If you’ve completed every outdoor task on your winter maintenance checklist—congratulations! Now it’s time to turn your attention to your home’s interior. Is your outdated décor sorely in need of a refresh? If so, we’vereached out to local design experts for their easiest, budget-friendly decorating tips.
“Kind of like a misfit stepchild,” is how Katie Geddes, of Katie Geddes Interiors, describes entryways. “Don’t ignore this space!” she urges. “It’s the first thing you see when you get home.” She recommends you find “the perfect rug; durable and just the right color so it doesn’t show stains.” Nothing too big, too thick or too small. “There’s nothing worse walking into someone’s house, balancing on one foot trying to get your shoes off on a rug the size of a postage stamp.”
Next, place a big basket or shoe tray on the floor and position a table nearby to serve as a catch-all for keys. Top that table with an accent lamp and hang a mirror to make the space feel larger. To complete this tableau, Geddes suggests adding “one fun piece of artwork—a print, painting, flowers, plant, figurine, or a stack of books. It can be anything! Whatever it is, it needs to please YOUR eye.”
Gabriella Garcia, lead designer at Milford’s Inside Living Style, is all about changing paint colors. “Paint can bring about a total room makeover,” she says. While neutral shades of grays, whites, and warm beiges are “on trend”, in the right circumstances, Garcia insists, bright colors “can infuse a room with new life.”
As cooler temperatures shift our activities to all things hearth and home, Garcia reminds us that “the fireplace becomes a natural focal point. An eye-catchingscreen, available in array of styles and finishes, works wonders.” Accent the fireplace mantel with wreaths, statement candlesticks, greenery, and flowers (dried or real). No fireplace? Concentrate on the rest of your space. In your main living area, “purchase new pillows, blankets, throws, and bedding in warm weaves of wools, faux fur, fleece and flannel, to reflect the change of seasons.”
Moving onto the kitchen, Garcia recommends swapping out old knobs and pulls. “It’s ok to mix metal, incorporate fun shapes and colors to create a chic mix-and-match look. At our 80 Broad Street showroom, we stock the perfect accessories to help you achieve this.”
For a recentbathroom redesign,Amy DiSabella, interior designer and owner of Sophie Claire’s: A Chic Boutique for the Home, custom-coordinated brass finishes for a toilet paper holder, towel bar, faucet, and cabinet hardware makeover.“If you’re looking to make a statement but have a limited budget and timeline, the powder room is the perfect areato take design risks,” she says. “Introduce colors and patterns into bath rugs and use monogrammed hand towels to create a personalized feel.” Her other tips include refinishing older mirrors or purchasing new ones, repainting cabinets, or hanging a bold, patterned wallpaper to transform a room from “ordinary to swoon-worthy.”
“Never underestimate the power of visually appealing countertop styling,” she maintains. “Sophie Claire’s offers a large variety of items to elevate what is typically an overlooked space. For example, plants in a stylish vessel, a trinket dish for rings when washing hands and an on-trend rattan box to conceal extra paper goods like toilet paper adds texture and style.”
Colleen Kranz, the “design charmer”/owner of Social Alchemy Design, combined her graphic design and color theory background with her husband John’s expertise in carpentry to “immerse themselves” in an extensive renovation of their home, the former Parsonage of Milford’s First Congregational Church. By employing “a little elbow grease, slight tweaking, and a little love” they were able to make some “fairly simple updates,” including reviving door knobs, painting, sanding, and polishing staircases. 
Installing light fixtures and motion sensors in dimly lit closets, hallways, a kitchen pantry, and even inside an ingeniously refurbished bar can be duplicated by even the most design-challenged individual. For more ideas, she invites readers to follow their “mostly done…but always in progress,” homerenovation Instagram page (@parsonage15). These photos demonstrate how even the smallest DIY effort “can go a long way” towards updating your home.
