How to furnish an empty room How to furnish an empty room (January 24, 2003)

With a plan, you can create a space that reflects your personal style

by Kit Davey

If you've just moved into a larger home, added on to your house, or are redecorating an existing space, you're faced with the exciting, yet daunting, challenge of filling an empty room. With patience and a little planning, you can avoid costly design errors and comfortably furnish your room in a way that reflects your personal style.

Follow these suggested steps to creating a functional, comfortable and appealing room:

* Define the room's function. How are you going to use the space? List the possible functions of the room. Typical activities in a living room might include entertaining, reading, listening to music or watching TV. You might also want to display collections. A family room might have all of these functions, plus toy storage, and a study or work area. A large master suite might now be a place to meditate, or do paperwork, or watch TV.

* Determine your furniture requirements. Once you know exactly how you'll use the room, list the pieces of furniture you'll need to perform those activities. Be flexible and creative. If you seldom entertain, there's no point in spending a ton of money on seating for 10 in your living room. Why not create a cozy conversation area consisting of a love seat and a pair of chairs, and plan on bringing in dining room chairs on those rare evenings you have a house full of guests? If you plan to watch TV in the room, consider an armoire or modular entertainment center, which can also store hobby materials or toys. In a bedroom with insufficient storage you might use a dresser instead of a night stand. Jot down specific pieces of furniture next to each of the functions.

* Make a floor plan. Carefully measure the dimensions of the room, noting doors, outlets, window widths, etc., and create a 1/2"-scale drawing of the room. Make several copies of the room plan to experiment with. Next, make scale drawings of each piece of furniture on your list, estimating their sizes or using furniture you already own as size guides.

Cut out the furniture shapes and begin arranging the furniture on your plan. Try every option, even the outlandish ones. Consider where lighting will go and functionality: Is there a place to put a table lamp? Does everyone have a place to put his/her drink? Can you reach the bookcase from the desk, etc.? Let your friends and family try, too. You may come up with several arrangements that work well, or you might have to delete or add furniture. In any case, sketch out at least two possible plans.

* Mock it up. This is a crucial step! You can save yourself thousands of dollars and be saved from years of forcing yourself to live with the wrong furniture if you take the time to do this. Armed with your possible floor plans, return to your empty room and do your best to recreate the plans in three dimensions. Drag in furniture from the other rooms or position stacks of cardboard boxes to see how things will look. Make adjustments or try completely new possibilities until you get an arrangement that feels visually balanced and that you know will serve all the functions you want. Make a final floor plan based on this exercise. If you have hardwood floors and plan on purchasing area rugs, lay newspapers on the floor to determine the best size, given your final plan.

* Define your message. How do you want to feel in this room? Enlivened, relaxed, playful, thoughtful, friendly? What words describe what you'd like the room to say? Airy, sophisticated, fun, natural, sunny, dramatic, intelligent, simple? Write down all the adjectives, feelings and thoughts that you'd like to be present in the room. Spend time going through catalogs, home magazines and books collecting images of rooms that show some or all of the concept you want the room to communicate.

* Select a predominant style or theme. A visually peaceful room tends to have furnishings that are in the same style, such as country, contemporary, Victorian, etc., so you might select a style or theme that best reflects how you want to feel in the room. It's possible to create harmony with an eclectic mix of furniture, just as long as you stay true to your clearly defined message. I have a friend who has a wild array of furnishings in her home, but it all works because everything in it uniquely conveys her personal style: "whimsical, playful, clever and love of dinosaurs."

* Select a color scheme. It's easier and more restful to the eye to focus on one, two or three colors, plus neutrals. Open your closet and take a look at the colors you love to wear. Do any of these colors fit in with the concept you have for the room? Create visual peace and cohesion by clearly defining which colors will predominate and plan to carefully place them around the room.

* Incorporate existing possessions. Go on a treasure hunt in your home. Is there anything you already own that would work in the new space? Do you have a family heirloom or special gift you want to incorporate? Put these items in the room now, and take pictures of them. When you're out shopping you can refer to the photos.

* Build the room around something you love. Do lots of research and window shopping before committing to any major pieces of furniture. When you least expect it, you'll run into the perfect chair, sculpture piece or striped fabric, which exactly expresses what you want the room to communicate. Build the room around this object. Once you're committed to something that makes your heart sing, it's easy to make other decisions and purchases.

Kit Davey is a Redwood City-based interior designer who redecorates using what you already own. You can call her at (650) 367-7370, e-mail her at KitDavey@aol.com, or visit her Web site at AFreshLook.net