Re-entry: Only Once Chance To Make A First Impression
Lesson 8 from: Refind: The 1 Day Home Interior Design Makeover CourseJonathan Rosen
Re-entry: Only Once Chance To Make A First Impression
Lesson 8 from: Refind: The 1 Day Home Interior Design Makeover CourseJonathan Rosen
Lesson Info
8. Re-entry: Only Once Chance To Make A First Impression
Lessons
Authors Notes
07:56 2Diagnosis: Stop, Look, Listen To Your Room…Hear What It's Saying.
10:27 3Discovery: Whaddya Got?
08:13 4Dismantle: Clear The Decks!
04:44 5Deploy: You Better Work!
20:11 6Review: Take A Pause For The Cause!
06:01 7Recess: You Deserve A Break Today!
13:50 8Re-entry: Only Once Chance To Make A First Impression
07:12Lesson Info
Re-entry: Only Once Chance To Make A First Impression
Drop your bags, put your flowers and water and march right over to the threshold of the room for the third time. Now that you've had a good break away from home, you have a unique opportunity to survey the room. Again, with fresh eyes, take some time to really take it all in. What's your very first impression? Whatever you feel and whatever your gut is telling you is likely to be right. Listen to that. If at this point, you feel compelled to make some changes or tweaks, then by all means do so, maybe they're just little changes or perhaps you feel the need to move some of the bigger pieces around whatever it happens to be do it, you may actually come up with an improved layout. If on the other hand, it doesn't work out, just move it all back, nothing ventured, nothing gained, calculated, trial and error is what this process is all about. You can't fail. If you try, you could only potentially make it better. Take a risk, take lots of risks, the more risks, the greater the rewards walk a...
round the room and survey it from every conceivable angle. These are your snapshots. Remember, are you looking at pretty pictures or is the composition not quite ready for its close up. Pay attention to circulation, pay attention to balance, pay attention to color. Now go into your packages and take out all of your purchases one by one, incorporate them where you thought they look best. If they land happily in that spot. That's great. If not try them somewhere else, for example, a throw might not look great on the sofa, but it could be just the right thing on the arm or back of a club chair. Many of your new acquisitions will likely be tabletops. So let's talk about creating great tablescape. Think of a tablescape as a three dimensional still life on a horizontal surface. You'll most likely see most of your table top vignettes from many different angles. So it's important to make sure they're balanced and interesting to look at from all sides. Remember all those accessories you amassed on your kitchen counter or dining room table earlier today now is the time to go back to them and decide where to place them. When I spoke about reintroducing your furniture into the room. I said I like to work from big to small. We're bringing back that same concept for accessorizing only this time on a more microscopic level. Think about visibility, the closer you are to something, the easier it is to see. Therefore place your smalls on table tops that are within arm's length. Conversely, something like a bookcase, which tends to be quite a distance away from wherever you might be sitting can take larger items. The scale of these things will add some visual interest and a bit of pop to an otherwise static bookcase that's just filled with books. With the exception of the cocktail table, most of your tables will likely have lamps on them. So you'll need to build around them, start by placing larger objects, ie the bigger picture frames, table top sculptures, taller accessories toward the back of the table and then gradually work your way forward with smaller objects. And then the smallest items. By the time you've reached the front, those items might consist of decorative dishes or ashtrays. I have a great vintage acrylic one that I use in the front of my end table, low boxes, smaller ornamental objects and smaller picture frames. Now, let's discuss accessorizing the cocktail table, your vantage point for viewing, this will mostly be from a sofa or a club chair. So I tend to orient the arrangement in the direction of the viewer. In much the same way I work from big to small and back to front on the end tables. I follow a similar pattern here because the cocktail table is lower than your average end table. You have greater license to go bigger. My motto is when in doubt scale up little itsy bitsy has no dramatic flair or impact. You might start by placing a large decorative box in the far back center of the table. Why not flank that with a pair of decorative glass hurricanes or beautiful candlesticks. Moving toward you two low stacks of coffee table books could sit in front on the left and right corners. Do you have a couple of pretty low objects like an antique dish? An interesting bowl, a smaller box place those on top of the stacks. You could also add a candy jar or a bowl filled with nuts to the table for some additional warmth and to prevent the arrangement from looking too symmetrical. Once you placed all of these, incorporating both, what you already have with what you may have picked up during your shopping expedition, step back and survey the area from all sides. Can you see everything? Is it pleasing from all angles? Is there cohesion to it? Does it look balanced or are one or more items throwing off the harmony of the composition? Don't be afraid to move things around until you settle on a tableau that's pleasing to your eye. Remove something that doesn't feel right and don't forget to allow a little space on your sofa tables for someone to put down a drink as artful as it may be. If your arrangement prevents you from using a small portion of the surface for practical purposes, you'll need to rethink your still life. I'm sure Cezanne would have my back. Let it breathe I find it's best to keep it simple. One species of flower per container, you want your flowers to peek over the top of the vase, so stand them beside the vase of your choice and see how much length you'll need to cut down. In order to have a good fit. Be conservative, you can always cut more, but once you've cut too much, they'll need to go into a shorter container in terms of selecting a color, look for a color in the rug or in the upholstery that plays a minor role. In other words, if there's a little bit of red in the rug, that would be a great color to accent with the flowers. If the upholstery is a touch of yellow in it, that would be a good color to pick out the same goes for the artwork. Generally speaking, room temperature, water, a fresh cut and removal of the excess leaves on the bottom of the stem are about all you really need to do to prepare for an arrangement. Keep it simple. The flowers are beautiful enough on their own. There's no need to be tricky. A low cylinder of hydrangea or tulips. Some garden roses in a pretty antique cup and some tall branches are all you really need to create instant beauty that complements your decor with anything that is a woody stem, smash the stems and cut the bottoms at a sharp 45 degree angle to allow for more water to be absorbed.
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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!
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