office

Client Files: A Happy Homework Hangout

March 21, 2016

I’m excited to share this latest project with you because it was such a fun one – colorful, laid-back … just a happy, light-filled room that was to serve as a study/hangout room for this family of 6.

A lot of times people wonder where they should begin with designing a room – rug, furniture, paint? I always say, it depends. If you have your heart set on a certain paint color, rug, painting, wallpaper, fabric, fill-in-the-blank, then it can be worth designing the room around it.

In this case – the first real design element decision was a shiplap wall painted Gray Owl. On it, I envisioned hanging this large Celestial Map flanked by two library sconces.

Fortunately my clients loved this idea too – so that is where we started from. Where to go from there? We wanted a comfy sofa, a colorful rug and a coffee table to sit below, across from new built-ins with desks, bookcases and space for a TV. With soft gray walls and the Navy blue artwork, we still could go any number of ways with the other colors in the room. I proposed these four options to my clients:

What is your favorite? I’ll let the pictures below reveal what my clients selected – it was my favorite combo too.

We completed the look with a bohemian mix of fun yet durable pillows that can be tossed around, warm leather desk chairs and some vintage books.

My clients have been loving their cozy new space and I’m sure there will be lots of A+ work coming out of this room!

Photography by Stephanie Montanari of Focus Pocus

More Progress: Home Office Makeover

January 24, 2012

There’s nothing like a snowstorm as incentive to stay warm and cozy inside and get stuff done around the house, I say!

Last weekend: painting.
This weekend: Furniture building.

Yep, as I mentioned before … in an effort to keep this makeover budget-friendly … we are using Ikea furniture until we are ready to splurge on built-ins … so that that means some good old fashioned elbow-grease! Dan and I were cracking up at the “pictures-only” directions. Each set of directions started off with a picture of one chubby man with an X over him. Then an arrow pointing to a picture of 2 chubby men. So I guess we were the 2 chubby men and we got to work.

TWO days worth of building! We must have done a good job though because after school both boys raced inside and this is where I found them …

(But wait … here was the before …)

And the after …

Kyle exclaimed … “Mom I never thought I’d say this, but I was actually excited to come home and do homework today!” (Definitely worth the elbow grease!)

We still need to build one more desk that will come out on the left side next to the piece the lamp is sitting on, but it was all we could do to get these pieces done by Sunday night.

I also got my chairs (still waiting on a slipcover for the Parson’s chair) and was able to do a little accessorizing. We are also going to hang some long white shelves on the wall up above to make the most of the high ceilings. Then it’s just the rug and the window shade … both in the works.

The tufted chair by the chalkboard was a thrilling find I spotted on Joss & Main a couple of weeks ago. Each week they do a “Curator’s Collection” by a contemporary designer and this one was done by Copy Cat Chic‘s Reichel Broussard.

It is a soft linen fabric … exactly what I was looking for and a steal of a price!

I’ll do a full before & after post with all the details once everything is done … but for now I thought you might enjoy a little glimpse.

Have a good week!

Painted!

January 17, 2012

My husband was busy painting this weekend …

… and so the boys were busy today.

The chalkboard paint wall is a big hit.

We put three coats of magnetic primer underneath the chalkboard paint, so I can also use magnets to tack things up. I like the idea of being able to put up an ever-changing display of inspiration photos, swatches, etc.

I think I also figured out why my rug is back-ordered! I spotted this photo in a recent issue of Lucky Magazine. The article featured Christiane Lemieux, the founder of Dwell Studio and this rug from her line is also in the living room of her beach house.

It’s okay. I can wait.

Part one of the office makeover: complete!

Budget Friendly Office Makeover

January 10, 2012

There’s something about the months of January and February that are therapeutic for me, how about you? It’s the best time to do projects around the house, organize, clean things out … it’s sort of what I look forward to after the holidays.

One of our winter “projects” this is year is kind of a mini-makeover of our office. It is a good sized-room with a large window and lots of light but it has always felt kind of drab to me. When we moved in we left the builder’s paint color, a kind of khaki green, and then just filled it with an older rug we had and a of hodge-podge of furniture, including a very nice computer armoire that was perfect for city-living when we didn’t have a dedicated room for an office. It was kind of an office in itself with all sorts compartments, drawers, pullouts, etc. But in this new space, where we finally had room to spread out, it just kind of felt like everything was crammed into one corner.

Ultimately, we’d like to do a whole room of built-in bookshelves and desks with multiple workspaces … but I finally decided that, in the meantime, we still needed make the place more functional … not to mention pretty!

So … this past week … I sold the armoire and the rug on craigslist. We are going to get a new rug, paint the room and get a new shade for the window. And since we aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger on a new construction project, we are going to try to replicate the look on a budget using white Ikea desks and bookshelves that can hold us over for awhile but still give us plenty of storage and workspace.

So here’s my tentative plan for the space …

Benjamin Moore’s Blue Daisy Paint

Westminster fabric for window shade

Chalkboard paint for the one arched nook in the room.

Ikea desks + other white storage and shelving

A couple of Jackson Metal Tub Chairs for the boys’ homework area

A nice comfy chair for reading … maybe like this Manchester Club Chair

An upholstered Parsons Chair on casters in a fun animal print

A bold striped rug from DwellStudio

A sparkly mercury glass lamp

Then … adding in the fun little things, accessories, artwork, photos, my vintage typewriter, linen bulletin boards … all of the personal touches that make it just right.

I just found out today that the rug is back ordered until April (so bummed)… but we will hopefully start to make progress this weekend with new paint! Stay tuned.

In a black mood …

October 20, 2011

Ok, so I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer. It’s just that I have a folder of black rooms saved on my computer. I’ve been saving them for awhile. Maybe it’s because I’d like to work up the courage to paint a room black in my own house and I feel like I need to look at these every once in a while to work up the courage to do it.

On a cold blustery day like today these rooms seem perfect … cocoon like. One of my favorites is a picture I saved several years ago of Jenna Lyon’s bedroom in her lovely Brooklyn townhouse. Perhaps you remember it from the cover of Domino.