Page 2 of At Home With A Designer An Interview with Lyn Peterson

Lyn Peterson's tips on budget decorating, advice on starting out, and seasonal changes...

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Q. What advice do you have for someone with a new house to decorate and perhaps a limited budget?

Lyn Peterson: "It's very much like getting dressed. Your home needs to be decent. You need a shoes, pants, and a shirt. Earrings, mascara, those come later. In a home that means starting with the basics in descending order; kitchens and baths need to function or you cannot live. You need a bed upon which to sleep - another necessity; a table to share meals with family and friends, a sofa or chairs to sit on and lamps with which to read. Window treatments if a must have for privacy.

"All the rest is make-up and cosmetics. Don't keep reconsuming the same things over and over. If you have a couch, use it even if only "for now"... for now is ok if you already own something, just not acceptable for any new acquisitions. Remember that there is no design without light. If it comes to a choice between a throw pillow and a lamp, I know what I'd choose. Overhead lighting is unflattering and not task oriented.

"Try to do the surgery first. Get the patient, your home, healthy. Add the trimmings later."

Q. What advice do you wish someone had given you about funishing your own home when you first started out?

Lyn Peterson: "I wish someone had told me not to throw anything away. I sold off my grandparent's mahogany dining room set with 12 leather chairs. Totally cool, totally my family. Guess what? I was into pine as a newly married. It's not like buying sweaters or shoes. Where do we have this body of knowledge, this wealth of experience that tells us, if you are like me, you can't wear V-necks because my neck is so long I look like a giraffe. I needed to learn not only what I liked but worked for me and my family. A young person should trust their instincts.

"We become so contaminated by what we see in the magazines. They decry "Navy is the new pink, brown is the new black, sisal is in or sisal is out!" You need to try to reach deep inside to find the true you (very California here) -- what you like and not what you think you should like. Ultimately that is what makes a successful interior -- the consistency of your point of view, your perspective. If you buy something because it is in fashion and not because it is truly you, then when it goes out of fashion you will hate yourself. So...never buy anything in fashion because then it can never be out of fashion. And don't throw anything of good quality away. Only toss the junk, or you'll regret it later."

Q. Many people like the idea of updating their interiors for the seasons. What techniques do you use to transition your home from winter into spring/summer?

Lyn Peterson: "In today's fast paced world we no longer subscribe to those decorating rituals of the past. Now we have TV and computers. We have no time to change rugs. However, those small subtle changes that we make, almost unconsciously are still meaningful.

"For me that means rolling up an oriental rug in the entry and leaving the gleaming wood floors. I started to do this to save wear and tear on my threadbare, decades-old family rug during the most active skate board, roller blading, razor scooter seasons when people roll, rather than walk, through my home! But found I liked the pristine emptiness and now do it seasonally. In the family room I have a sectional and a door to the terrace. I remove a piece of the sectional in the summer months allowing better access to the outside and hopefully encouraging less TV watching through less seating.

"Of course, I pack up my throws and quilts and remove a few throw pillows. Flowers, plants, evolve naturally, they sort of roll over like a wardrobe. All of a sudden something looks too wooly or a plant looks too 'fall' and it is time to store the dried hydrangeas and put away the bittersweet. I summer a lot of my plants outside in the warm months... sending them to 'plant camp' in the yard. When there is so much visible greenery outside I find I need fewer inside.

"Surprisingly I find I use candles, hurricane lamps, lanterns more in the summer than in the winter. The long twilights and slowly darkening evenings seem to engender them more than the pitch blackness of winter where I definitely need light bulbs. For winter a whole round of new 3 way bulbs to fight off the gloom. Install a dimmer switch. They cost under $10 and you can do it yourself. That way in these days of darkness you will always have just the right degree of light."

Q. What decorating techniques/ideas/projects would you recommend to a homeowner who wants to rev up the look of a bedroom or living room for Spring, without spending a fortune?

Lyn Peterson: "Color and pattern are back in in a big way. One has only to look through a clothing catalogue. Once sacrosanct bastions of all white are now sporting madcap combos of pattern and print. Color prevails. Don't go crazy. but these newer looking mid-value tones are somehow so right for now. No more pasty pales or deep dark drenched colors, rather something in between.

"Try punching up the color in a bland boring room. Use an ambiguous color - something organic: lichen, fog, mirage, haze. Or try adding some tang. Mustard is back but this time it has some tang to it. But greener and sharper. Maybe that's chartreuse trickle down. Greens are olive - the clear tanginesss of a beautiful green olive. Neutrals have gone khaki -- think Gap pants for a wonderful neutral that welcomes all other colors.

"Toss some splashy throw pillows on that neutral chenille or canvas couch. Forget the bibelots, bells and whistle in the form of beads and trims. Let color and pattern do the talking... a crazy hot pink, magenta, marigold and cobalt madras plaid.... a chartreuse, plum and teal floral. These bold ingredients distract the eye, trompe the eye and give that tired old couch a new lease on life."

Continue to Page 3 --
Trends in kids rooms, bookshelf ideas, and some great color advice..