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Home Interior (Re)Design - Hot New Career

By Wendy Croix
Learning & Life Columnist

One of the latest manifestations of America's love affair with make-overs is the relatively new profession of home interior redesign. Using furnishings the client already owns, redesigners offer transformation on the fly, most often in a single day. So what's the secret of rapid redesign? According to Sacramento-area interior redesigner Jodie King, "It's placement, not things, that make a home look and feel good."

The Interior Redesign Business

Where are the interior redesign jobs? Apparently, they're everywhere. Home owners who want to put their houses on the market turn to interior redesigners to do the job of creating interiors that showcase the homes to potential buyers. These one-day makeovers are popular gifts as well. If you're intrigued, some design schools do offer courses in interior redesign.

Tips from Interior Re-designers

From Feng Shui to bold color, redesigners have a bag of tricks that let them transform a room in hours, not weeks or days. To design a new interior with materials at hand requires inventiveness, sure, but there are some tricks of the home interior redesign trade:

• Trust your designer's eye. While your client's stuff is old to them, it's brand new to you.
• Start with a blank canvas. Clear everything out of the room. Then bring back items one at a time, large items first.
• Work with the architecture. Create arrangements that accent the most architecturally interesting features of the room.
• Place lights diagonal to each other. If you add a third light, create an interesting triangle. Or use a mirror to magnify and enhance the lighting.
• Avoid symmetry. In fact, home interior redesigners urge you to think in odd numbers. Group items in sets of three or five.
• Create theme areas. Group related items for a pulled-together feeling.

Interior redesigner Patty Surowski brings energy and design philosophy to her redesign jobs. "I'm an activist," she says. "I want the world to be a better place - one room at a time."

Sources

• "Interior Designers Look to Beautify World 'One Room At a Time'," by Shari Downhill. (Medford, OR) Mail Tribune (Apr 04, 2001)
• Interior Redesign Exchange
• "Room Designer Combines Feng Shui with Personal Possessions," by Pat Rubin. The Sacramento Bee (Sep 30, 2002).

About the Author
Wendy Croix, Ph.D. is a freelance writer, cultural critic and university professor. In her twenty years as a professional educator, Wendy has guided hundreds of students toward the careers of their dreams.

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