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It’s that time of the year again, when we resolve to make changes that will improve
our lives. Your home is a big part of your life and a comfortable, inviting space can
really make a difference in how you feel every day. It seems only fitting that we
should add some design resolutions to our yearly ritual.

So here’s my top 10 take on the design resolutions that I believe can make a real
difference in your home.

1. Designate a space for clutter and resolve to keep it cluttered. Surprised? While
it’s true most people would put getting rid of clutter at the top of their lists, I’ve
been in enough homes to understand that if clutter is part of your lifestyle, it will
just keep coming back. I do, however, believe that it’s possible to control the
impact of clutter in your home - and it’s simple. Choose a spot that’s not visible
from the public areas of your home and designate a surface, chest or cabinet of
some sort for the paper and other things that usually end up in piles all over your
home. Give yourself permission to toss anything you don’t want to deal with
immediately into your clutter area without even thinking about organizing, filing or
putting it away later.

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Trust me, if you have no area for clutter you will spontaneously make one, and
another, and another. If you have a designated area, it will contain the clutter and
keep you from feeling overwhelmed by it. You’ll have a much easier time with
everything in one spot when you do decide to sort it all out and, in the interim, at
least you will know where to find everything you can’t find.

2. Try at least one new color in your home to break your “color habits”. Be bold, do
something unexpected or something you’ve always wanted to try. If you are really
hesitant, put the color inside a closet door - somewhere where you can see and
react to it. The room which makes me smile in my home is one in which the painter
made a mistake and used a color that I never would have chosen for myself. As I
was awaiting his return visit for a repainting, I discovered that every time I walked
into the room it made me smile. The room has been repainted a few times over the
years, but always with what I call “my happy mistake.”

3. Pick the room or area in your home in which you find it hard to relax and do three
things to make the room quieter. For example, think about replacing high contrast
colors with a monochromatic scheme or toning down the color with a more muted
version. Try simplifying the lines in the room and paring down accessories. Get
those bookcases in shape, with all books flush to the front of the shelves in size
order, and create some empty wall and tabletop space where the eye can rest.

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4. Conversely, pick one room or area in your home that feels bland and the most
uninteresting and do three things to elevate the tempo and energize the room. Try
introducing higher contrast or bolder colors. Layer in accessories, some interesting
coordinated fabrics in the form of throws and pillows, and some new textures.
Replace large artwork with a grouping that will add motion to the room.

5. Make at least four changes in your home to freshen it up for the spring and
summer. Change or reduce the number of layers in your window treatment to let
more of the outside in. Do what your grandmother did - use lighter slipcovers on
upholstery and seasonal accessories such as bowls of fresh summer fruit and vases
of fresh flowers. Pick up those heavy rugs. Now is the time to send them out for
cleaning. Replace them with light floor cloths or leave the floors bare for a cooling
sensation underfoot.

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6. Rethink the least used room or area in your home. It may be great to look at, but
if it isn’t serving any function, you can do better. s its formality no longer
appropriate for your lifestyle? Are your college-aged kids really going to miss the
playroom? Should you have retired that home office when you retired?

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7. Walk through your home room by room and consciously gauge its impact on
your senses by isolating various aspects of the experience. What do you see, hear,
smell? What can you touch? How does it make you feel? Make adjustments in each
room as needed so that the experience is always pleasant and inviting, and
appropriate for the room and its function.

8. Create a space just for you. It can be as simple as a chair in which you can
escape with a good book or an entire room. Surround your space in your favorite
colors and textures. Make it a place you can use for your most relaxing activities
and the best spot you can imagine for just sitting and doing nothing at all. Sit in you
personal space at least 10 minutes every day.

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9. Approach the design and decoration of your home with joy. Whether it’s a little
change or a major renovation, try to focus, not on the chores involved, but on the
vision you have and the progress you are making toward it. Appreciate the changes,
and appreciate yourself for making them.

10. Invite guests a least once a month. When we tidy up for guests, we reawaken
our consciousness of all the little things that we can do to make our home inviting
and comfortable, details that often get lost in the chaos of our daily lives. Your
guests will feel it, but more importantly, so will you.

Peggy Berk is an award-winning interior decorator and certified interior refiner who
has worked with a wide variety of residential and commercial clients throughout the
New York Metropolitan Tri-State Area and Florida. Her design firm, Area Aesthetics ( http://www.areaaesthetics.com), specializes in interior redesign, home staging and
full service interior decorating. Peggy is the featured designer on the Home Decor
Exchange where she answers readers’ decorating questions and writes a column for
“HDE Monthly.” Author of many articles in her area of expertise, she also writes the
monthly “Rental Redesign” column for Rental Decorating Digest.

Tip! In every interior design project that you do, you must follow these guidelines. They will guide you in attaining your interior design objectives, no matter how big or small they are.

To see before and after photos of her one-day room redesigns, read what New
York’s top real estate brokers have to say about her home staging services, or
submit your decorating questions, visit her Web site at: http://www.AreaAesthetics.com

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