#HomeEnergy | Valentina Expressions

The Right Home Energy | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

I remember as a girl I used to come home from school and often found my room moved to a different location in my home. My mom was constantly changing rooms around as she felt the energy was not right.
As an adult and especially after I became a designer, my home layout was set at first trial, I always knew where everything was supposed to be set and stayed the same way until I moved to another city.

Lately things have not been the same for me, I felt the same restlessness my mom felt. My home had not gone under upgrade in many years. I felt the energy was stagnated.

I started to repaint furniture and various stuff. Painting makes me feel good but it is not enough. After I painted some existing furniture, I had to paint the walls behind and around those pieces, then the white door didn’t look good, the mirror needed to be changed and, as you understand, it became a domino effect. The result is that now I am redoing the look of my entire home, nothing structural, only cosmetics so far.

These in the photo below are Italian made dressers and nightstands. I was tired of this look, but could not find anything that satisfied me, too much press wood chipboard in the market. The solutions was to repaint and to give them a new face with golden onion feet and golden pulls. Here is the result of one room done in one month of redecorating work.

(Click on each photo to view it larger).

I repainted the walls behind the dressers in a faux finish treatment, called the “striated effect” and added a corded wood piece vulgarly called “chair rail”.

There is a lot more to a chair rail than just protecting the walls from chairs rubbing against them. With a little fantasy it can be applied creatively and everywhere. Here it is at the top of the striated wall.

I repainted the door as well in a whimsical way. The feeling at night with suffuse lights is exquisite and in the morning I feel I am in the sea.

By painting everything myself, I saved $5K for the faux paint job and $3K for new furniture.

Once you start redecorating, restyling or just revising some area of the home, everything else will follow, and if you are not ready to tackle what seem to be an insignificant upgrade, while you are still living in the home during the process, don’t do it, the mess is overwhelming.
Next, I will tackle the bathroom and the corridor. Ciao,
Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2021 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is an art lover, author, and a lifetime designer. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. Currently, she consults on colors that will enhance clients’ personalities and are in tune with their lifestyles. To add harmony and peace to the homes, Valentina creates atmospheres using proper lighting and creating fantasy rooms instead of typical rooms looking like furniture showrooms. She is the author of six published books, two of which are on design subjects and colors. Amazon and Barnes&Noble

The Energy Of Your Home | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

For some reason an episode that happened in my career a few years ago came to my mind yesterday while I was talking in my monthly radio show. I started to talk about how I helped a client in many aspects of his life just by changing colors. The memory was sweet.

Mark (a given name to disguise his identity), a very nice chap, professional, single and always dressed in black needed a facelift in some parts of his home. He was a neat guy, everything was in its right place, but the energy of the house was not right. In one of our thinking moments, you know, coffee, ideas and notes, he confided that something was missing in his life: a steady woman. I don’t discuss private issues with clients, not unless they start first and if they do, I am always ready to listen, it makes my business a little more human.

seated young woman Pierre-Auguste Renoir

farewell at night Georges Barbier

He confided to be ready for a long-lasting relationship and perhaps marriage. During our conversations, my eyes shifted often on the pictures on the walls, all representing women with their back to the viewers. What is wrong with this? Nothing at all, especially when the paintings are famous and you are not looking for the real woman to settle down with. In the case of my client, the women in his paintings showed their beautiful backs, but the faces were totally hidden, there was no eye connection between him and the women. It was as if they refused his energy to be part of their life, in a figurative way.

I asked him if he was emotionally attached to those paintings and if he was opposed to change them. I suggested shifting the energy by temporarily hanging some pictures of happy looking women smiling, showing their lips, theirs eyes and the full figures in plain front view, perhaps colorful vintage pin-up girls that would bring cheerfulness in his home. We did that and put away the beautiful women’s backs at least for the time being. Looking at new smiling pin-up women everyday was like calling them into his life.

Then we proceeded to change the flow of the home, rearranged furniture, substituted old tired pieces with new ones, added some fresh accessories, new wall colors and real plants that didn’t need much care. The magic happened in his wardrobe. He didn’t know I could create personal images too, or that it is part of my services. For Mark a black shirt was easy to match with a black pants and black shoes, thus easy to get dressed in the morning.

Black is the color that blocks the light and the positive or negative energy from other people. He had the answer to his problems when he heard me speaking these words. In fact he recalled episodes at his work of people being not too friendly with him and keeping away from him. Often he was not invited to social functions because people thought he was single and too busy with different women, in reality the black of his clothes prevented people to get closer to him. In a way the color black made him look too sophisticated or in the eyes of some he was “callus” and not approachable.

The obvious solution to me was to give some colors to his wardrobe and as soon as he started to come out with striped shirts, some prints, elegant solid colors with funky ties and different colors shoes to match with different color pants, his face picked up a new light, a king of positive aura and a new energy. He looked healthier and happier, people started to get closer to him because the changes opened up a friendly path, people felt invited and so did the woman of his life. Six months after this major change, the right woman appeared and they got married. That was his goal and my goal was to create a positive energy in the house and around his image.

Many people treat a home just like an investment without caring much of the content and cleanliness. Often I go into dirty and untidy homes, where I could write the story of my life on the dust of their furniture and where I can smell the fish or the bacon cooked many days before. A home has a soul and not just your soul, the walls and the upholstery breathe all the smells of the house, from perfume to fried food. Dirty windows will block the positive energy from coming in. Organized closets and drawers will help you simplify any chores. The colors of your home will depress you or make you happy, they are that powerful and the right lighting…..will illuminate you! Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer working in the USA and Europe since 1990. Often people describe her as “the colorist” as she loves to color her clients’ world and loves to create the unusual. “Vogue” magazine and many prominent publications in California featured Valentina’s work. She also has made four appearances on T.V. Comcast Channel 15. Author of three published books, the latest ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors.
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w