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Before and After Living Room

Decorating on a Dime: Country Cottage Design

Hello there, hope you enjoy these next before and after shots of one of my proudest jobs!

I got a call from Lona and she was a little nervous about some choices she had to make to get what she wanted.... she called the right person, and I am sooooo glad she did. This project was so rewarding in soooo many ways. To see my clients faces light up with joy when they finally see the end project was the most rewarding.

Let me know what you think of this make-over.

It didn't take long before I knew what design I was going for once I seen all of Lona's previous purchases she hasn't used yet. Once you figure out your design, the decisions are so much easier on what to do with the room. Enjoy!

BEFORE: China Hutch

Sorry , it's the best pic I got, when I took before pictures of there house, wasn't sure we were going to refinish the hutch at that time. Sure glad we did.

AFTER: China Hutch

I had a vision and it was everything I expected. I had shown pictures in my blog @ an earlier date when I was working on refinishing this hutch with my clients.

I taught them how to scuff up paint, take chains to put some wear and tear on the project, they of course did the painting, and then I came back to show them how to antique it with sand paper and staining over the paint. I also bought some carvings and had them attach those with glue before painting, brought the look of the hutch up to date.

Isn't it a Great Focal Piece now!

AFTER: China Hutch

This china hutch is now a huge focal point in room.

How did we chose green for the cabinet you ask? WEll, I went shopping keeping in mind all the stuff Lona had to use. Leather furniture, Red plaid chair, and couch you see here, pictures that have red barns, and green grass, (hint), I seen lots of country decor and a bowl of green apples.

Well I came across these pillows, furthest to the left, had all these colors and fit the Country Cottage look I wanted. I pitched the idea to Lona, she loved it. Little hesitant on red walls, but, she trusted me and as you can see it worked out beautifully!

So we went shopping together and found this table and mirror the perfect green apple color and she bought it, perfect so we have that by the door, notice, pullin color around room is key. The pillows have a hint of green, the pictures on wall, apples on table, plants, and then the hutch in other corner.

BEFORE: Family room/kitchen

Notice: No curtains, square table, square windows, square picture no drama, I love drama. hehe.....I like showing off height of room, I don't think that is being done here when everything is hung the same level. WE need to draw the eye up. Notice in next picture how red is used in little things around room. She had this beautiful wing back chair in a plaid red. That helped me decide her design also. Country Cottage look. She lives on the lake, works perfect!

AFTER: Family room/kitchen

Take notice to the drapes, my client already had beautiful pleated shades on windows for privacy. No need to spend money on a bunch of drapes if all the purpose they are doing is for decoration. So we went with the small rods on each end of window, called (dummy rods). Nice accent piece , very decorative and no need for a curtain rod across whole window if your not going to use it. Curtain rod color choice was made to match the iron on her bar stools.

Lona needed a clock in the room, I wanted to show the height of the room by putting this beautiful clock she found up high and some of her favorite pictures underneath. Hard to tell in this picture but, the clock has some hint of green on it which is another color we chose for a highlight color.

BEFORE: looking from den to family room

She told me her house felt unfinished and cold. Look on to see what color can do for a room

AFTER: Looking from Den to Family Room

When rooms are open to each other like so, we want to create flow from one room to another. I got the inspiration of color from my client wanting to go with red drapes, that made my choice for wall color and I wanted to pull the red into both of the rooms without it looking to dark. Using accent walls are the best way to do that. The other walls are a cream color and took that a couple shades lighter to the ceiling. Once I knew she wanted red, I went shopping on my own to get ideas for the area, she also had dug out some pictures she was wanting to use and didn't know where to put them, she told me what color furniture she was going to buy.

I told her she was to get matching carpet in den to match the family room and she did just that. That made the rooms feel like a whole and not so chopped up.

BEFORE:

From cold to cozy, what do you think?

AFTER: Den

Need I say more!

BEFORE: another angle of den

Take away the old window treatments, and bring in some warmth with paint, and look what you get. Look at the after picture!

AFTER: another angle in Den

amazing how color on walls shows off the beauty of the tv unit. My client added the plants and vase with twigs, gives great depth to the room and putting the light colored vase against darker wall was genius of her.

BEFORE: Den

watch how moving furniture, just looks so more inviting! Better for conversation area also.

Putting a valance on window softens harsh lines in room.

AFTER:

Changing the angle of furniture works a lot better for viewing of tv, and it softens corners, not making the small room look so square. The pictures on the wall are the same she had before. She is still looking for the right pillows of her choice. Brought in more lighting, that makes a big difference in this room. Like I have said before, Lighting should be established in a triangle covering 3 angles of the room. Also light coming up , light goin down and eye level.

BEFORE:

Look at the angles of the room and the height of room, color would enhance that. Look at the next picture and see how color does the trick.

AFTER:

I liked using the accent color to show off the different angles of this room.

Newspaper Article, I made the Front Page!

There was Joanie Siewert, pouring over hundreds of silk flowers on display at the department store trying to find the "perfect" arrangement for her kitchen. She had been there a long time. Jean Kirst, of Markesan enters the aisle grabs a few of these, some of those, a couple of that and walks away with a beautiful arrangement to die for.
"Stop right there, how'd you do that?" Siewert called.
Kirst, with an eye for colors, and artsy-craftsy background and a knack for visualizing a room's possibilities, explained that she was considering starting a business to help people with home decorating.
"I'll be your first customer!" Siewert offered.
And so it was in the fall of 2004, Jean Kirst started "Decorating on a Dime" a low-cost decorating service that helps people work with what they have or finds low cost solutions for living with or letting go of clutter.
Whether it's organizing your stuff, turning trash into treasures or taking on the challenge of making your home presentable for sale, Kirst can provide everything from consultation and color coordination, to customized handmade accents.
"I'm really striving to work with in people's mean and with existing things. I want to make your home more comfortable and relaxing. You should like what you come home to after a hard day's work," Kirst said.
Joanie Siewert's plain, white-walled entry way was transformed with a deep, rich color that she would've never considered. The room is now a spectacular showplace for her antiques, plants and special art work.
The chance meeting at the department store, turned into a lasting friendship.
Over in Portage, Lola Allen hired Kirst to make her newly constructed home match her furniture and wall hangings.
"People come into my house now and they comment on how much they like the colors and how beautiful my home is," Allen said.
Another customer Dustylee Gray, of Poynette agrees.
"Jean has a way of looking outside the box when it comes to decorating. What a person may initially scoff at in concept, translates absolutely beautifully in reality," she said.
Kirst says the success of both her craft business (Krafts by Kirst) and her new decorating service she attributes to her family.
"They are really proud of me and very supportive, I couldn't do it without them," she said.

That was in 2004, now my business has expanded I have to hire painters to come in, I no longer do the painting, I work with several clients at once, I shop for furniture, pick out flooring, work with a window treatment company, on top of decluttering , organizing and just simply redecorating. I even had to purchase a van for halling furniture and all my goodies I buy for clients, sporting my Decorating on a Dime logo on it. My goal is to be on TV some day, may be a high goal, but it's my goal...... lol

Newspaper Article, 2nd part of story. The Back page of Paper

This is a picture of Sammi Jo and I at my workspace were all my creations began and finished.