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    Last year, Pat Perotti downsized from a large home to her mother’s recently vacated villa. Her villa was the same as her neighbor’s, which was the same as their neighbor’s and so on, but that was not Perotti’s style. She wanted to make her new home her own and give it a touch of her feminine class. When she decided to re-do her mother’s old kitchen, she trusted interior designer Ellen Kurtz, of Ellen Kurtz Interiors, to pull off the new look.

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    To the husband and wife, the master bathroom in their Town and Country home was uninspired and sometimes even unfriendly, lacking privacy and functionality for them, their four children and occasional visitors. It’s a large space, but it had no enclosure for the toilet. Two tub-side columns, while attractive, blocked a beautiful outdoor view and made the room feel close. And the overall design didn’t address potential changes in mobility.

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    When the Judges purchased their home in 2009, the turn-of-the-last-century Victorian didn’t need much work. That’s because Kelly’s grandparents – the previous homeowners, who’d purchased the place in the sixties – had already put in enough sweat equity to revive the once-tired stick style.

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    Heidi Sowatsky of Decorating Den encourages clients to buy high-quality furniture and reupholster and refinish old furniture whenever possible. “If you’re consistent in your style, you can then move the furniture from room to room and home to home without difficulty,” Sowatsky says.

    Judy and Don Walter’s previous home was completely tailored to their personal preferences. To make the move easier, Walter says she flbrought over a lot of ideas from the old house to the new house, which has significantly more space and natural light.

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    “I love everything about it – the granite, the crown molding, the built-in theater with seating for twelve, even the door handles. But I won’t buy this house. I just CAN’T with the red wall,” the wide-eyed reality show participant spouts off as she gives her final synopsis of the house she’s just finished touring. “The color just doesn’t feel…right. It isn’t me.”

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