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Give your home A FRESH LOOK Women with a taste for interior design go into business By SHARI DOWNHILL Concrete pigs and chandeliers don�t faze interior redesign specialists Patty Surowski and Beth Day. In fact, the bigger the challenge, the more excited they get. "I�m an activist," Surowski said. "I want the world to be a better place � one room at a time." The two aesthetically articulate entrepreneurs joined forces in January to form A Fresh Look, making it their business to walk into a home or office and completely reorchestrate the space. Using only their ingenuity, interior design intuition and a homeowner�s possessions at hand, they complete the makeover in a day � usually within five to eight hours. While interior decoration is not exactly a new idea, Surowski and Day attack it in a manner that doesn�t require their clients to shell out thousands of dollars for new furniture or draperies. It does, however, mandate complete evacuation of homeowners and pets. "We�re moving so fast, we�re tripping over one another," Day laughs. The Fresh Look team�s perpetual motion results in the kind of transformation that often brings joyful tears to returning clients. It happens so often, they call it the "waterworks." "It�s such an emotional thing," Day said. "We�re in their home. That�s a very personal thing. Then, when you start moving things around, boxing things up" ... or in some cases pulling prized possessions out of dark storage sheds for display, emotions run a little high. What makes Surowski and Day able to accomplish the re-decorating feat so many of their clients find unattainable? After all, the same basic elements are there when they arrive as when they leave. "Basically, stuff becomes so commonplace for people," Surowski says. "We can come in and look at it in a new way." Primarily, they say, the sense of how a space should be designed is innate for them. Neither has formal design training. Day grew up with an interior design whiz for a mother, and, as an adult, found herself helping friends and family redecorate their homes for free. Surowski has 16 years of experience in merchandising and product display. The women met as claim processors for a local insurance company � a position both say lacked an outlet for creative expression and seemingly no end to unpleasant situations. "We both were so unhappy," Day said. "But it was a good, solid job." Now, by doing what they both love, word of their design prowess is traveling fast. Understanding clients� profiles, personalities and preferences means their success rate is high. The women make certain they understand what is important to their clients before they begin. "We look at who uses the room," Surowski said. "Where they sit. What they do in the room. We even ask where the pet sleeps. We have to know." They ask their probing questions during a free consultation, after which they provide an estimate for the work. The cost of a interior design face-lift runs from $275 for one or two rooms, to $400 for an entire home or real estate "staging." Holiday decorating runs $200. And a home "re-visit" is $45 an hour. Not only does the duo probe their client�s personal style quotient, they ask permission to poke into wayward closets and storage sheds, explore garden plots and rooms not on the redecorating agenda. "We call it our treasure hunt," Day says. "It�s so fun. We end up moving a lot of stuff around." They also bring their own tool box, furniture refinishing kit, nail hole patch � anything they think the job might require. Mismatched trinkets, furniture, photos and artwork come together to form quaint conversation areas, romantic bedroom nooks, music or photography studio, or a cowboy getaway. "They all have some kind of theme," Day said. "We have to call them something." While Surowski and Day pride themselves on dazzling their clients, the satisfaction comes from providing their customers with a "new" place to live. That, they say, gives "coming home" a whole new meaning. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.