Today we’re excited to introduce Anne Smyers, founder and principal designer of House to Home One-Day Decorating based in Reston, Virginia and serving the Washington DC metropolitan area. Her company, House to Home seeks to provide affordable design services for the 99% who want warm, comfortable homes meant for living in, not just looking at. Anne’s goal is to help clients make better use of what they already own too so that their homes both nourish and support them in living their best lives, and reflect who they truly are so that home feels like a perfect fit for them. She trained with Lauri Ward of Use What You Have Interiors and has earned Gold Member Status in the Interior Redecorators Network every year since joining in 2010.
Today Anne shares some of her awesome work and finds from online second hand shopping, curbside finds and yard sale bargains that she’s incorporated into her clients’ homes, enjoy!
The dining room chairs in this client’s home were worn and dated, and the client had negative associations with the family member they had come from. We found the set of red leather chairs from Crate and Barrel online second hand for $50 each, a savings of $200 per chair. The contemporary chairs brought a more streamlined and colorful look to the mix of inherited antiques and plain townhome architecture.
The two Asian items in the photo below were used in the same dining room as accent pieces. The Japanese lamp was actually found on the curb one trash day as I was driving to a morning appointment. I immediately thought of this client and her love of Asian decor and rescued it. The piece was beautifully incorporated along with the Chinese print seen hanging on the wall, purchased second hand online for $20.
In working with another client on her living room, we determined that the coffee table impeded traffic and made the room feel too crowded. It also had a busy marble top that clashed with the pattern in the rug. I found these leather storage cubes with tops that can flip over and function as trays, to use in lieu of a coffee table. They were purchased second hand online for $20 each. The pair of red glass lamps from a local yard sale cost $30 for the pair and replaced a mismatched set previously in use. We switched out the red shades they came with for lighter and brighter white ones, and raised the one lamp up on books so that the two lamps are at the same height even though the side tables are not.