By Pat Allin

The weather may still be hot, but we all know Fall is on the way. This is the time of year you think of projects you want to do when the weather cools down but that require having windows open, like painting or refinishing furniture.

How can you revive your rooms without throwing out all your old furniture and spending a fortune? I would like to talk about sprucing up your rooms by using what you already have in a different way.

To do this, it is best to establish priorities. Walk through your house. What pops out at your first? Are you tired of the color, or lack of color, on your walls? Do you find the arrangement of furniture not quite working out? Are your accessories looking a little tired?

You want your belongings to bring you pleasure and to say who you are. You will feel better when you surround yourself with color, light, textures, and objects that have particular meaning to you.

Perhaps you might just want to make your walls a little more interesting by washing a new color on top of the old. This is not that hard to do and can add depth and dimension. If you do this yourself, you will feel enormously creative in the process. It is kind of like finger painting and discovering color for the first time.

A quart of paint costs about ten dollars. Water-based paints are easy to deal with. Water will thin them to a consistency for washing over another color. Clean-up is simple. You can have a lot of fun, and, if you don't like the results, you can easily change it. Get over the idea that it has to be perfect the first time. Play with it until it looks just the way you want it to. Choose a small area, say two feet by four feet, or three by six feet, to sample your colors until you are sure you like the results.

Check out your furniture. Is your conversation area uncomfortable? Does the room seem out of balance? Does it all hang together? It is not that hard to push furniture around if you enlist the help of friends. If you can't work it out, call me.

Establish a focal point for your room. Most often, it is really the television. So accept that and make yourself comfortable. If you have a fireplace, it can still be seen if it is at a right angle to the television. Avoid having traffic go through this area. Be sure the light is right for the activities going on there - television, reading, gazing at artwork.

Start dreaming. Collecting ideas from magazines is a good place to start. You can quickly decide what appeals to you and what does not. Collect these ideas in a notebook or files divided into areas you want to improve.

"A home is a precious gift you give to yourself. And it gives back daily." Oprah said in this Spring's issue of O At Home. It is really worth making your home what you want it to be.

Published in The Monitor, Montrose, CO. Copyright © 2005 by Pat Allin