Makeover a Room With Some Moving

6/2/2005

One of the fastest ways to give a room a makeover, apart from painting or wallpapering, is to rearrange furniture. By simply switching around your sofa, loveseat and entertainment center, you'll find the room can take on a completely new look.

However, unless your family comes fully equipped with several moving professionals, moving furniture can be a backbreaking job. So how do you revamp your room without ending up in the chiropractor's office? Here are some ways to achieve success without the pain.

Sketch it out. Professional decorators often make quick outline sketches of their ideas on paper. They also do some of their work on graph paper, which makes it easy to map out the square footage of a room and then compare it in relation to the squares of the graph paper. Each square on the paper represents one foot. For example, a 2-foot-by-2-foot overstuffed chair on the graph paper would be two blocks wide by two blocks high. Label the shapes for what item of furniture or decorative item (like a rug) each is representing.

Go high tech. Browse through the software aisle of your local computer store or office supply store and you should find several programs geared toward interior and exterior design. With these programs, you enter in the measurements of your room and furniture and then you can move around each item on the screen until you're happy with the placement. Some of these programs also offer a 3-D virtual walk-through tour, where you can get a "humans' eye view" of just what the room looks like.

Comparison shop. If you live in a housing development, which are popular in suburban America, many of the houses in the development are the same model. See what your neighbors have done with the room you're looking to change, so you can get an idea of what works and what doesn't.

Smooth sailing. If you're a hands-on type of person and believe moving around the actual furniture is the only way to get an accurate view of your new design plan, invest in tools that will make the job easier. New "as seen on TV" disks that are coated with ultra-slippery silicon can be placed under your furniture legs, making it easy to slide around cumbersome items. Plus, the disks won't snag on your carpet, preventing more headaches.