“If you have a sofa in a flat fabric and some leather chairs, you might want to bring in a nubby fabric for more texture,” said Skriloff. “If you have all hard or soft surfaces, it’s boring. What makes thing look good is representing the whole spectrum of textures.”
Nothing freshens up a room like a new area rug, even if it’s a relatively modest size as typical rug sizes can be, she noted. Skriloff said one economical way of livening up your floor is to obtain a carpet remnant and have it bound. Carpet Barn in Kingston, for example, charges $1 a linear foot to bind a remnant, making it possible to obtain a substantial sized new rug for under $300.
Or you might want to remove your rugs for the warm season and simply expose a handsome hardwood floor, suggested Mendoza.
Be inventive with found materials
Sheets and bedspreads make great curtains, as Skriloff demonstrated by using a bedspread as a sumptuous swag in his pied-a-terre Manhattan apartment.
Mendoza uses urns, jugs, jars, and even candle holders as flower vases. One of the most beautiful displays in her shop is an arrangement of cattails, grasses, and other botanicals she collected in the area, dried, and stuck in a piece of foam within a long wooden window box, painted white, she built herself. She said anyone with an eye can create their own stunning arrangements, such as wrapping dried flowers or grasses in thin, tissue-like craft paper tied with twine. Such arrangements make wonderful living room arrangements for the living room or centerpieces for the dinner table, she said. “It may look expensive, but it costs nothing.”
Windows
Adding or changing a window covering is an inexpensive way to transform a room, whether you hang sheer curtains or shades in a lightweight material. Fabric panels are an effective way to soften and frame a window. “When you change the window treatment immediately the home changes. It’s like the eyelashes of a home,” said Mendoza.
