Small Touches to Refresh Your Space

As Florida’s top furniture retailer, Baer’s has 16 Florida furniture stores strategically located throughout popular cities, millions of square feet of display space, and thousands of in-stock items — substantial furniture pieces that customers can check out before committing to a purchase.

They are the definition of a large box retailer. However, the award-winning Baer’s Design Team also understands the value of light touches to improve your space. Once you’ve painted your walls, selected your flooring, and installed your furniture, it’s those little details that make or break the space.

And it’s these smaller pieces that are also the easiest to adjust or replace to refresh your existing space. This article will help you develop a strategy for refreshing your living spaces without starting from scratch.

Color Scheme

It’s essential to consider smaller items when you’re balancing your color scheme. For example, if you employ a 60–30–10 approach, 60% of the room would be your primary color, 30% your secondary color, and 10% would be your remaining color. So, if you’re going to change out items for a refresh, you’re better off going with the tertiary colors.

Consider this beautiful bedroom featuring the Ocean Club Paradise Point Bed by Tommy Bahama Home. It is perfect as is, but if you wanted to refresh the look of the room, you would need to consider the color balance.

The pale blue of the walls and some accessories would probably be considered the primary color. While the wood in the bed and nightstands is neutral, they actually combine with the woven rug as the secondary color. Finally, you have the whites of the bedding and lampshades. Replacing those items would be the easiest and least expensive option.

In this case, it would be important to consider the risk of disrupting the space. If you weren’t sure about whether or not a color would work, you might want to purchase a lampshade since it’s the easiest to return. If the new color works, you can match it to the bedding.

Changing Patterns

Switching from solids to prints or from one pattern to another can give your space an entirely new look. This is often best accomplished by changing smaller items. For instance, instead of replacing an entire sofa or loveseat, incorporate an accent chair or purchase different throw pillows.

The pair of Glendale Lampakani Rope Chairs in this living room comes from the Tommy Bahama Home Palm Desert Collection. They have a clever horizontal line pattern that also features curvy lines, BUT these chairs are customizable and available in a number of different fabric patterns.

While it might not be practical or cost-effective to purchase an entirely new customizable chair when you want to make a change, the upholstery choices on this would make it a worthwhile one-time purchase.

In addition to accent chairs, curtains, area rugs, decorative pillows, throws, and bedding are all great ways to bring patterns (or remove patterns) from a decorative scheme.

Build Upward

Something that many home decorators don’t consider is that rooms are three-dimensional spaces. For example, a living room might have a sofa, a loveseat, end tables, and a coffee table. A bedroom could consist of a bed, dresser, and nightstand. Finally, a dining room may only have tables and chairs. In most cases, none of these pieces are more than four feet high.

While most people will add wall art, clocks, and mirrors at eye level, they never consider incorporating a taller piece of furniture, like a curio cabinet or hutch. Notice the way the Pacific Heights Curio Cabinet from Pulaski Furniture fits perfectly in a section of what would otherwise be an empty wall. Not only does it add height and dimension, but it also helps organize various objets d’art. This single piece changes the entire configuration of the room.

Steps to Refreshing Your Space

This step-by-step process can help you change the energy in your room:

1. Create a vision board — Start with all of the pieces and features you want to keep and then begin building from there.
2. Try multiple options — For example, if you want to change part of your color scheme to a green color, don’t just choose one. Try several different shades and tones until you get it right.
3. Execute the plan — Purchase furniture and accessories of the same caliber as existing pieces. For instance, if you bought your sectional or bedframe from a high-end retailer, like Baer’s Furniture, you’ll want to ensure that your throw pillows don’t come from a discount bin at a disposable furniture manufacturer.
4. Change the layout — If the new décor isn’t the success you hoped for, move pieces around to try different configurations.

For large and small high-quality furniture pieces, shop Baer’s Furniture today!