Updating family pieces for a fresh look

Marie Ernst had a dilemma. She had a room full of outdated furniture, and almost all of it had family connections. Unfortunately, the family stories were all that she liked about her living room. “It just didn’t represent me,” says Ernst, 64, who teaches English language studies in Lawrence. “I wanted a room that would be comfortable for me to read in and where I could host a book club.” She turned to Regina Adler, owner of English Country Design in Upper Brookville, to transform her vision for her Plainview home. “Marie had a lot of pieces from her parents that meant a lot to her,” Adler says. Pieces she wanted to reuse included the couch, chairs and a pair of end tables. Adler made it all work by reupholstering and refinishing the pieces. TOTAL: About $32,000 (Adler’s fee, which is built into purchases, was about $7,000). — SYLVIA E. KING-COHEN