Back to Work

Happy New Year!

After a truly delightful 2 weeks off, including a week in sunny Florida, I am getting back in the design game.  I feel like I have lots to share with you!

First up, the final FINAL design for an open living/dining space in a gorgeous townhouse in Jersey City.  You can see some of the initial design boards here, as well as a peek at the chandelier and entryway here.

Once we settled on the major pieces, we came back in to add the next layer, mostly addressing the walls and auxiliary furniture.  I am loving the final look and can't wait to see it all complete!

And here is the floor plan:

There is an original marble fireplace splitting the space.  In reality, the grey chairs sit in front of the fireplace, and the dining table is centered on that awesome leather buffet.  The bar stools are at the island in the kitchen just next door.

My clients will do a stack of bright blue picture ledges with leaning artwork in Black and white--a mix of prints, originals, and family photos.  I did a little mock up using prints from Minted, 20x200, and Dwell Studio.

I love that the mirror over the mantel and the eclectic mix of modern and unique pieces gives it a sort of Paris Apartment feel.

It's coming together!

The Story of a Project: Space Planning

Yesterday I introduced you to a project that has been long in the making.  We chipped away at the whole-house shell over the course of a year or two, putting in some hardwood floors, replacing carpeting, stripping wallpaper and re-painting everything.

My client was living in her parent's old house, where she had lived as a teenager.  Often we get set in our ways, putting a couch against a certain wall simply because it has always been there. What we needed to do was create a space that worked for HER life.

In came the floor plans.

Generally, there are a couple of good ways to configure any given room, and I usually give options.  I find that clients usually know pretty quickly what layout will work best for their lifestyle.

Case in point:

The living room has a bay window at one end and an archway to the dining room at the other.  It is visible from the front door, and a step down from the hallway that leads to the back of the house.  Here are the options I presented.

Cozy

This option orients the space to the view out the front window, and uses the bay as a cozy reading spot.  An armoire houses a stereo and books. and there is plenty of ambient light.

Casual entertaining

This option orients the room towards the dining room and creates natural flow between these two public areas, and the entry.  A sectional is perfect for seating a group, or stretching out when home alone.

Formal Entertaining

This option leaves the flow between the two spaces, but creates a tight conversation area within the living room.  The chairs back to the hallway and create a sense of wall between the two spaces.  Strong symmetry and pairs also feel more formal and buttoned up.

Great for TV

A pair of facing loveseats flank an armoire with a flat screen.  Each perch has its own large side table for drinks and popcorn.

We were lucky that the client was starting from scratch for furniture, since no one existing piece dictated our layout.

What would you choose?  What do you think she chose?

Tomorrow: the design boards.

A pretty living room

Hi friends!  It's spring break for my girls this week, and we slipped off to visit grandparents for a couple of days.  I'm mostly taking the week off, but wanted to pop in a few times to share some goings-on.

I shared a pretty, simple dining room the other day.  It shares space with the living room, open-plan style.  We started, some time ago, with floor plans, and after playing around with the layouts with their existing furniture, we decided on this:

The goal was to create two distinct spaces while keeping a reasonable traffic flow.  We also wanted to create a more intimate conversation area, and managed this handily with a pair of facing apartment sofas.

They entertain with a big group a couple of times a year, so we ordered a table with extra leaves.  Both the wing chairs and the stools in the living room can be pulled over to the dining room to take seating from 6 to 10.

Here's the living room first draft:

(the chairs will be a tweedy blue)

And here it is all together:

My client did not want a lot of pattern, and wanted to keep things simple, restful, but pretty, so this is all about those repeating curvy shapes.

So pretty!  Can't wait to see it come together.

Finding another way

I think I say this a lot:

There is ALWAYS more than one option.

I will admit that every once in a while when walking into a project, I fear that I won't know what to do.  A master suite that I just started working on (for these guys) falls in to this category.   It is HUGE and sort of awkward, long and narrow with various appendages, including a big closet, a bathroom, and a little niche with a fireplace.  More than anything, it was clear that this space--an addition to the house--had been designed with a pretty clear layout in mind.

The window placement on the long wall felt like it dictated the bed placement.  (And yes, both the client and the previous owners had the bed there.)  There were various options about what to do in the zones created by dividing the room this way, but the bed felt like a given.

Except!  There is ALWAYS more than one option.  (Okay, for you sticklers out there, with very few exceptions.)

By placing the (king sized) bed on the wall in front of the bank of windows, the layout actually completely opens up and allows us to float a seating area in the middle of the room.  The dresser on the wall is close to the closet (logical), but can also serve as a media console as needed, with a TV mounted above.  We then designated the little niche for family game night, with a small table, 4 chairs, and some built in storage on the wall.

Before, the large space felt pretty purposeless.  Now, the room will have three distinct zones and functions.  My client kept coming back to this one, saying "ooh, it feels like an upscale hotel suite,"

Exactly.

And for the record, that fear that I won't know what to do has not yet been fulfilled.  In fact, solving these problems is a huge part of the fun of my job.

But still: Knock wood.

Oh, and I will show you three initial design directions for this space tomorrow.

Teeny Nursery Schemes

Remember the plans for a built-in crib in the teeny tiny nursery?

Well, we're not doing that anymore.  But when we WERE, the floorplan looked like this:

Crib/ drawers in the nook, 60" dresser on the back wall, 4x6 rug, existing glider in the corner.
Teeny, right?

And the options looked like this:

Schumacher Zimba wallpaper, modern dressers, graphic rugs, fun art.

Well, the plan has changed and a stokke crib will go on that back wall and a dresser set up will go in the nook.  More to come on the look!

My kids are with their grandparents next week, and my list is a mile long....Hope to share project updates as I go.  Have a great weekend!