Living Room Before & After
 
The goal was to design a creative retreat for the mother of this family as well as to create a family-functional and comfortable space. After seeing the rest of their home, it was clear that the couple were organized and liked open surfaces and clean lines.
 
 
So, the first step was to pick a calming color pattern. Using a pear hue and keeping the room's accent pieces black maintained the couple's need for an uncluttered, down-to-basics feel. Window treatments needed to match the streamlined feel of the room, allow natural light and offer privacy; our design was a basic wood frame with a gauzy cream fabric stretched across it.

 

Sunlit Dining Room

With the dining space adjacent to the living room, the decor of this eating area needed to blend in with the room's serene feel. The first step was to paint the existing dining table so that it worked with the color scheme of the rest of the furniture. A built-in cushioned window banquette was designed for nontraditional seating; chairs were also used for typical family seating. Instead of blowing our budget on painting all of the walls in this cathedral-like space, we opted to paint a "band" effect around the room in a light pear color. Not only did this paint effect save us money and time, but the unique stripes created a calming feel around the room as well.

 
 

A Private Workspace

With the objective of creating a private area for the owner to work on craft projects, the workspace was designed with movable doors so it could serve as an office, a crafting area or even a homework nook when the doors were open. When not in use, the movable doors could be closed. Open shelving lined the walls in the work area and allowed for easy-to-utilize storage options. The insides of the doors were painted in the same light pear color as the walls to further promote an open feel and add brightness. Black paint was used on the outside of the doors to maintain a clean, sophisticated look; it also worked nicely with the newly black-painted furniture. In fact, by painting existing furniture pieces, we were able to stick with a smaller budget.