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Stuck at home? Tips from an interior designer on how to thoughtfully spruce up your space

Interior Designer Michelle Dirkse goes through her checklist of what to do if you're considering changing up your interiors.

SEATTLE — Many of us are spending a lot more time at home than we ever have before, which means we're also spending a lot more time noticing how we have our interiors set up!

If that's got you wanting to change a few things around the house or apartment, you're not alone.  Interior designer Michelle Dirkse shared a checklist of what to do if you're ready to make changes.

1. Pre- Plan 

  • Take photos of your room to have fresh eyes and truly take in your home.
  • Find inspiration. Shop Pinterest and Houzz to find rooms that you like. One can be for Inspiration photos you like, while the other can be for solutions. Reference these when refreshing your space.
  • Design by Elimination: get rid of it. Create a "donate and toss" pile for items that you don't use. Don't feel bad, let them have a new life.

2. Refresh architectural elements

  • Reference your inspiration photos to change wall/trim paint, kitchen cabinets paint and hardware. Adjust curtain heights and change light bulbs. The kitchen images are good examples for this point as they show painted cabinets.

3) Experiment with your furniture layout

  • Reference your solutions photos: Take all art off of the wall for a clean pallet (maybe they're end up back in the same place, maybe they won't). Consider adjusting your layout. Avoid everything on one wall. Do this first so that art and accessories can be placed in relation to furniture. Consider using furniture in different rooms.

4) Art

  • Rehang your artwork so that it creates a vignette with the adjacent furniture piece and at eye level. Biggest mistake I see is art hung too high. Update the photos, finish putting photos in the frame or frame artwork.

5) Accessories

  • Take all of your accessories and put them in one central location. Sort them into categories and put collections together. Then place your most loved pieces in your favorite rooms and continue until you don't have any left (or get rid of what doesn't have a home and you don't love). Keep collections together. Reference your inspiration and solutions images for vignettes to copy. 

Segment Producer Joseph Suttner. Watch New Day Northwest 11 AM weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.comContact New Day   

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