dear interior designers of craftster... (a contest!)

[x0xmanda]

take pity on my broke soul!!

so, here's the deal. my house is, well, a disaster. I, being 16, cannot pay to hire an interior designer and my parents are cheapasses ( did i just say that?!) anyway i have a huge favor to ask

help us redo our home!

if i like your ideas i'll make you something. probably something small though and a batch of cookies! cuz who doesnt like cookies? haha. oh well, i think you guys will have fun anyway. SO! onto the pictures.

the living room


i'd say its a mess, but honestly it looks like this most of the time. we need to maximize storage.


(view from the fireplace)





the dining room

this room does usually look better but my brother was about to move to college, so this was collecting some stuff.


thanks so much if you're willing to help us out!
i'm mainly looking for
wall color, furniture, storage, curtains, accessories but any ANY help at all would be appreciated haha.
thanks again!!

[WIPs]

Do you have any preferences as to color and design?

If you have an IKEA near you, I highly suggest you check it out!

[Jillie]

I think you could make it look a lot nicer just by cleaning up a bit and getting things off the floor.  Buy or make some shelves, or even cabinets, and store things out of the way until you need them 

Also a few big pieces of furniture tend to look better than lots of little things.  Maybe you could get one larger piece to hold your TV, books, magazines, etc. instead of having them scattered on small pieces all around the room.

I like the wall colors you already have.  Dark red is one of my favorites.

[JustDontChange]

paint, and some slipcovers for the couch, new pillows for around....
paint the bokshelves and such too.....
its just too dark in there...

[x0xmanda]

WIPs-- hmm well i'd like just plain... colors. haha.
the entire house is beige. i guess it didnt sell for a while so they "whited" everthing out. except in BEIGE. who does that, really?? everything just looks dirty, especially the tiles and stuff.

Jillie-- thanks, i like the idea for the tv and books and stuff. lol yes our entertainment center needs serious help.   the red is nice, but we havent painted any of the other walls. i'm thinking maybe mocha? but then again i think it might be good to stay away from brown/beige. how would i go about making shelves and where do you suggest i put them?

Justdontchange-  the entire house is dark. whoever built it forgot about lots of windows. but thank you for the ideas! do you think i should put bright colors in to lighten it up a bit? what were you thinking along the lines of?

[WIPs]

For lighting, maybe you could install track lighting or whatever it's called. Avoid using lamps because those will take up space.

I think that you should also clear things up and clean up a bit.  That will make it seem like there's more space.

[x0xmanda]

cleaning up would definately be a plus, but  we have the problem of having no where to put things.

[andybear]

 What I'd do.. not saying you have to.. just ideas.. Paint the fireplace wall and the window wall one color something like a lighter/brighter (a more muted red maybe) and paint the remainding walls neutral. If you want mocha (which is a nice color) make sure its not too dark because the room is already very dark.
Get some sort of horizontal blinds and a sheer fabric to use as long curtains. That way when you want light in, pull the blinds up and leave the sheer fabric over the windows (so people cant peek but lets light through) Entertainment centres are quite expensive but it would make the biggest difference that way you could get rid of the other bookcases and misc cd/dvds on the floor. Buy/make a couple simple wall shelves to put on either side of the fireplace and put all the other lil trinkets you/your parents might want on them. In the corner near the kitchen put a corner desk, it will give you a lot more room.


thats about all i can think of for random ideas, hope i helped a bit
have fun decorating!

[batgirl]

Since the rooms are all visible at the same time, pick 3 colors that go well together, 1 for each room. They could be 3 levels of the same color (like 3 in a rown on a paint chip) or 3 different colors that go together nicely. Choose colors that make you feel happy. I'd go with "earthy" warm but fairly pale colors since your furniture and carpet are neutral/earth shades. Maybe a subtle yellow/gold, light green, and khaki? Or buttery yellow, light terra cotta, and cream? Even taupe, light iris, light green. Bring home lots of paint chips and pick ones that make you feel good, then go from there. Maybe add some big white paper hanging lights or something to to add airy light instead of the lamps, bigger, lighter art instead of the small pictures, or maybe a long display shelf for small pictures? Straighten up the clutter and maybe add a bigger peice of storage furniture instead of multiple small ones?
Good luck!

[x0xmanda]

wow great ideas you two!!
i especially like the ideas of the sheers and the paper lanterns.