Room for Improvement: Living/Dining Room

WSVN -- Martin Amado: "On today's Room for Improvement, we're helping out a soldier who's been in the army for over 11 years. She's done lots of traveling all over the world and now finally has a place to call her own here in South Florida. So, of course she called us out to help her turn her house into a home. Let's go meet her."

Martin Amado: "Room for Improvement. Hello. Hi Tricia, so nice to meet you."

Tricia: "Hi, nice to meet you Martin."

Martin Amado: "Or should I salute you?"

Tricia: "More like yes."

Martin Amado: "Your ready for today?"

Tricia: "Definitely ready for today."

Martin Amado: "OK Tricia, so tell me how long you've lived here."

Tricia: "Martin I've lived here just under a year, and for the last couple of years I've been traveling. I've been in Ireland, Germany, Iraq, Kuwait. I've been all over the U.S. So, I needed finishing touches that can fit pretty much in any decor. I'm reporting for duty and we'll surprise you at the end, OK. OK. Thank you Martin."

Martin Amado: "Tricia has a very neutral backdrop, from a beige sofa, to the carpet, even the walls. So, if you're afraid of committing to color, then you want to give the room more contrast through the accessories."

Martin Amado: "What's nice about adding color in a room through accessories is that it's much easier to swap out if you get board of the color scheme."

Martin Amado: "If you have a flat screen on base then, you want to go ahead and add a floating ledge right above it. It gives you the look of an entertainment center."

Martin Amado: "Now, one of the challenges I had with this living room is that you have to walk through it to get to the dining room, which means that I can't have a coffee table too big or else its going to interrupt the traffic flow. That's why these two smaller cubes are the perfect fit."

Martin Amado: "All right we are done with the living room. Its looking pretty good I must say, so let' move on to the dining space."

Martin Amado: "So, how do you make a dining room stand on its own when its part of an open floor plan? The key is to have a beautiful light fixture hanging above it. So, of course this flush mounted one just doesn't cut it, let's replace it."

Martin Amado: "And keep in mind the light fixture should always be in proportion with the table and also the space around it and the average rule of thumb is, it should hang about 30 inches above the table."

Martin Amado: "This leaning floor mirror creates a nice entrance in the foyer without crowding the space with too much furniture, and it's the finishing touch, so I hope Tricia likes it."

Martin Amado: "This morning we began with a neutral canvas, by using blue as our main accent color. We tied the living and dining room spaces together while creating a warm and inviting home environment for Tricia. Total budget, under $2,000.

Tricia: "Oh my goodness. This is cool. This is really cool Martin."

Martin Amado: "We appreciate everything you do for our country, and of course you need a home environment that you can feel proud of as well. So, I hope we gave that to you."

Tricia: "Definitely, and I have a gift for you and your camera man and your producer. Now, that I'm working in recruiting I have a back pack for you and a couple of other accents for you to use in your office."

Martin Amado: Thank you Tricia.

Tricia: "Thank you."

Martin Amado: "To all the viewers at home, thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next on another Room for Improvement."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact: room@wsvn.com
Miami-Dade: 305-576-HOME
Broward: 954-962-HOME
Martin Amado's Website: http://www.martinamado.com