A NEW TAKE Making kids a space of their own
By Katherine Ritz
Excerpted from the July 2005 article 

When Lower Merion, Pa., mom Christy McCarthy and her husband adopted their second child, the room that once was a nursery for their daughter, Kate, was going to be the new bedroom for their second daughter, Caroline.  The nursery had remained the same since they had adopted Kate, so Christy wanted to do something different to give it a new look for Caroline.  But she didn’t know where to go to start.  That’s when she called interior designer Shelley Boe, of Design ‘n Style (www.designnstyle.com) in Ambler, Pa. 

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Boe designs all kinds of rooms - from mudrooms to kids rooms – from scratch, but she also does room redesign, a process that is becoming increasingly popular with homeowners.  Redesign uses furnishings the homeowner already has and rearranges them, sometimes adding new accessories or underutilized items from other areas of the home, to create a different look.  That’s just what McCarthy needed for her nursery.

            “I wanted a fresh eye to take a look at it” she says.  “I really wanted to make more use of the room and create a play area.”

            Boe says one of the first things she does in redesign is to take photos of the room, then talk to the homeowner about how the room will be used, who will use it, which furnishings need to stay and what can go.  “A lot of people have a pretty good idea of what they want, they just don’t know how to do it”.  Boe notes.

            When she returns to the home to do the redesign, she chooses a focal point for the room, arranges the furniture, starting with the largest pieces, then places the accessories such as lamps and artwork.  During the nursery redesign, Boe “shopped” McCarthy’s house, found a small table and chairs not being used in another room and created a play area in the nursery, which McCarthy wanted.  Boe then made a list of items that could be purchased later to enhance the room.  Homeowners can shop off the list at their leisure or have Boe do personal shopping for them.

            Redesigns generally take three to five hours and typically cost around $350, not including items the homeowner chooses to add to the room, Boe says.  Designing a room from scratch can run from $3,000 up, depending on fabrics and furnishings. 

            “It was a relatively inexpensive way to freshen things up without having to buy a bunch of new furnishings”, says McCarthy.   

Do It Yourself

Some homeowners prefer to tackle the project on their own.  Boe says one of the simplest and least expensive things a do-it-yourselfer can do to change the look of a room is to change the walls – whether is’s new paint, new wallpaper, or adding a border or mural.

            With redesign gaining popularity on television shows like “Decorating Cents” and  “Design Remix”, Boe recommends parents check their TV listings or look online for ideas on sites like hgtv.com and the Better Home and Garden’s Web site (www.bhg.com).

            For do-it-yourselfers starting from scratch, Debbie Fine, owner of The Baby’s Room and The Kid’s Room, Too, in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., says furniture is a huge factor in the look and feel of a room.  Fine says most parents visiting her store are starting from scratch and the first thing they tend to look at is beds – exactly where they should start.

            Whether parents choose to do it themselves or leave it up to the professionals, one thing remains the same, to create a room that is special, just for them. 

From July 2005

Katherine Ritz is a feelance writer from Birdsboro, Pa.