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Authors Notes

Lesson 1 from: Refind: The 1 Day Home Interior Design Makeover Course

Jonathan Rosen

new-class art & design

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Lesson Info

1. Authors Notes

<b>A little bit about me</b>

Lesson Info

Authors Notes

Hi, I'm Jonathan Rosen and welcome to Refined. When I was a kid, I like to rearrange the furniture. I guess other kids like to play ball. I like to move stuff. It wasn't until I became an interior designer at age 40 that I realized that there were actually people out there just like me and apparently they do exist who also started their young design careers doing the exact same thing. You may ask yourself, where does this impulse come from? I don't know. All I know is if you're born with this desire, blessing, curse, when the urge strikes, it cannot be ignored. Psychologically speaking, I think this was born out of a need to create order from chaos. But I'll spare you the early childhood years and suffice to say a few years ago when I returned from a deeply unsatisfying vacation, I dropped my bags in the hallway and proceeded to take my entire living room apart. Yes. Everything in my life had to change and it started with that room refined was the jumping off point for my career in des...

ign. I always felt confident that I could take a room apart and put it back together again, leaving it better than I found it. At the beginning of my career in design, I started doing this for friends and family and word spread quickly before I knew it. A design business was born in as much as I enjoy doing all aspects of interior design. There's really nothing I find more gratifying than doing these makeovers, even though it's extremely hard physical work. And one very long day, the end result always feels like magic. And for the client, it's instant gratification at a great price point, as in a herself might say, and who doesn't love that? You may ask yourself, how can this be taught when so much about decorating? Relies on one's talent training experience and aesthetic. The answer is I've demystified my process by breaking it down into a step by step guide showing you exactly how to deconstruct and then reconstruct your interiors. This course is intended to reap big results with a minimum outlay of cash. The idea is to use primarily what you already own and to supplement at your own discretion with new items that fill in the gaps. If you choose to add items, it's entirely up to you whether you buy something pricey or something from home goods. I frequently do a high, low combo myself. I may buy huge bundles of flowers from the corner bodega, pick up some off the rack pillows from pottery barn splurge on one of my favorite expensive scented candles and grab a vintage or antique item from a favorite local haunt. Large rugs can be purchased online very inexpensively and ready made. Window treatments are available from many retail resources at the end of the day. What really matters most is what works best for the room, not the cost that it takes to achieve it before you get started. Here are a few important words of advice, mind, even though this may strike you as a daunting and overwhelming task. See if you can reframe that thought first, take a look at how you feel about launching into this. Are you nervous? Fearful? Are you sending yourself negative messages about the process? If any of these things are true, take a moment to reframe that message. In other words, rather than telling yourself, wow, this is going to be so hard or this is gonna take forever or any other self defeating and self fulfilling prophecy, why not? Say instead, I am so excited to completely transform the look and feel of this room and see how that makes you feel mindset has everything to do with how your day will go and what result you're likely to achieve. Tell yourself this is gonna be a great day. Get pumped body. This is an extremely physical process. So before you jump in, make sure you're well rested, have a good meal. I like to be well caffeinated, but that's not a prereq do whatever it takes for you to be fortified and energized for the day soul before you charge ahead. Take a moment, close your eyes and take a breath or better yet. Take many deep breaths, meditate or just get quiet, do whatever you need to do to get yourself centered, the calmer and clearer you are at the outset, the better equipped you'll be to listen to those intuitive suggestions about what to do next when I'm off to an installation, the one thing I never leave home without. Besides my American Express card is my trusty bag of tricks. You may already have some of these things at home. Here's my list of some of the basic essential go to items. One of the first questions I asked my clients in our initial consultation is what three words would you use to explain how you want your home to feel when you first open the front door? I'm looking for three descriptive adjectives that convey a mood or a feeling that resonate for you. I balk at words like comfortable or inviting or anything else. That's too vague. The more specific you are, the better your end result will be the words I used to describe how I wanted my new place to feel were elegant, warm and masculine. Here are just a few examples of words clients have used over the years, romantic, luxurious, minimal, serene, pretty colorful, cozy, energetic, relaxed, charming, allow yourself to visualize how you want your room to feel, come up with three words that align with that vision. Don't worry if you think those words won't go together because guess what? They will, these words will be the roadmap for creating your aesthetic. When you decorate your room, they will help to inform your choices about what to do and especially what not to do as you add pieces into the mix. Continue to check in with yourself to make sure your words are consistent with the decisions that you're making. Be true to your words, to explain more thoroughly how this works. In practice. I'll tell you how I use my own three words. When decorating my apartment, I used dark green silk taffet on my windows and another shade of deep green velvet on my sofa. Both fabrics definitely read elegant. The greens I chose have a deliberately more masculine look to them versus a a more pale and pastelle shade. Both choices also convey an intrinsically warm feeling as it turns out both drapery and sofa fabrics correspond to all three words in this case, but they definitely don't have to. For example, my sea grass area rug feels warm, the ultra soft black leather on my ottoman feels masculine and the pair of yellow silk pillows on the sofa feel elegant. As long as most of what you're using refers back to at least one of your three words. Then you're telling your story. This is your narrative. Pick the three words that feel truest to you and let the shapes, colors, materials finishes in short everything you put into your room. Telegraph your message.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

oLo_refindWorkbook1.10.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Isabel Wilson
 

Love this course! Jonathan makes it sound simple, which makes me want to get going with a living room makeover! Thank you!

Student Work

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