Home Makeover Story: Alisha's Living Room

I think it's funny how you can meet folks and you can connect on some level but you never really know what they do for a living.  That's when social media can help you learn more about someone...sometimes more than you care to, but in this case, it worked out well with my Afro Belly Boogie/Zumba Instructor, turned new client.Meet Alisha.  She's a young, single mom to an adorable 5 year old boy.  She works full-time as a Urgent Care RN for a local hospital and I don't know how she drums up the energy, but she also teaches 7, yes, you read that correctly, 7 dance fitness classes a week!  I can barely make it to one a week!  It's working for her though cuz she's lost over 45 lbs...go girl!!!Anyway...a few weeks back, I had an article about me published in the San Francisco Chronicle and of course, I posted it on Facebook.  (If you missed it, you can read it here)  Well, she read it and commented that she had no idea that this is what I do and that she needed my help like yesterday!  As you can imagine, people say that to me all the time, but not everyone actually follows through.  In any case, I had created a new service recently called the "As Seen on TV Makeover Experience" and remembered that Alisha had expressed interest in design services so I sent her the info.  Long story short, she was and is ready to makeover her home and we started the process.What Alisha wanted:  A kid safe/friendly home that's easy to keep clean and keep organized.  She's not afraid of COLOR and she wants a modern look! She wants her home to feel alive and warm and look expensive and tasteful on a moderate budget.  Can anyone relate?Her biggest challenge around renovating or decorating your home was having a fresh, modern creative vision and of course, budget.  Umm...she forgot to mention, lack of time considering she works full-time and teaches 7 classes that kick your you know what!  When does this woman sleep?!!!Alisha sent me pictures and we talked about what her priorities were.  We also talked about some projects that would take more time than we had in a few hours, but those are things she could do on her own and with the help of a handyman/contractor.  I have offered cost saving resources and advice and we have a game plan.Ready to see some BEFORE PICTURES?First things first...let's just state the obvious...she has  A LOT of furniture for a not so large space.  Duly noted!  These are only a few months old so we're going to make them work...just watch and see.Second, there's a lot of beige on brown.  The walls are a shade of mocha which blends into the sofa and the laminate flooring is a honey color.  The room has good bones though with crown molding and shutters on the front windows.  Alisha loves color and the artwork that's propped against the fireplace has her inspiration colors - red, orange, green, yellow - warm fall colors...how perfect!So, she and I met at the new Home Goods here in Fremont and a little over an hour later, we were able to make some major purchases - a large area rug, a tall standing mirror, some pillows, a pair of art and some decorative accessories.  Fitting it all into our cars was interesting.  I literally had the mirror above my head...being petite sure has its advantages.  We stopped at Target for a few minutes and found some really cool red pillows.  Then it was time for the really fun part to begin.At Alisha's house, we got started by moving out a sofa from her family room to make room for that extra sofa on the wall opposite the window to take its place.  Lucky for us the pieces are modular and not too heavy.  Next we moved the large round chair to the space we just emptied so it wouldn't be the first thing you see when you walked in the door.  Once we got the furniture in place, we brought in our new treasures...the standing mirror is a statement piece...it's tall and big and commands your attention - love it!  It was also an excellent price for such a large piece...thank you Home Goods!  Then, the rug came in...talk about a transformation.  The colors and the pattern really created a beautiful foundation for the furniture and accessories in the room.Designer Tip:  Don't skimp on a rug.  Make sure you get one that fills the space. Rugs can get pricey, especially larger ones, but it's not worth getting a smaller rug just so it could look like a postage stamp in the space.  Can we say, wimpy?!!  No good...get the larger rug...it's totally worth it!Then it was all about placing the pillows and accessories.  Alisha had a leather ottoman that doubled as a coffee table so adding a tray with books and some decor was just the right amount of pizzazz it needed.  We had also purchased a faux fur throw in a yummy gray and brown which I decided to casually drape over the ottoman to play down the brown.  It looks pretty chic don't you think?Even with moving a section of the couch to another room, we still had an armless chair and ottoman leftover and Alisha said it could be a chaise...perfect!  We moved it to the window side, but it was too long so...we swapped the chaise location with the round chair and it worked out great.Note: Alisha is purchasing bookcases to flank either side of the fireplace and the fireplace is going to get a facelift as well...I told you it was a work in progress.  We measured to make sure there would be enough space and with a little adjusting, everything should fit just fine.So...here's what we ended up with. You can click on the image to enlarge it.This elevation is the most complete.  We replaced the frame with personal photos with two large scale paintings that pick up the colors from the rug and just adds happiness to the space.  And I'm proud to say it only took one try to get the left side up and two on the right...Go Me!  =)This corner is looking a little bare but we have a plan for some very specific accessories and don't forget, there will be a bookcase on the left and right side of the fireplace.This side is also in transition, but when the new white bookcase comes in and this smaller, dark tone one gets moved and we add window treatments to frame the windows, it's going to look much better...just wait and see.Well, what do you think?  Keep in mind, this only took 3.5 hours to do.  That's shopping and installation.  We have 2.5 hours to finish decorating and then Alisha will put together the bookcases and her handyman/contractor will upgrade the fireplace.  Pretty dope if you ask me.  I love that someone commented on Facebook that the after is so much more cheerful...and it really is.  Alisha works so hard that her home, as Oprah says, "should rise up to greet her!"Stay tuned for Part 2 of this makeover.  If you'd like to have this experience for yourself, learn more about it here and let's talk!  Thanks for reading!