Interiors: Beat winter blues with fun tape projects

Now that all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, there usually arrives that feeling of "now what?" Well, I'll tell you what. Refresh the look of your home without spending any money — or, at least, very little. That sounds like a doable deal, right? Let's see what can be done.

Starting with the living room, consider how the furniture can be rearranged.

Give the entire room a fresh take by switching the sofa to the opposite wall and rearranging the love seat and chair to accommodate the mirror image. How about putting that sofa and all the rest of the furniture on an angle? Or place the love seat across from the sofa instead of at a right angle to the sofa. Sit in the room for a while and dream of the possibilities.

If you are not sure your rearrangement will fit, I have a solution for you. Scotch-Blue painter's tape (available in home-improvement shops and paint stores) is easy to use and sticks to whatever surface. Lay out your rearrangement design by sticking the tape to floors or walls. When you pull it off, only the tape comes off and not the wall, paint, wood, etc.

To do this, measure the largest piece of furniture and start there. Let's say it's the sofa. Measure the length and the depth, then cut the painter's tape to the size of the sofa. Stick the tape on the floor where you'd like to rearrange that sofa. Follow with painter's tape sized to the other pieces of furniture and arranged on the floor as you think you'd like it to be.

Doesn't work? No problem. You haven't pulled your back out of whack moving heavy furniture — at least not yet. The painter's tape is already sized and cut, so you can try another arrangement in the room if the first idea didn't work.

This tape can be used for much more than rearranging the furniture. Labeling boxes of holiday decorations or other boxes of rarely used items that have been stored is another great use for this tape.

Are the kids bored? Use the tape to make a tic-tac-toe pattern on the kitchen floor or a hopscotch board in the garage for them to play on.

The beauty of this tape is that it doesn't leave a sticky mess when you pull it off and is inexpensive and versatile. It's certainly worth having as a staple in your cupboard for when the redecorating mood kicks in.

Rosemary Sadez Friedmann, an interior designer in Naples, Fla., is author of "Mystery of Color."For design inquiries, write to Rosemary at DsgnQuest@aol.com.