Interior Design Tips for a No-Demo Reno

It’s a fact of life: No matter how much we love our last design, or the design we found in a house when we bought it, we eventually grow tired of it. Sometimes it’s the big idea that we thought was bold and adventurous but turns out to just be too much. Sometimes we make the mistake of following a trend only to discover why it was a flash in the pan. Whatever the reason, we all find ourselves occasionally trapped with a design that we can’t simply tear out, for a variety of reasons (cost, time, an irritated and impatient spouse who didn’t want to live through the last renovation, etc.).

Don’t fret, though – you don’t have to tear out walls and fill the house with dust in order to change the look. With these interior design tips for a ‘no-demo reno’ you can dramatically alter the look and feel of your home without once touching a sledgehammer or utility knife.

Addition through Addition

Most redesign and renovation starts, logically enough, with subtraction: You remove the stuff, the flooring, the walls, and start fresh. The first interior design tips to consider involve whether you can make dramatic changes by adding to your existing design instead.

For example, if you’ve got a room with a lot of wall space that feels overwhelming, you could add some amazing canvas prints or other wall art that will cut down on the expanse of colour and divide the room into smaller sections and niches. Alternatively, consider adding some wooden panelling and a chair rail to divide the room into upper and lower halves. This can be done easily with a hammer, nails, and some adhesive; you might not even have to move the furniture.

Change the Flow

Without changing out any furniture, wall art, or other decoration in a room, it’s often possible to completely change its energy simply by re-arranging everything. A living room that feels crowded and tense can often be transformed into one that feels open and inviting simply by moving the seating areas and creating clear, organic paths for people.

Start by clearing out the room as much as possible. Removing as much from the space as is practical will give you a clear palette to work with. Some people benefit from sketching the space on a piece of paper – if you use graph paper, you can keep all the furniture to scale in your sketch and play with different arrangements.

Keep in mind this can be a lengthy process, as it’s not always immediately obvious what the ideal arrangement for your furniture would be. If your first attempt doesn’t hit the sweet spot, rest up a week and then try again!

Design isn’t necessarily about shopping for pieces and tearing everything apart in order to put it back together again. It’s also about knowing how to work with what you have. A non-demo reno might seem like a challenge, but it often beats living through an expensive and disruptive redecoration – and often has results that are just as powerful. And if you need some wall art to transform a space, click here and we can make that part of the renovation easy.