It’s been a fun month, sharing some of the great ways we turn less into more and more into less.

It starts with you and the things you love and treasure most. There’s always a way to bring balance and style, form and function to any room in your home.

And that’s been our goal at Metamorefix from Day One: we want you to walk in the door and think, “Aaaah, I’m home.” That should bring a big, relaxed smile to your face.

If it doesn’t, call us! and thanks for reading our series this month…

It was our first appointment with a new client. She walked us through her home as we talked, brainstorming ideas as we learned about her taste and style. She paused at a hallway closet and, on an impulse, threw open the door and briefly rummaged around inside. “Can you do anything with this?” she asked.

She was holding a large bolt of fabric. But it was not just any fabric. It was one of the most scrumptuous pieces of cloth we had ever seen.

We immediately knew what to do: custom bedding for her Master Bedroom, one of the most important rooms in a home. The fabric became the literal centerpiece of a new bedspread, with pillow shams, throw pillows, curtains, even the room’s wall and ceiling color designed around it.

And that makes for a very cool Metamorefix.

We’re crazy mad for re-upholstering any sofa or chair with a good hardwood frame.

For starters, it keeps it out of the landfill. If you have a piece that’s 10 yrs old or older, it’s probably in pretty good shape other than wear and tear. You get a custom piece of furniture with just the right colors, texture, and pattern for your room at a price well below a brand-new custom piece. And don’t forget the cush for your tush! When you re-upholster, you can get exactly the feel you want.

Talk about a win-win!

When it’s in the budget, we love to recommend custom curtains and hardware for the Living Room, Dining Room, and Master Bedroom.

You really can’t beat it for the finishes, the gorgeous carved wood, the perfectly-fitted turnback at the edges. And the pleats! I love the three-finger French pleat!

But you don’t have to get curtains-to-close to have a great impact. Two smaller, decorative curtain panels either side of the window in just the right colors and pattern make an amazing statement. It’s much friendlier on the budget, too.

We ask only that you fall in love with the fabric. We want you to look at it and enjoy it for a long, long time!

We see so many cluttered, crowded shelves! If you’re willing to weed through a few things, you can end up with beautifully arranged shelves that make a design statement and give your favorite objects room to breathe!

Here’s an example:

Place books with books, photos with photos, and use objects d’art sparingly. Leaving air around  them gives a “pop.” You can really see and enjoy their beauty. And don’t even bother to decorate a TV: just make the other shelves so pretty that the TV is just background.

We are crazy mad about woven wood blinds!

We love the variety in the patterns, the versatility in function, and the texture and color they bring to any room. From formal settings with silk curtain panels either side to a “frame” that lets you enjoy sky and leafy trees outside your bathroom window, woven woods are a terrific solution for any window.

Here’s an example of the kind of design idea that makes Metamorefix such a fun, rewarding place to work.

This cabinet was not only an antique, it had a very special place in our clients’ hearts. It was handmade by his grandfather, a dentist, and was used for many years in his office. It was tall, skinny, and impractical but beautifully painted, with  gorgeous hand-designed doors.

Thank goodness for plasma TVs! We instantly saw the possibilities: this treasure could be converted into an entertainment center, a showpiece for the LR instead of a beloved but lonely piece stuck in a back corner of the office.

Here’s how it came out:

We really don’t have anything against accent walls except for one, teeny-tiny thing:

We don’t like accent walls.

You know the ones we’re talking about, right? The big, bold swath of color that always seems to make its way to the wrong wall. We see this often, usually in homes where the client loves color but just isn’t sure how to go about it.

So they pick one wall.

If your heart is set on an accent wall, go for the big wall in the room, the one without windows. Anything else can chop a room into pieces and will always be a little jarring when you enter. And that’s the last thing we want you to feel when you enter any room in your home.

So consider this: take that big bold color, choose a shade that has a green or brown undertone (instead of blue or yellow), and go for it on all four walls – make that all FIVE walls for a total cocoon effect. The undertone softens the color, and more color softens the overall effect.

Here’s what we mean:

Overhead lighting is a necessary evil, but it can be used sparingly.

Who doesn’t like the convenience of flipping on a switch to flood a room with light? But we tend to design with overhead lighting as a secondary source of wattage.

We like lamps for the main event. Tall table lamps with 3-way bulbs for reading, small lamps with hand-painted bases on a timer for entry lights near the front door, and statement-piece floor lamps to set the mood for entertaining. Here’s a favorite:

Do you have bookshelves in your home?

Built-ins, maybe, or those tall oak bookcases from Costco or Sam’s that weigh a ton? Or you might have a large entertainment center overloaded with books, photos, or even old mail sticking out between the DVDs.

We’ve seen all this and more.

A little time is all that is needed to create design out of disaster. And one of the best ways to get a rhythm going with your bookshelf design is to get like things together on your shelves, such as books.

There’s something very neat and pulled-together about a row of books snugly packed on a shelf, particularly hard-back books. They don’t even have to be arranged by jacket color or by height. And since books have a solid, weighty look to them, use the bottom shelves for the “book” part of your bookshelf. Take a look at this example: