Aaron Harber, host of “The Aaron Harber Show” on KBDI-Channel 12, invited Style to follow the work of his friend, Kathy Robertson, as she redesigned the living room of his Lafayette home. Robertson, president of Decorating Solutions, and her team used decorating techniques anyone can borrow. In Harber’s case, they took existing furnishings and about $1,300 in purchases to create a cozy living-room space.
Part 1: Am I Making a Big Mistake?
I knew it was time to make some improvements
in my home when my cat, Herrmann, was
so disgusted he boycotted certain rooms.
While I have a big house, I lack any sense of design,
as most guys do. As a full-time single parent
with what feels like the equivalent of four additional
full-time jobs all of which I love I
have let my home suffer, taking time only to
clean when a machete is required.
Getting my 11-year-old daughter, Holly, ready
for school and helping her with her homework,
extracurricular activities, and feeding and clothing
gradually made having a beautiful home far
from a priority.
I consider myself a very hygienic person, but
unless I see something moving, these days the
status quo is acceptable. (OK, I do need to use
that central vacuum system more often.) I also
confess that not only do I lack any design sense,
my taste is nonexistent. I’m a guy who enjoys
fine French cuisine one night and who can revel
in the delight of a Big Mac the next. To get
things on track, a friend of mine, Kathy Robertson,
who heads Decorating Solutions, agreed to
improve one of the largest rooms in my house
the living room.
It is a large space measuring about 28 by 24
feet (a total of almost 700 square feet). It also
had ceilings that are almost 1K stories (15 feet
high). It had an assortment of American Furniture
Warehouse and garage sale furniture as well
as some items friends dumped on me when they
moved or got far better stuff.
There also was a variety of artwork I enjoyed
all hanging almost randomly on the walls. I
had a small television, VCR and DVD so Holly
and I could watch movies once in a while. There
were two pianos one a spinet as well. The
centerpiece was a stained, yellow rug that served
as padding to protect our four dogs all retired
from Guide Dogs for the Blind for medical or
emotional reasons when they wrestled with
us or each other. OK, it was a mess and made no
sense at all.
Being an ignorant guy, I never had heard of “interior
redesign” before Kathy contacted me. I
thought the concept was particularly attractive
to those on a tight budget or who were interested
in selling their home. The basic concept, as I
understood it, was to take one or more rooms in
your home and then, using items from throughout
the house, focusing on the priority rooms
and redesigning them to look much better.
I was confident Kathy would be successful, given
where she was starting, but wasn’t excited
about showing the rest of my home to anyone
without a search warrant. Remember, the living
room was my best room!
Admittedly, I was becoming more apprehensive
when I continued to think about Kathy and
her team arriving the next morning. I had seen
her home, and it was stylish, impressive and immaculate
everything mine was not. She clearly
was talented and probably would be frightened
by what she found at my home. I feared
that she would see the place and run out the
door screaming: “I’ll never be in this business
again.”
Part 2: The Professionals Take Over
I rose at 4 a.m. I had several assignments that
needed to be completed before my “guests” arrived.
Today was a “Professional Development
Day” at Holly’s school (that means “Three Day
Weekend for Everyone” in schoolese), so she
was home all day. I worked furiously for three
hours, then made breakfast for her and myself,
and then looked aghast at my place.
The kitchen was a mess not helped by the
stacks of dirty dishes. The dogs had dirtied the
pantry floor from constantly coming in to that location
from the outdoors. The floors hadn’t been
vacuumed since King Tutankhamen was exhumed.
And I had a pyramid of laundry that
could hide several escaped convicts. It definitely
was a domestic triage.
I had no one to call for help, so I tried to figure
out what could be done in time and what could
be ignored. Was it the massive pile of dirty dishes?
The floors flagrantly covered in dog and cat
hair? The laundry pile imitating Mount Everest?
Or the small stain on the pantry floor, where my
guests were unlikely to even go?
I decided to tackle the floor stain.
It’s amazing how one can live and not notice
the steep descent into Interior Design Hell. I
looked around and noticed I still had not replaced
my breakfast dining furniture. It had
walked out the door almost two years ago, and I
had temporarily replaced it with a long table and
six metal folding chairs. Now it was too late to
do anything. Heck, where could I get a dining set
at 7:45 am and have it delivered by 8:30 a.m.?
Looking around the disaster I called home, I
thought of canceling.
At 9 a.m. sharp, right on schedule, Kathy arrived
with her colleague, Yvonne Carr, and they
had some muscle help to move around furniture.
As they inspected the house and made decisions
about what they wanted to use from other
rooms, I was pleased that no one laughed at me.
At least openly. Actually, during the entire experience
which lasted several hours they
were very professional and even kind at all
times.
Part 3 : The Transformation Occurs
The team was taking my house by storm. It
was now about 10:30 a.m. and the living room
had undergone its first transformation my
“lesser” items were gone, all having been shuttled
to other rooms. This included a couch and
love seat purchased from a friend who moved to
France and needed the money. In a moment of
sympathy, I actually had paid cash for the
cat-clawed furniture.
Other items which were removed included the
large yellow rug that alternated as a wrestling
mat. Almost all of the artwork was removed. I explained
to Kathy that I was having much of my
“good stuff” framed at Brian Hart’s shop in Denver
Frame de Art II but she shooshed me
away, knowing better that those selections were
unlikely to represent any missed opportunities.
Soon all the walls were barren and much of the
furniture was removed. It had been years since I
saw my living room “naked,” and it wasn’t pretty.
On the other hand, the room suddenly looked
bigger.
Kathy and Yvonne were debating what items
to use and where each should go. The room has
good natural light from the windows, but that
also meant it was difficult to hide anything including
my home nemesis, dirt! Kathy and
Yvonne weren’t shy about cleaning up. They
swept, vacuumed and dusted that room like never
before. They did find a few personal items buried
in the couch and love seat cushions but, to
protect the innocent, no further details will be
disclosed.
Their next step was to complete their basic
plan for the room. Furniture was constantly being
arranged. Soon tables, chairs and sofas all
were in place. Then they tackled the artwork. It
location
now was almost noon, and they had worked nonstop.
Part 4: Even I Am Impressed
I took a look at the room and was amazed at
the transformation. The place looked like it was
being featured in a national home or architectural
magazine.
It was now about 3 p.m.
Kathy had altered the room primarily by creating
a “conversation center” which deployed the
three best pieces of furniture all new couches
and love seats in a U-shape with the open end
facing the fireplace. It was an ingenious design
as it created an intimate setting as the core of a
large room.
She had thoroughly gone through the house
and had vetted my art “collection” the items I
had randomly selected from charity auctions, artist
friends who needed to make a sale, and any
number of other sources.
Kathy selected pieces from the assortment she
found available and made it work. The accomplishment
was representative of her overall approach
and effectiveness. Now I wanted to see
what everyone else thought.
Part 5: The Reaction
By about 4 p.m., everything was done and the
Decorating Solutions crew was leaving. I looked
over the living room from the hallway leading
into it and was impressed with the transformation.
The room was well-organized into a space I
could use when with a few friends, yet it could
accommodate large gatherings. The new look
was more in sync with the color of the wood
floor and trim in the room.
The artwork selected gave the room its pastoral
and playful feel. The window treatments, although
simple, created an attractive effect of elegance
that the room had been missing. The furniture,
in particular, now was organized in a manner
that created a sense of consistency.
The room looked so nice, I wasn’t certain if I
wanted to use it or just look at it. In what was the
most important test, I asked Holly what she
thought. She liked it, so I knew we were OK. My
sister, Leah, came over to see the results and
liked it too. I thought this was a good sign because
her tastes and mine differed considerably
(i.e., she has good taste, and I have none).
Over the weekend, a few other people had the
opportunity to view the work, and everyone approved.
I noticed the women were far more interested
in what was done and were more perceptive
about the changes that had occurred. Their
opinions were more specific and detailed. The
men generally liked the changes but usually
pointed out just one or two features they liked.
Overall, it was clear the effort had been a solid
success.
In the end, I was very pleased with the results.
The transformation was so positive the dogs
were banned from the living room (don’t worry,
they have plenty of room both indoors and
outdoors to play). I tried to ban the cat too,
but he laughed. Unless I hermetically sealed the
room and never used it, Herrmann would enjoy
the couches whenever he wished. Now I was
thinking, “What room should be next?”
How Aaron Harber’s home was redesigned
1. Removed the large green area rug that was already in the room and replaced it with a beautiful red-and-green rug that we purchased.
2. Moved a floral blue and mauve couch and green chair that went with another set to a sitting room off of the living room and created a TV room for Aaron and Holly.
3. Purchased a new picture for above the fireplace, and added several new lamps that we set around the room on many of the end tables that we found scattered around the house.
4. Used art that was in other rooms and repositioned existing art above furniture pieces that we moved in the room.
5. Took apart the large sectional that Aaron had together on one side of the room and put three of the pieces across from each other, making it easier for conversation.
6. Placed the other part of the sectional in the right corner of the room for another seating area, and took two chairs that were just sitting in the center of the room and placed them with a table and a new lamp in the left corner of the room for an additional sitting area.
7. Added accessories from around the home that we found in other rooms and purchased new pillows and a throw to add interest and color to the chairs and couches.
8. Repotted the plants that he had on a table in the left corner of the room with new pots we purchased and positioned them on end tables, pianos and other furniture.
9. Stored all of Aaron’s Christmas decorations that he still had left in the room from last Christmas, and told him we would come back and decorate the room for this Christmas if he would like!
– Kathy Robertson, president of Decorating Solutions
