Practice the art of tweaking in your home

ShareThis

Q: I've heard you use the term "tweaking" before when you were talking about making beautiful displays in your home. What is tweaking, and how do you do it?A: In their free time, some of my friends adore gardening, baking or curling up with a good novel. I like to tweak. I'm not sure there is an official definition, but here's how I might describe this passion of mine: Tweaking is the art of breathing new life into your interior decor by rearranging accessories so they look fabulous individually and work together to create a display that's loaded with beauty and drama.Tweaking a room can be as minor as scooting a few accents in one direction or another so they look their best, or as major as overhauling every display in the room.But I have to warn you: Tweaking can become a highly distracting compulsion. Here's how it often works: You walk by your coffee table on the way to make a call when you notice that the centerpiece display seems a little off. So you stop for just a second to rearrange it a bit. Before you know it, you're moving pieces around and stealing treasures from other rooms to liven up the look. Finally, you come out of your trance an hour later and realize you never made that phone call!When we were first married, my husband Dan marveled at how I could spend an entire Sunday afternoon primping our home. He teased that all I did was move everything in the house one-quarter of an inch. He was right, of course, but I won't give him the satisfaction of telling him so. Instead, I've become a closet tweaker, working my magic on displays when he's not around.No matter how much Dan teases me, I won't stop tweaking because I think it's the best way to keep interior displays fun and fresh. I recommend doing a little tweaking to add new life to your home this spring.If your year-round displays need only a little fine-tuning, consider weaving in a few seasonal touches. How about tucking a fern from a quirky garden urn into a bookcase? Add a hurricane filled with spotted birds' eggs to your mantel display. Place an epergne at the center of your dining-room table, and fill its arms with cream pitchers full of spring flowers.If you are itching to do some major tweaking and want to reinvent a room, start with your floor plan. Does it make the most of the assets in your room? Is it functional and attractive? I firmly believe there is one fabulous furniture arrangement for every room. Have you nailed it? Ask a friend to come over and offer a fresh perspective, or hire a decorator who specializes in reconfiguring furniture.Once you love the layout of your room, tweak with a fury. Do you want to rehang your art, experimenting with new groupings? Try new accent lights? Invest in updated window and floor coverings? Next, it's time to sweat the details. Clear off every surface, from your mantel to your side tables, so you have a blank slate. Then pool together the accessories you might want to use in the room, from seasonal accents to year-round favorites. Go shopping in your china hutch and in other rooms of your home for pieces you can use in fun, new ways.To create harmony in the room, pick accents that repeat the room's key patterns, colors and textures. Pull together montages that mix mediums, like elegant silver and rustic wood. Vary the height of the pieces and group them layer by layer.When you're finally done and the room is fabulous, then, if you're like me, you'll smile to yourself and know you're really not done. You'll enjoy tweaking and retweaking this room for years to come.(Mary Carol Garrity is the proprietor of three successful home-furnishings stores in Atchison, Kan., and the author of several best-selling books on home decorating. Write to Mary Carol at nellhills(at)mail.lvnworth.com. For more stories, visit scrippsnews.com.)