Peggy Pook Oehler has an impressive portfolio, designing Victoria's Secret stores, Saturday Night Live offices, hotels and major law firms. Since starting Margaret Pook Interior Design in 2000, she's focused on more homey settings, and she knows how challenging it is to want to experiment with changing styles without breaking the bank on remodeling projects, even for avid DIYers. Check out this wonderful wealth of ideas for bringing fresh, modern looks to the home little by little, and be inspired rather than discouraged!
1. New and Old
Furniture with a great frame but ugly upholstery transforms in a solid fabric slipcover. “Rich velvet or a cotton canvas are practical fabrics and easily sourced,” says Oehler. Add couch pillows with a graphic pattern and voilà! A wing chair in a tailored white slipcover with a flat, box-pleated skirt to the floor is suddenly noticed for its shape rather than just traditional fabric, giving it an architectural air.
If your four-poster bed has you yawning (and not in a good way), consider reupholstering just the headboard in leather or velvet.
In a mid-century modern home with next to no closets, Oehler's cool black, ‘70s chinoiserie china hutch became a useful home for her accessories. “All of my vintage 1960s costume jewelry is proudly displayed, my sunglasses are in trays, my purses lined up and all my evening sandals are on the bottom shelves!”
2. Quick Replacements
If a heavy wooden coffee table is weighing you down, try a metal and glass piece. Whether it's chrome, unpolished brass or the edgy industrial look of a repurposed cart, you will have a much more modern spot to set your snacks.
Bored with Oriental rugs? Pack them away and try sisal. “Any dark, traditional furniture you have will instantly pop off the solid color and contrast with the added texture,” Oehler says. You can layer it over a wall-to-wall carpet as long as the pile isn't so high that it creates a tripping hazard. Sisal rugs are inexpensive and can add a bright vibe in summer or stay all year long.
3. Simple Updates
Oehler tactfully suggests retiring that crystal bowl on the coffee table that you received as a wedding gift and replacing it with a stack of interesting oversized books of your favorite photography or interests. A more traditional mantel display might give way to an asymmetrical arrangement of interesting objects and a piece of artwork that makes for a fresh focal point.
Old brass table lamps from the ‘80s are a lost cause, according to Oehler, better replaced with a tripod shape in brass, chrome or wrought iron for a more open look. The classic ceramic, ginger-jar table lamp style is a good bet, and with a paper drum shade rather than the flared silk lampshade, you've got distinctly modern décor.
Paint is a simple way to jazz up a space with one or two accent walls (control yourself), but there's also the wonder of wallpaper, especially when many companies offer custom wallpaper that can be printed from an image you send to them.
4. One Color Overload
The crisis of too much brown furniture occurs when a wood floor and a brown leather couch and a walnut coffee table conspire to leave a space monochrome and muddy. Spare valuable antiques, but for other furniture, a coat of paint and new hardware can bring a room back to life. Imagine dull, wooden side tables transformed into a glossy cobalt blue with brass pulls. “Add some modern lamps,” says Oehler, who has an admitted lamp addiction, “and new bed linens, and you have a completely new look.”
The same rut can dig in with pale or white furniture, such as that with faux bamboo edges. Oehler found the perfect sideboard for her son's game-console setup, but the shiny white finish would have looked like a beached whale in her house. Refinished in dark blue with brass hardware, it looks completely modern.
5. Modernized Memories
Some old photos are in equally old and musty frames, but don't throw the baby into storage with the bathwater. Oehler's idea is to hang great-grandma's portrait without the frame on an accent wall where it will have a clean pop. A collage of vintage and black-and-white photos on an accent wall of blueish or greenish gray in simple frames around a special portrait looks modern without compromising content.
Heirlooms can also be part of the display. If you have any of grandma's china plates or other objects, they can be hung or put into shadow-box frames with light-colored matting and added to the dark wall. These treasures are no longer hidden in storage but have a new uncluttered place on the wall.
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