Simple home makeover

By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    Have you ever looked around your home and wished you could redo a room? Maybe purchase a new living room set or a whole new bedroom set? Then reality sets in and you can’t afford to do a whole room, but you want a change?
    Don’t look any farther than the Dunn Furniture Company on North Road. Not only can the Dunn Furniture staff set you up with your “dream” room, they can provide assistance in just sprucing up a room on a modest budget.
    Lynne McNinch, sales manager and interior consultant with Dunn Furniture Company, offers easy tips to help transform a room.
Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
SHOWING HOW — Lynne McNinch shows how colors can be mixed and matched today.
    “If you already have a sofa that you love, but you just want to change the room, get a coordinating or accent chair,” she said. “Get one that just maybe has one of the colors in the sofa to add a little bit more color to the room. Change lamps out, get an area rug or change tables. Then you don’t have to spend so much money.”
    When redoing a room, you can add one piece at a time as to not overwhelm your budget.
    “When someone comes in wanting a new living room set, but the customer is unsure how many pieces they need, I always say, get the biggest piece first,” said McNinch.
    Get the biggest piece, like a sofa, and then McNinch said add whatever pieces at home you want to keep.
    “Fit that in and then see what you have room for,” she added. “Then come back and do your add ons.”
    When walking through Dunn Furniture’s showroom, everything looks perfect, but remember to keep in mind the space you have available within your home.
    “It can be overwhelming,” McNinch said. “Our showroom is big and when people get their furniture home, they may find it larger than it appeared in the store.”
    Other easy switches are accessories in a room.
    “Add cocktail tables, end tables, lamps and even some throw pillows,” she said. “Put down an inexpensive carpet or area rug, if you just want to change the color.”
    Those little things can change the appearance of any room.
    Another principle that is changing today is that every piece of furniture should be a compliment. With a plain color, add an accent chair with color and then add an area rug to bring in more color.
    “You don’t have to have exact same colors,” McNinch said. “Your sofa, recliner or love seat don’t all have to match.”
    Many people tell McNinch they can’t find a chair to match a sofa or they want a recliner to match colors exactly.
    “A recliner is an odd piece of furniture,” she said. “It doesn’t have to mach. You can get one that will coordinate with a color. Or, you can use a color within your drapes that you don’t have in your furniture for an accent. It will pull it all together and look like a brand new set.”
    At Dunn Furniture, what is on the floor for colors is not what you have to purchase, as Dunn’s carries a selection of fabrics from a wide range of manufacturers.
    “Someone buys a sofa, loveseat and chair and has a coordinating fabric, you can put it on the pillows and if you want one of those pieces to have the same fabric as the pillow, go with the smallest piece. Thumb through the fabrics and choose a design or pick out a frame and we will help find something to go with it.”
    McNinch encourages consumers to be bold in their choices.
    “Add another piece of color in a different pattern,” she said. “You can put a designed pillow with a plaid sofa. It is not taboo anymore. We mix plaids, flowers and everything together.”
    Another focus for many people is an open floor plan to combine dining and living rooms.
    “Lots of times, people will take the sofa and use it as a divider,” she said. “You can add a little table behind the sofa to make it look like the piece goes. You can put whatever you want on it. It will be visible from the dining area and that spot of floor is now usable and you aren’t seeing the back of a sofa.”
    Dunn Furniture still offers consultation services for their customers.
    “If anyone needs help, we can make suggestions,” McNinch said.
    She did this recently when a person had a room and didn’t know quite what to do with it.
    “She didn’t think she had a concept of decorating, but she did,” McNinch said.
    The homeowner had her furniture picked out and a certain color she wanted on her walls. But the walls were long and narrow.
    “I took two tones of color and blended them together,” McNinch said. “I suggested the darker color on the bottom and lighter color on top. It made the room look bigger. It divided the room up a bit. The homeowner picked out an area rug taking the colors from the walls and furniture. It brought it all together and it looked great.”
    With that tip, the homeowner continued to change another room. Light colors will make a room appear larger and dark colors shrink them.
    Another person had a living room which was too cluttered and the homeowner was in a dilemma as to what to do.
    McNinch went over to the home, noticed a small room not being totally utilized.
    “We took a table and put it in the sun room, added a couple of small chairs and it looked like a bistro set,” she said. “The homeowner said she wouldn’t have thought of that. It didn’t cost her much and she got rid of furniture that made the living room so cluttered and gave her an extra seating space in the little sun room.”
    Continuing on with easy changes, consider a small bathroom. McNinch said inexpensive vinyl can make a difference.
    “It’s amazing how one little piece of flooring will change the whole look,” she explained. “We just had someone do that. The homeowners said every time we walk in, it’s like a new room. All they did was change that little piece of vinyl.”
    But McNinch cautions to make sure of a small pattern in a small room.
    “If you use a big block pattern, it will not look good,” she said. “If you have to cut a big block pattern, the appearance may not look right depending on where you have to cut it.”
    Not leaving out the bedroom, there are effortless changes there as well.
    “Get new bed ensembles,” said McNinch. “We have some for a reasonable price. So change your bedspread or comforter. Change your curtains. We can come and measure them. So, different color drapery or bedding will make for a different appeal.
    “You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a change,” McNinch said. “If you are going with a certain theme, we can help.”