media

The Fresno Bee
4.16.02

Rooms To Change
Tips on home decorating from the designers on the popular television show 'Trading Spaces'

By Rick Bentley


The thought of redecorating your home creates images of gut-wrenching color choices, months of living in only one room, massive holes where plaster used to exist, battles with headstrong decorators and a final bill that suggests moving would have been a cheaper option.

Certainly all of those are possible scenarios with any home-improvement project. But there is one television show that demonstrates it is possible to redo any room in your home for less than $1,000, complete the work in less than 48 hours and retain your sanity.

"Trading Spaces," one of the top programs on The Learning Channel, provides a voyeuristic look at the first big decorating trend of the 21st century -- house swapping. The series, hosted by Paige Davis and based on the British show "Changing Rooms," finds neighbors brave enough to spend two days in each other's homes. During the visit, each team completely revamps a room.

"Trading Spaces" uses a handful of resident designers, a group that draws on diverse styles from art deco to colonial, that includes Frank Bielec and Genevieve Gorder. Bielec's a Texan with a knack for being done on time and under budget. Gorder's more of a free spirit. Both styles work in a television format that starts in a manner contrary to the way most design projects begin.

"When we start our designs, we have not met the people who own the home we are working on. All we can do is guess at what they would like," Gorder says with a wave of her hand and a melodramatic tone. Her designs may tend to lean toward the calm, but she's a flamboyant character.

Gorder adds, "It's a game of trust." The New York-based designer is considers the first victory in any design project getting a person "thinking" about how a room can be changed.

"To get them moving and redesigning that room and then maybe going onto another room, I feel fantastic," Gorder adds.

The idea both bring to the show is to present projects the average viewer can accomplish using a few guidelines:

   * It's about simplification: Both designers agree most houses are too cluttered. Bielec suggests taking some of the stuff out of a room you are looking to redo. Then look at what you have.

"There had to be something that drew you to that object when you bought it," Bielec says.

One of the biggest mistakes Bielec has seen is the cluttering of a room with a lot of things that don't go together.

   * Don't be afraid to be frugal: Gorder's redesigns often use large photographs. Instead of paying $40 for each enlargement, she uses her home computer and a copy machine to make bigger photos for about $2.

   * Save your back: Instead of moving all the furniture in the room around and around, the designers suggest making a scale drawing of the room with scale-size furniture.

You can then move the pieces around to see how things will look without all of the backbreaking work.

   * Hue is the thing: Color is the most dramatic and affordable change.

"I think [the key] is finding three key elements in a room that you are really attached to and forming a color palette around that," Gorder says.

Remember that if you are working with a very small room, don't use a dark color on the walls. If you are working with a large room, you are free to use a dark color.

It is acceptable to paint the walls of a room different colors, but don't go with two equally bold colors. Go with an aggressive and a passive color. Finding balance is the key to every room.

   * Don't buy the first thing you see: Furniture stores are huge open spaces. Remember the size of the room to be redone. Don't put a massive piece of furniture in a room the size of a closet.

   * Think before you start the job: People get sidetracked because they don't have a game plan. Take your time. The work can be done on the weekends.

   * Nothing is forever: Gorder says that many people think that once they have done something to a room, the work can't be changed. She suggests making changes every year or two years.

   * Start small: If the idea of redoing a room looks like a major chore, start with easy changes. Don't redo the entire kitchen. Pick a certain element to focus on, such as the cupboards or counters.

Even following these rules, designers make mistakes. Part of the appeal of the show is that while many of the homeowners are tickled to have a new look, other homeowners aren't as happy.

Take, for example, the episode of "Trading Spaces" in which Gorder created a now-infamous moss wall in the bedroom of Jennifer Johnson. The viewer who volunteered to be on the show never expected to see a wall covered with the green stuff found growing on the north side of trees.

"It lasted a whole whopping three days," Johnson says of the "Trading Spaces" redo of her bedroom. She cringed at the thought of having to face a sickly green wall each night when she went to bed. The bedroom was left untouched just long enough for friends and neighbors to see the work done for the television show. The moss was tossed and a granite tile floor removed to be used for a fireplace redo.

Those who agree to appear on the show have to pay for any changes they make if they don't like the redo. As Bielec puts it, "tough lucksky, buddy."

Bielec has become one of the show's most popular designers because of his frugal, honest nature. It doesn't hurt that he looks like Captain Kangaroo's kid brother. Bielec brings a down-home approach to the show cultivated through his day job. When not guiding teams on "Trading Spaces" Bielec runs a craft company with his wife, Judy. So Bielec understands the average person doesn't want to spend a small fortune to redecorate.

He has a very practical suggestion for saving money: "I'm a coupon person, the coupon king of the universe. I am a shopper," Bielec says.

No matter what budget limitations a person faces, Bielec stresses that a gallon of paint is a cheap way to help a room. The cost of the paint can be reduced even more by checking hardware stores for discounted gallons of paint that were mixed improperly. The paint is fine if you're willing to be flexible with color.

Transcript appears courtesy of The Fresno Bee, copyright 2002© All Rights Reserved