroom furniture,
because when they moved into their house, Denel chose the smallest room as her bedroom, and she is the only one
in the family who still used the hand-me-down furniture that the Langs had acquired when they were first married.
And, as Lang says, "Teenagers need their space."
The room was unveiled on April 5, Denel's sweet-16 birthday. Denel was so excited she invited a few friends over to
spend the night in her new room.
It was all so cool.
How sweet it is to be 16
Teen receives custom-designed bedroom for her birthday.
Allyson Bedford
Correspondent
April 17, 2007
Denel Lang, a bubbly Spokane teen, received a big surprise for her 16th birthday last week. The athletic,
blond-haired, blue-eyed teenager couldn't believe it when she heard her parents' plan for her birthday gift.
Lang was going to get a large, newly made-over bedroom for her birthday. When she heard the news, her
excitement spilled over with an exclamation of "That is SO cool!"
Denel's mother, Renea Lang, says that she, husband Mike and their two daughters, Denel and Taylor, moved into
their newly built home in 2001. Since then they have settled into every room except the "bonus room," a spare room
sometimes included in the builder's package.
After tossing out a few other ideas, Lang decided to assess the needs of her family to decide what to do with their
bonus room. Her oldest daughter, Denel, was turning 16, and Lang decided to present her daughter with the room
as a birthday gift.
The 525-square-foot room has its own deck and a small office connected to it that Lang shortly plans to turn into a
walk-in closet. Lang realized she would need to have the room completely made-over for her daughter. A business
associate recommended Linda Keturakat to help with the creation of the room. With a budget of $2,500, the only
guideline Lang gave Keturakat was the fact that her daughter's favorite colors were pink, lime green, maroon and
"maybe a little bit of orange."
Lang felt that her eldest daughter especially deserved this new bedroom, which includes all new bedroom furniture,
because when they moved into their house, Denel chose the smallest room as her bedroom, and she is the only one
in the family who still used the hand-me-down furniture that the Langs had acquired when they were first married.
And, as Lang says, "Teenagers need their space."
The room was unveiled on April 5, Denel's sweet-16 birthday. Denel was so excited she invited a few friends over to
spend the night in her new room.
It was all so cool.
Denel Lang sits in her new bedroom. Denel's mother,
Renea, created the room in the extra space above the
garage. (Jed Conklin/Spokesman-Review )
Renea, created the room in the extra space above the
garage. (Jed Conklin/Spokesman-Review )
*****NEW CLASSES AVAILABLE!*****
Click on the link below!
Click on the link below!