Divorce Decorating Checklist: A Primer

• Your home needs to reflect a sense of security and serenity.
• Redecorate to reinvent; make your home look like the “new” you.
• Evoke a comfortable, cheerful appearance through furnishings and color.
• Reflect who you are, surrounding yourself with objects you like and collect, object that make you feel good about yourself.
• De Clutter – get rid of nonessential possessions, especially those of your past.
• Your home needs to reflect a sense of security and serenity.
• Redecorate to reinvent; make your home look like the “new” you.
• Evoke a comfortable, cheerful appearance through furnishings and color.
• Reflect who you are, surrounding yourself with objects you like and collect, object that make you feel good about yourself.
• De Clutter – get rid of nonessential possessions, especially those of your past.
• Repaint for a fresher, cleaner look with light reflecting colors that are bright and cheerful.
• Furnishings: Buy new furnishings that reflect your new life – in a style that reflects who you are and want to be. So, if you prefer a cleaner modern look, make it more minimal and geometric in gray, white, and black tones. Woods veer towards the darker side. For a more traditional feel, more curves and soft edges in colors of greens, yellows, and beiges. Here, light colored wood veneers.
• Lighting that is bright and ambient is essential – it changes your disposition, like the sun! Make sure that the light is up, down and through.
• Bedding: Always buy new bedding and, if possible, a new bed.
• Redecorate quickly – so that there is as smooth a transition as possible.
• Balance between having a home for you and one that accommodates children – a fine line between a “family” home and the “single” home.
• No MAD MEN drab and dull, but clean, neat, bright and light.
• Scale of furniture is important – no longer need a larger Dining Room table, but a “Chicer” one
• Keep your home neat and tidy – a clean space helps you think more clearly.
• Kitchen needs to be update or new, clean, and essential… new items, fresh paint
• Create an Office Space at home that is well organized and structured.
• Audio systems with good and proper clear sounds, reflecting a new clarity
• Maintain an organized home, where your possessions are easily located.
• From “Man Cave” to “Woman Castle,” the reinvented home reflects one’s personality.

Decorating can be your immediate first
step to reinvention after divorce; you can do it right away! A new sofa
or carpeting will quickly transform your home from drab and dull to
chic and cheerful – in one swoop! Change transforms – create a home
that is happy, beautiful, peaceful & serene!

Gail Green is an interior designer whose firm Gail Green Interiors practices interior design, architecture and decorating. With a full understanding of the complex position a recently divorced person faces, Gail Green Interiors enables them to transition smoothly from one home to another, taking care of their decorating or renovation responsibilities.