Give Your Home Décor Bright Updates

Spring often brings the urge to brighten décor, but too often people feel as if they're stuck with dark paneling, bad flooring, or other "decorating disasters."

Home should be a comfortable place to relax and recharge. It should reflect our personalities and be a haven for our souls. But how is that possible amidst dreadful carpeting or a bad paint job? We often learn to live with inadequacies in our homes and over time, don't even notice them at all! Explore some of the following "nightmares" and see if they offer a glimpse into your current home situation. You may find your dream home is not as distant as you thought.

The Inherited Paneled Room
You've purchased a home with a "finished" basement, which translates to inexpensively paneled walls. A full remodeling project may be beyond the budget, but there is hope with some moderate changes. Basements tend to be dark, so first address the walls. Paneling can be painted if you use a good multisurface bonding latex primer (clean the paneling with a mild detergent first). Choose a light-color acrylic or latex paint and let the natural character of the vertical panels show through (it will go from "yuck" to "charming" before your eyes). Depending on your intended use for the room, update curtains, flooring, and furniture as appropriate. Install recessed lighting or make room for plenty of table lamps to add warmth and a cozy glow.

The Tired Tiled Floor
Tile replacement can be expensive and laborious. Like the paneling example above, you can paint over tile and completely update the look of your floor. Select a good adhesive latex primer and apply entirely over the clean surface (including the grout). Let dry and cure overnight, and then paint normally with a high-end semigloss floor paint. Create a design with stencils, stamps, sponges, or if your hand is steady, a good brush. If you're experienced, try a faux marble or stone look. Seal with several thin coats of a polyurethane or acrylic sealer and let dry accordingly (not recommended for very high-traffic areas or very wet areas such as showers).

Bad…Bad Carpeting
Carpeting only looks good for so long. Instead of replacing it, consider what might lie beneath. Could you possibly have hardwood under there? Even if the floors need some refinishing, you can really update and freshen a room with gleaming floors and perhaps a new area rug. Natural substances for floors such as tile and wood are always a classic way to enhance your home while offering good durability. If you're not sure what condition the floor underneath the carpet is in, start small—pull up a section under a piece of furniture or in an unobtrusive spot to check before proceeding. Some floors were covered for a reason; be prepared to consult a pro if yours is one of them!

The Tired Kitchen
A kitchen gets so much use and abuse, it's easy for even the most coordinated room to lose its luster. Take a step back and pretend you're walking into someone else's kitchen. What do you like? What would you change? What looks worn and past its prime? Your cabinets might look quite different with a modest investment in new hardware. How about replacing the wallpaper in the backsplash area with tile? Are your light fixtures from another decade? Examine your window treatments. Opt for something lighter and brighter or just different. Between cabinets and appliances, kitchens have very hard visual lines. More fabric around the windows and coordinated chair pads may be just the ticket to warming up and softening the kitchen. And yes—that old countertop can be painted (as described above with a good primer, topcoat, and lots of polyurethane), though you will sacrifice some durability. But if you're looking for fresh new colors, painting old Formica or similar surfaces might be the answer.

Approach each area with an open mind and a fresh eye and you may find you already have much of what's needed for turning a decorating nightmare into a "dream room."

Laine Discepoli is the owner of Miss Elaineous Decorative Painting. You can see more of her ideas in Making Old Items Look New Again.