topic Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER in Home

'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Oznell — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 21:12:00 GMT

Maria Killam has a busy friend, Brigida, with a small apartment, who tirelessly works to get food for a homeless population and seniors.

Tony and Brigida

So she authorized Maria to take her black and white apartment, and warm it up quickly, on a budget! She had mostly bought model furniture from the first apartment they looked at in the building.

It's a realistic 'refresh', because Maria needed to work with a lot of what was already there, and staying, like Tony's large recliner.

BEFORE:

The living room is small, but has some nice assets like a fireplace and large windows. But it looks de-personalized, with a too-small rug, devoid of color, and there's no warm or romantic lighting. Here Maria shows where a lamp should be added:

They decided on green as an accent color to add to the black, and Maria was off to Home Sense to pull together the look. She created a "mood board" of the items right in the store:

Including green 'linen-look' occasional chair to anchor the new scheme--

AFTER:

Her addition of lamps makes a big difference to the warmth of the space. That, plus:

Her green accents in chair, lamp, pillow, and throws;

Adding the large landscape and bird art to the big white-on-white flower on the wall;

Even the pair of small botanical prints over the TV is compatible with the other art, and eases the bleak white boxy-ness of the room--

A much bigger rug;

The simple vignette of flowers, book and candle on the coffee table, and the plants on the brick sill;

And even the cream "ball pillow" to add whimsy to the recliner, bring more life to the room.

So much more comfy, and more cheerful.

More green, in lamp and new chair on left.

"BEFORE" DINING AREA:

The dining room was OK, with its modern table and cane back chairs. It just needed some personality.

Botanicals, a lamp, and a fruit bowl keep it from being a random catch-all.

And another lamp dresses up the small buffet.

It's almost like working a puzzle, when you have a space that isn't ideal, ( with oddities like a brick window sill), and that you can't really change much, because it's a rental or because of budget constraints.

Most people probably like to slowly decorate their spaces over time -- I know I do. But for someone like Brigida, who trusted Maria to reflect her taste, the whirlwind "glow-up" was just what she wanted. She was thrilled!

The overnight changes can be built on in the future, like getting nice curtains perhaps, to go over the shades at the window, something that would amp up the cozy factor even more...

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

shoekitty — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 21:31:21 GMT

How fun! I would love a friend like that. Send that girl my way.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Kachina624 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 21:37:08 GMT

The "after" is a big improvement but the room still seems very bland. I think the green pillows are insignificant and need to be a brighter color, perhaps with some pattern or interesting texture. The room cries for some interest. Window coverings would help a lot.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

jlkz — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 22:29:09 GMT

That wire coffee table takes up a lot of real estate. There needs to be some space, like a shelf under a glass top to provide needed storage.

Those wires collect dust and are a needless chore that could be done away with.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Happy2BHere — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 22:57:34 GMT

@Oznell wrote:

AFTER:

I always hate to be picky in commenting on the "afters" - especially considering how much work someone has done - but I agree with @Kachina624 and would like to see a bit more color besides green.

Even the fruit in the dish on the dining room table is green. But I also noticed "Tony" is wearing a green jacket in the first picture, so green might be their very favorite color. I'm glad the owners are thrilled with the results.

Another personal preference would be different artwork (shown behind Maria K above), and different placement on the wall, but that's just me. I know I drive my DH crazy when I have him help me with hanging art here at home ("a little to the right", "no, go more to the left", "go down a little", etc, etc. )

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Marsha2003 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 23:20:20 GMT

I think Maria's work warmed up the rooms and gave them a bit of interest. It's always interesting to me to see the homes of those who absolutely have no interest in decor. I have friends like that. They are passionate about their other interests, but expend no effort to decorate their homes. I always wish I could have a reasonable budget and permission to give their rooms some joy, but of course, since they are friends, I instead stay quiet and accept them (and their houses) as they are.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Desert Lily — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 23:22:37 GMT

The "After" living room is too crowded, way overdone. The wall art looks like it's been thrown up to cover every space possible. The room no longer feels relaxing.

That new green chair is something else, & there's not enough space for the end table next to the lounge chair.

The "Before" could've added colored pillows on the sofa, a coffee table that fits the size of the room, & a floor lamp.

To me, the change in the dining room is silly.Books no one will read stuck under a lamp, a huge vase, & a big bowl simply replaced the computer where the resident needed to work.

The small buffet/chest is topped with over-sized stuff and again looks crowded & without thought.

It was a kind gesture, but I'm betting the resident would change some things back.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Mz iMac — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 23:23:05 GMT

@Oznell That apartment does not look small to me. Especially w/that large dining room table. I have never seen a small apartment w/both a functional living & dining room.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

DSD2 — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 23:25:07 GMT

I always want to be positive but to be honest, I'm struggling a bit here.

To be fair, I think all of the furniture and artwork would need to have been changed to make a difference. It still looks drab; some color in the rug might have made a huge difference.

The windows (not a great view) would definitely benefit from curtains.

The lamps in the living room do look good but I don't care for the large piece of artwork; the wall needed more before now it needs less.

The accents like the flower arrangement and pictures near the TV are nice. I like the lamp and botanical arrangement on the dining room table but not the fruit bowl.

Thank you for the post @Oznell

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Queen of shop — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 23:51:15 GMT

@Oznell Not crazy about the "after". Seems like she took a trip to Home Goods and just bought stuff with not so much great thought. Just my opinion.

The stuff on the dining room table would drive me nuts. If you are entertaining some friends, you have to remove books and a lamp??? Not to even mention that huge vase with silk flowers. Nope. There has to be a better way or only leave the fruit bowl as decor. Easy to remove for company.

The buffet has been rendered useless with the stuff on top. You would have to remove all of it to place dishes with food or glasses, wine bottle and ice bucket.

The coffee table is way too big for that space too.

I really don't like any of it, but as always thanks for the post. @Oznell I love your posts. They get me thinking and creative juices flowing.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Oznell — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 01:49:57 GMT

Hey, I think it's very sweet that a few of you feel bad about not being positive, in your reactions to any of these posts. Don't worry one second about that! Your opinions matter, whether I agree in part or in full, or not at all.

I've noticed before that Maria's "one-day" makeovers tend to not find not much favor here, and that's fine.

Personally, I like it when she sort of meets people "where they are at", and accepts the challenge of getting it all done in a whirlwind. It's just one day. It imposes certain potentially daunting limits, and they can't always get everything they want in one go, but it's always with the full cooperation of her "client". As I said, this process is definitely not the slow, savoring of a lifetime of deliberative curation.

I see so many of those, and love them. But, also get a kick out of this more "quickie" ( ha) aspect of Maria's work. And as I mentioned, she's giving them a start, with the opportunity to build on what's been done.

By the way, I'd not think twice about sweeping off the lamp from the table for dining. She mentioned that herself. I love a more lived-in, "library look" in a dining area, and I think she helped give this rather severe, clinical area, as she did in the living room, just more 'oomph' and vivacity....

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

qualitygal — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:22:08 GMT

@Oznell The one place I recall, that I really noticed the lights or lighting, was the old show, West Wing. They used that lighting, to warm certain areas and I just loved it. I agree the lights do add accent.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

shoptilyadropagain — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:38:42 GMT

IMHO the "after" isn't really an improvement in either room. They just have more "stuff" that really isn't necessary and just gives the rooms a cluttered vibe. It wouldn't have taken much to pull each "before"room together and give them a more inviting look and feel.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Iwantcoffee — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:49:43 GMT

@jlkz wrote:
That wire coffee table takes up a lot of real estate. There needs to be some space, like a shelf under a glass top to provide needed storage.

Those wires collect dust and are a needless chore that could be done away with.

I would remove the coffee table. I like space to walk and move around.

We do not have a coffee table.

Instead of the art on the walls, I would add pretty, colorful pillows to the sofa.

We had a neighbor who made her pillows and they were beautiful, added so much

interest and color to the room.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

50Mickey — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:46:58 GMT

I watched the video on YouTube where she explained why she decorated the two rooms the way she did. I will say that the rooms looked better in the video than the still pictures. She also replaced the living room rug.

My thoughts on the living room is that the placement of the furniture needs to be changed. I don't know how but that back wall looks strange with the placement of the artwork. Maybe one large picture that would bring in green and warm tones would be be better that the additional pictures that look like they are just thrown up on the wall.

I would remove the books and lamp and just have one thing on the dining table either the vase of flower stems or the bowl.

Maria did a good job with what she had to work with and I bet she had a small budget. I enjoyed her video and I am going to watch some more. Thanks Oznell for posting this.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

Sooner — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:55:32 GMT

The designer did a fabulous job and used a few tricks to fool the eye into seeing more space. She used large art in a variety of sizes and styles and spaced them to cause eye movement, thereby making a sense of more space visually.

Photographers and photo editors know that eye movement that creates a great photo and makes the viewer become more involved than a single point of interest.

She added lighting and objects to encourage eye movement--which creates that sense of space.

And she used muted colors in the same values to give a restful sense to the room. More colors or brighter would have made it feel cramped and busy. Enough is enough. I would have liked blue, but green gives a little more warmth.

I am so thankful for this post! We are sorting through and hanging a LOT of artwork of various sizes and styles this week.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

CANDLEQUEEN — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:06:40 GMT

I think it needs a bit more color, and I really don't care for the artwork either. It seems disjointed some how to me.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

faeriemoon — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:23:37 GMT

I think she did a great job considering what she had to work with, and the time frame limitations. I like the green accents, and considering how small the space is, I think they are green enough. If they were too bright they would really overpower the rest of the decor.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

DottieBlue — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 03:10:34 GMT

I think she did a wonderful job, especially when you take into consideration that the clients needed to keep most of their things.

I've never seen a lamp placed on a dining table before. Is there a floor outlet for it, or does the cord stretch across to a wall outlet? I probably would have used a wall sconce or floor lamp instead.

But all in all, I think it is a wonderful improvement.

Reading this thread makes me miss the decorating shows that HGTV used to have.

Re: 'REALISTIC' ONE DAY RENTAL MAKEOVER

QVCisFun — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:07:54 GMT

This is another nice quick makeover by Maria Killam, @Oznell .

Like the big landscape picture she chose for the living room wall, and it was a way to add more green(ery) in the room. Like how she arranged the pictures on that wall. She has a talent for creating nice gallery walls, which I think are hard to do well.

The lamps make a big difference and add warmth.

Even though the dining room looks nicer in the After photo, don't care for lamps on dining room tables (except, for example, when working on a project that needs more light), as they seem in the way, inconvenient, the light is cast too low to evenly illuminate the table when dining, it's hard to pass the mashed potatoes to the person sitting across from you although the meat balls can be tossed over, the cord to the wall may present a tripping hazard, . . . Do like the botanicals.

Fascinated by bricks being on the interior window sill, seems very unusual. A cushion might be a nice addition to go with the pillows already on the brick.

Rearranged some of the Before-and-After photos, that were taken from the same angle, to be next to each other (makes it easier for me to compare):

Before and After: