Creating a Closet

Joyce LaPorte lives with her daughter Kristin and son-in-law Fred McCoy in a suite they've created for her out of their two-car garage. Everyone loves the living arrangements, but LaPorte's room needs a major makeover.

The wall, a past design experiment gone wrong, is painted similar to Neapolitan ice cream. LaPorte tried covering it with wallpaper, but now it is peeling and looks awful.

Decorating duo Gina Pierantozzi and Doreen Naughton, known as The Redecorators, step in to help with the makeover. They explain that the first step to organizing is to sort through what you've already got and decide what you really want to keep.

LaPorte trims down her closet and is also able to toss out some knickknacks from her bedroom. She agrees with the Redecorators that the china cabinet full of odds and ends is taking up too much room and should be removed from the room. She plans to display just a few of items, rotating them periodically throughout the room.

The Redecorators devise a redesign plan, including a dramatic solution to LaPorte's space problems--flip-flopping the furniture and making an expansive new wall-storage unit the focus instead of the bed. They decide to implement it while LaPorte is at work so she can be surprised by the results when she gets home. First step: strip that half-wallpapered-half-Neapolitan wall and apply a coat of warm-colored paint.