Interior Redesigners Can Give Rooms A Fresh Look

Anny Hong Reporting

(CBS13) SACRAMENTO Giving your home a new look doesn't have to cost thousands of dollars. Interior redesigners say you don't have to buy anything new!

Mark and Adriene Lepp say their family room feels a bit empty, but it still reflects their personal style.

“We want to refresh it, make it feel new again without it feeling new,” says Adriene.

While they head out to run errands with their two daughters, interior re-designer Linda Ausherman is ready to work her magic. As a redesign professional, Linda is able to bring a fresh perspective to homes, mixing and matching items from several spots in the house to finding a new use for that long lost lamp.

“It's a very attractive newer home. It'll be easy for me to make improvements the family will enjoy,” says Ausherman.

First step, Linda rearranges the big furniture pieces which lay the foundation. Then, she goes shopping for things around the house. Looking for items that are forgotten and tucked away, she finds some plates hidden in the kitchen cupboard.

“It really says a statement about the family who they are and what they love,” says Ausherman.

Redesigners charge by the hour or job. Linda charges about a hundred dollars an hour. One room makeovers can take a few hours or a whole day depending on the size.

After arranging the framed family photos, Linda finishes by adding some final personal touches. Just in time before the Lepp's return home.

Reprinted with permission of the Stockton Record.

Article published Aug 21, 2006 On the job Creating a new order Makeovers for homes improve look without new purchases

STOCKTON - With homeowner Cara Davis safely gone, Linda Ausherman and two accomplices strip the family room of its furnishings.

Ausherman has been planning the caper - a one-day makeover of the space - since Davis contacted her in July about the job.

"This room has lots of energy, but it needs editing," said Ausherman, owner of Galt's Ausherman Interiors, which focuses on redesigning rather than redecorating interiors.

Ausherman's helpers shuffle a jukebox and bookcase from the family room to the living room.

The ubiquitous big-screen television is swapped with the stereo system and positioned for better viewing. At one point, Ausherman has to crawl halfway inside the stereo cabinet to reconnect wires.

"That was tough," she said.

The trio angles the previously wall-bound sofa, places tables and chairs at its ends to create a conversation area and slides a coffee table and small bookcase into place.

A lamp, snagged from a back room, lands on an end table.

"We shop the house," Ausherman said.

Ausherman and helpers Jeannie Hohn and Veronika Blechova then begin the time-consuming task of rearranging collections of tribal masks; skulls and skeletons commemorating Día de los Muertos, or day of the dead; and other art from around the world. "Wow! What a change! I didn't even remember I had that," said Davis upon her return five hours later, motioning to an Australian aboriginal painting.

Ausherman said a periodic change of art and accessories is necessary.

"When things have been sitting in one spot for years, you don't even see them anymore," she said.

Such one-day interior makeovers using only homeowners' existing furnishings were popularized in the mid-1990s by lifestyle magazines and TV shows such as "Decorating Cents."

Ausherman, 57, took interior-design classes at Chaffey College and operated a window-covering business for 20 years before deciding to make a career change.

"Sewing all day was not my idea of fun. The part I loved most was the actual design work," she said.

In 2004, Ausherman attended a five-day Interior Arrangement and Design Association class and received IADA certification.

She later earned certification from Realty Enhancements International by taking a six-day class that focused on home staging.

Those courses have been shortened to weekendlong sessions given in various U.S. cities.

By contrast, certified interior decorators in California must have a combination of six years' education and experience and pass national and state exams.

Redesign and home-staging services have a place within the larger interior-design industry, said Doug Stead, executive vice president for the California Council for Interior Design Certification, the organization that administers the requirements of the state's certified interior-designers law.

"They apply a standard set of rules they are given by the companies that train them. It's more about removing clutter than anything else," he said.

Ausherman said redesign and home staging use the same method to accomplish different goals.

"One of the most important parts of doing a home makeover is to celebrate the homeowner's life and lifestyle," she explained. "For a staging, we tone down the homeowner's personality, broadening the appeal.

Lagging home sales have fueled the home-staging business, with real estate agents seeking every means of making properties attractive to prospective buyers.

"Their bad market is my good market," Ausherman said.

Client needs and job costs are determined during a short preview appointment.

The cost to redesign Davis' 14-feet-by-18-feet family room ran $550, a fraction of the cost of redecorating.

Ausherman's other services include move-in arrangement, party and seasonal decorating, shopping assistance and color and style consultation for clients from Sacramento to Stockton, most secured from word-of-mouth referrals or phone-book ads.

Her policy is not to judge and not to tell.

"It's very personal. Not only do I go into their houses, I go into their closets and cupboards," she said.

The only jobs she has turned down have been in the homes of hoarders, where there often are only trails left in rooms otherwise filled with mostly unnecessary items - not the problem with Davis' family room.

"It was practical but drab. It's more dynamic than what we had before," Davis said.

The Galt Herald

By Teresa Pearson February 4, 2005

Have you been looking in a magazine on home interiors and wanting your home to look just like that, but thought you could never afford it?
Galt resident Linda Ausherman, professional member of the Interior Arrangement and Design Association, owner of Ausherman Interiors, has been helping clients achieve the look of a model home or the pages in a magazine in a one day makeover and employing the "Use what you own" philosophy through a design process known as interior arrangement.
On Jan. 29, Ausherman redesigned the living room of Elk Grove residents, Tom Watkins and Toni Reynolds, with their own belongings, just prior to the couple having a party to show friends, neighbors and co-workers the end result of four hours of rearranging an already nice room into a room out of a magazine.
“Sensational and amazing,” said Toni, after seeing her living room for the first time. “This is great. I really like where all of our things have been placed. What a big difference a one day makeover can achieve.”
Although already happy with the way the room had been set up, the couple wanted to try something new and went into the interior redesign process with an open mind.
“I thought, if we don’t like it, we can always put it back the way it was,” said Watkins. “I love it this way, no need to put anything back where it was.”
Watkins and Reynolds have lived in their home in Elk Grove for two years and own Java Select, a gourmet café system that is self contained and portable for businesses that need the service but do not want the hassle of supplying their own coffee products. The couple has based their business in Galt and is members of the Galt Business Builders.
“We met at the Galt Business Builders meeting and they were interested in a one day makeover,” said Ausherman. “So we decided it would be an opportune time to also have a party for other interested people to see what I do.”
Ausherman has been in the interior decorating field since 1986. Ausherman has formal training in interior design from Chaffrey College. She lives in Galt with her husband and has three grown children and two grandchildren. With her training, she has chosen to make interior design affordable to those who could not pay the $30,000 that it would normally cost to redecorate a home with new furniture and accessories.
“I have made it so that in four hours I can charge $450,” said Ausherman, “and by using everything that is in their expression of taste and life style redecorate any room.”
With the help of an assistant, Jeannie Hohn of Galt, Ausherman is able to get the work done in a short amount of time. Evaluating the home is done the day before and then the major work is done in the four-hour time limit.
While in the home, Ausherman makes the commitment to handle all the possessions with great care and confidentiality.
“I have an appointment next week for an evaluation,” said Galt resident Jan Boyd. “I wanted to come and see what a change it made. It has more feeling. I’m going to use her.”

Redecorating doesn't have to be a costly affair

By Greg Kane
News-Sentinel Business Editor

Linda Ausherman redesigns homes for a living, but don't call her an interior decorator. The owner of Galt's Ausherman Interiors prefers a term that reflects more of what she does -- recycling used furniture and household items, moving furniture around and generally using space more efficiently.

"I call myself a rearranger," Ausherman said. "My services appeal to people that don't want to spend large amounts of money."

"Redecorating a home can give a facelift to rooms and bank accounts alike, but it doesn't have to be such a costly affair. Thousands of dollars can be saved by purchasing furniture and decorations at thrift or antique shops. Even better, the answer to that design problem could be sitting right under your own roof."

"An old mirror can be pulled out and dusted off to create a rustic look -- and make the space seem larger. A recliner from a garage sale can be picked up for next to nothing, reupholstered, and given a new life. Recycling old furniture is a way to give a room character at a low cost." Ausherman said.

"I myself have found some of my favorite pieces in thrift stores," Ausherman said. "I am basically a frugal person. I've never been one to just tell people to throw everything away and start over."

One recent client of Ausherman's was given a new bedspread she couldn't match with anything in her room. Ausherman found some old framed pictures that had been given to the woman by her parents years before.

She was only keeping them because of the frames, but Ausherman decided to hang them up and see how they looked.

"We pulled them out, and it was perfect with this new bedspread," Ausherman said.

"The use what you have idea is of the most satisfying of all instant decorating tricks," she said.

"Even rearranging furniture can breathe fresh air into a room," Ausherman said. "People too often push furniture against walls, making for awkward traffic patterns and leaving pieces too far away from one another. Just pushing a couch to the center of a room opens things up." she added.

"We tend to be a consumer society," Ausherman said. "But you can do so much by just not spending money."

Most redecorating projects aren't going to come without a pricetag. But keeping that price as low as possible might create the room you always wanted -- and never knew you had.

"Often when we finish, people can hardly believe that using the things they already had in their lives can have a fresh look and be more usable and interesting," Ausherman said.

Lodi Home and Garden Show

Redecorating doesn't have to be a costly affair