redecorate.com

Saturday, October 10, 1998

Section: LIFESTYLE

UPDATE EVERY ROOM USING WHAT YOU HAVE
By Barbara Hertenstein Post-Dispatch Home Editor

LAURI WARD is sitting on a big letter H on the cover of her new book.

"It's all part of `use what you have'!" she says with a laugh as she settles into a more comfortable seat to explain her interior-design philosophy. It's spelled out pretty clearly on the book cover: "Use What You Have Decorating" (Putnam, $25.95) and summed up neatly in the subtitle: "Transform your home in one hour with 10 simple design principles - using the space you have, the things you like, the budget you choose."

"Everyone has a jigsaw puzzle," Ward says of people's homes. "It's just that sometimes the pieces aren't in the right place." But putting the pieces together is easy, she says, if you look for 10 common mistakes and correct them. Once you have the idea, you can walk into a room and make a big change in about an hour.

Ward started her career as a more typical interior designer in New York.

"I think people should have what they like around them," Ward said during a recent visit to St. Louis. "I was uncomfortable telling someone they have to get rid of everything and start over."

So she came up with the use-what-you-have concept - and made it the name of her firm. "I wanted people to know exactly what I did. And people loved it. They were so happy to hear that they didn't have to spend a lot of money to get a new look.

"Everyone deserves attractive rooms," she says, but do-it-yourselfers often are afraid to buy anything for fear of making an expensive mistake. "A sofa is not like a blouse you wear once and decide you don't like. You can't just hide it in the back of your closet."

A good way to begin is to rearrange what you have; that way you'll have a better idea of what you need - if anything at all. Most of the before-and-after photos in her book show transformations made with very few purchases or none at all. Often just a lamp or small table is added to make the furniture arrangment work more effectively.

Each layout shows before-and-after photos and a floor plan, and lists what the decorator and owner banished from the room, what they borrowed from other roooms and what they bought.

The rooms pictured are spaces everyone can relate to.

"Those decorating magazines are beautiful, but they're fantasies," Ward says. "They're not much help for the working woman who only has a few hours to spend on decorating."

After 17 years of experience, Ward can redo most rooms in about an hour. She and her staff use what you have in the room they're hired to improve or look around the house and find furniture or accessories to use.

Ward has a New York staff and has taught workshops for designers from all over the country, who go back to Dallas, Boston and St. Louis to use her methods. They charge a flat rate ($225 for an average size room). Call (800) 938-7348 for information..

And what is the decorating mistake she and her staff find in almost every home?

"Hanging art too high!" she says without a moment's hesitation. "Everybody should lower their art 3 inches!"

Below are 10 common mistakes, according to Ward, and her tips for correcting them. "It's instant gratification!" she says.

1. Not defining your priorities. How you decide to invest your decorating budget depends whether you rent or own.

2. An uncomfortable conversation area. "So often people have furniture too far apart. They find they have to scream across the room!"

3. Poor furniture placement. Often the furniture blocks traffic patterns. "Or they have a wallflower look, with all the furniture around the outer edge of the room. I pull the sofas off the wall, and they say, `My gosh, I don't have to shout across the room anymore'."

4. A room that is off balance. If you have a tall armoire, for instance, you might balance it with a tall plant.

5. Furniture of different heights. Extremely tall and short pieces can give your room a roller-coaster look. Art that jumps up too high on the wall contributes to the problem.

6. A room that lacks a cohesive look. Pairs of lamps, sofas, candlesticks all help give the room a certain rhythm. If you have two different brass lamps, you might put matching shades on them, she suggests.

7. Ignoring the room's focal point. It might be a view, a piece of furniture, a painting or a fireplace, but having a focal point helps pull the room together.

8. Improper use of artwork. Don't hang art too high. And keep one wall bare. "You need a place for your eye to rest."

9. Ineffective use of accessories. Pull like objects together, arrange them on a table or shelf, and you have a collection that has more impact than the separate pieces scattered around the room. Don't use everything you own at one time. Change your art and accessories with the seasons, and you'll appreciate them more.

10. Using lighting incorrectly. You need three kinds of lighting in each room - general, task and accent.