A Light Filled Sanctuary

It's still early in October but already this month has proven to be crazy busy. When it starts to feel a little overwhelming I conjure the image of this home I just finished. It's the epitome of serenity.

The client's home was a wonderful canvas to work with. It had an abundance of natural light, rich wood ceilings and beams. Even the entrance to the home was enchanting. 

Background. The client and her husband and moved from Brooklyn into this adorable Bay Area cottage earlier this year. She sought my assistance for her home because she just couldn't figure out how to bring it together. I do have my own personal style, but I sincerely believe that when I'm designing for a client, my job is to help guide and edit my client's style. That is what I have done here. This client is a true minimalist, and preferred to bring in color through plants and accessories. The less there is in a room, the better it has to be since the eye will easily pick out flaws. Here we go! Below is the before of the living area.  

This home has so many windows and gets the most lovely natural light throughout the day. The original plan was to replace the sectional. However, in the end, the client decided to get the existing sectional a facelift with a new cover and legs. Here is the after! 

The real challenge for me was to adhere to the client's minimalist preferences while making sure the house felt like a home by bringing in warmth and life. To achieve this, my plan was to bring a healthy number of plants, a variety of different textures and a neutral foundation. Like many of my clients nowadays, this client decided to forgo a traditional coffee table and instead opted for a fun pouf. The console table behind the sectional can also serve as a landing space for beverages. And there can never be enough plants - here is a closer view. 

When a room has a neutral palette, one way to draw the eye's interest is to diversify the textures in the space. This is something that is often overlooked in most homes. Look closely at the plant containers, we have many different kinds of containers (woven, ceramic, metal, etc.) all in the same color palette to keep things cohesive. I've done the same with the throw pillows on the section by including a number of different fabrics (velvet, textured wool, silk, cotton). 

Since we didn't have a coffee table in the space, I found this great side table ON WHEELS! So the client and her husband can move this around as needed, this table is functional and beautiful! 

On the other side of the living room is the TV area. The client already had a vintage dresser we were planning on using. To complete the area, we decided on a gallery wall which I installed. See below for the before. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, installing gallery walls are difficult and painstaking. But I've never been disappointed after finishing one, you can achieve so much impact at relatively little cost. Scroll down for the after! 

It's the ideal blend of vintage and modern. You may notice something different with this media area compared to most you see on the blogosphere where gallery walls are used to "hide" the TV. The TV here is not centered. The clients are not big TV watchers, actually they rarely use this TV. Instead of building a gallery wall around a permanent fixture in their room that they rarely use, I gave them the option of moving the screen completely when not in use. If I had hung the gallery wall solely around the TV, there would be large unattractive wall space when the TV was removed. 

The lamp was from a pair that the client had on her nightstands. The black frames allow the colors from the prints to jump off the wall and catch your eye. 

Let's move on to the console area. Here is the before, basically an empty canvas waiting to be filled with something great! Here is the before. 

Yup, a sad empty corner. Nothing really to say. Here is the after!

I love this landing space, it's practical and beautiful. The basket to hold whatever you need on hand. The blue velvet ottoman is perfect for taking your shoes on/off or plopping down your bag after a long day at work. We reused the second lamp from the bedroom here. A closer look below. 

And finally our last stop, the bedroom. If it's chaos everywhere else in your home, at the very least, your bedroom should be a sanctuary. I am a believer that your atmosphere truly affects your productivity and well-being and that rings true especially in the bedroom. Here is the before.  

Excuse the extra fabric on the bed, the client was showing me some additional bedding. As you can see, this room was craving for just a hint of color, a bed frame and a little bit of polish. Like magic, we were able to make things happen, see below! 

You can't go wrong with that rich navy bed frame, especially against the warmness of the wood in the nightstands and ceiling. The small bud print on the sheets bring in that little something, the extra detail that makes a room from good to great. To keep things airy and simple per the client's wishes, I chose prints that were smaller in scale as can be seen in the bedding here and the rug below. 

I know, how cute is this kitty? I believe his name is Crispy. His face may not say it, but he's a fan of the new bedroom. 

And one of my favorite parts of this house is this hearth. I added some plants to border it, bringing in some green.  I absolutely loved worked with this client and her home. In some ways, going over the top can be easy, there can be so much going on there is more to hide behind. When designing with the utmost restraint, everything must be placed with intention and thought. which is what we did for this light filled sanctuary.

Thanks for reading!

Dark, Moody and Glamorous in Riverdale, NY

Prewar co-op? Why, yes please. Inlaid wood floors? Check. High ceilings? Check. Arched doorways? Check. An abundance of charm? Most definitely. With all these features already in place, this co-op needed just a little assistance to bring it up to its full potential, a way to marry the old school loveliness with the needs of a modern day couple. 

So here we go. For these clients, the dining room was a priority. Directly adjacent to the kitchen, it was clear that this would be the primary hangout area. Below is the before photo with the prior owner's belongings. 

So yeah . . . the paint color. Reminds me of honeydew. Maybe it would work in another space in another home in another decade, but definitely doesn't work here. And the chandelier? Definitely didn't fit with the clients' modern aesthetic preferences. It was time for a change. Below is the after!

Dinner party ready!  I'm obsessed with this room.  The gray blue walls set the ideal mood. Facing east, the abundance of natural light throughout the day also ensures that this room remains light and bright despite the darker hued walls. The yellow velvet sitting chair provides the ideal reading corner so that the dining room is an attractive place to hang out during the day as well. Clearly, Sydney approves and agrees.  

So I know you're dying to know what's on the walls and a better look at the lighting situation. Take a look below.  

The clients had saved these prints of New York vintage maps and cityscapes to display in their very first home. After having them framed, we laid them out on the floor (with no help from Sydney) to see which configuration would work the best. The color and detail on these maps are amazing. Confession, installing gallery walls is probably my least favorite thing to do, right below assembling Ikea furniture.  But they are often worth the effort as can be seen here.

Also that wonderful chandelier that gives off the most beautiful sparkly light? Each of those crystals were hand screwed in by the client and me on one of the hottest most humid New York summer days. To all future dinner party guests, you're very welcome! I know all good things take effort, but we really earned it in this instance. Let's move onto the foyer. Here is the before.   

If you recall the dining room was painted something reminiscent of honeydew. The foyer? Cantaloupe. For obvious reasons, we extended the blue gray paint to the foyer. Without any windows, the same paint in the foyer creates a very different vibe, dark and moody in the best possible way. See the after below!

The foyer is open to the dining room. To keep the two spaces cohesive, I placed a yellow accent rug to touch back to the yellow chair in the dining room. The mirror above the console brings brightness and shimmer to this closed space and a great place to check your makeup before heading out! Here is one more close-up. 

I love this brass table lamp. It pops against the dark walls and it has structure. This foyer sits between the front door on one side and the rest of the home on the other. So the lamp is great in that it not only provides light, but the skeleton silhouette allows for a clear line of sight from the front door to the rest of the home.

A lovely first home. I foresee many dinner parties that run late into the night for these clients, the only way to do it right?  

And that's all folks! Thanks for reading. 

Painting? Don't forget your compass!

Paint selection, although not often discussed here, is often a big part of my projects. Painting a room or several rooms is a big decision, but just a reminder, it's just paint! If the color doesn't work, you can switch it out easily and quickly, so don't treat this as a life or death decision, because it's not.  

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I own a rental unit and I, or more accurately my contractors, did some light renovations on the unit during a turnover in tenants. I thought this would be a great opportunity to show how the right paint color can truly transform a room, and to discuss how to choose the right one. There are a million sources on the internet for the best white paints, best green paints, etc., this post isn't about showcasing the best paints of any color, but just some general considerations and principles I use when helping my clients to choose the right colors for their rooms. 

Here we go! Here is the rental unit before. I believe it was painted in Benjamin Moore's White Dove throughout. Excuse the floors, we just had some old carpet removed, so now you can admire our subfloors. 

Time to use a compass. 

When I walk into a room to help a client decide on a paint color, the first thing I pay attention to is which way the room is facing. If you don't know, now you have an excuse to finally use the compass feature on your phone. The direction that a room's windows face and the resulting natural light can have a strong influence on how any given paint color will look in that room. That paint chip from the paint store can look very different in a south or east facing room versus a north or west facing room. Of course there are caveats - if your south facing room has a large tree that blocks most of the natural light or an extended porch, the general rules regarding paint for south facing rooms won't apply. 

This rental unit is a first floor unit with all windows pointing north. Although it does get great natural light for a north facing unit, the amount of light it receives is somewhat limited. White Dove by Benjamin Moore is a great white color, a go-to for many designers, but in this lighting, it looks a little sad and grey. It's not bringing the best out of this room.  

For my own projects, I have an affinity for white and gray rooms, and often choose those colors in south and east facing rooms that receive an abundance of natural light throughout the day. The challenge for most of my clients that have north or west facing rooms is that they crave the look of the light and bright living areas they see in shelter magazines and blogs, but in practice white can look sad in their space. 

I'm going to depart from the conventional advice given on the internet and elsewhere to go with a darker color or a paint color with yellow tones. Dark colors in a room can work, and can be very lovely, but maybe it's not your cup of tea. Similarly, colors with yellow undertones can quickly look dated. Most of my clients have a more modern bent that yellow-hued paints don't always match.  

If you have a north or west facing room and want a light and bright space, choose a pale neutral color and forgo the white. Just be aware that the light received by a north facing room can be especially cool, so green and blue undertones are magnified. Does that mean you have to give up on your dreams of a gray room? Not at all. A good compromise is greige, a made-up word that describes the color between beige and gray. It has warm undertones derived from the beige, but is still modern in tone from the gray. I painted our unit my favorite greige, Edgecomb Gray by Benjamin Moore. See below!  

Such an improvement! The living room now looks light, bright and modern without resorting to white walls.  I know the new floors, curtains and flowers help, but seriously, the majority of the work is done by the difference on the walls. 

Choosing the right paint finish. 

The finish is often just as important as the paint color.  

For walls I often opt for flat or matte.  Here, we used matte.  The walls are plaster and although their texture is great, a finish in a higher gloss will highlight any imperfections on these 80+ year old walls. The unit was painted in an eggshell finish before, so if you scroll up and look closely at the before photo, you can see a shine on the walls. If you have walls that aren't in the best condition, I would definitely recommend going with a flat or matte finish. For newer homes, with drywall in good condition, I will on occasion recommend eggshell finish in higher traffic areas allowing scuffs to be magic erased off easily. 

For doors and trim, pearl, satin, semi-gloss and high-gloss are recommended.  

And last but not least, for kitchens and bathrooms, I would recommend a higher gloss finish such as matte or eggshell to keep the walls in the best condition possible for as long as possible. 

Go forth and go bold!

My last piece of advice, don't be afraid to go bold. Here, the front porch for this unit was simply embarrassing. The prior owner, for no reason I can discern, decided to install carpet on an outdoor porch! Unsurprisingly, the carpet didn't age well. Here is the before. 

Even my dog Morgan can't make this sad porch look good.  

I took this as an opportunity to go bold, make a statement and check off an item on my longstanding bucket list to own a home with a blue door. 

It was going to be impossible to match the stairs with the exterior accent color of the door. Instead, I decided to go in a totally different direction, a traditional yet modern blue, Covington Blue. It adds the ideal amount of cheer to a previously drab entry. Try out bolder, more saturated colors in smaller spaces and accent walls, you can take a small risk in a small space and become more confident in your color choices while you do it! 

And just because I couldn't help myself, even knowing it was most likely too twee, I added a rabbit door knocker. Feel free to judge me, I love this bunny.  

I hope this post helps you when you're choosing a new paint color for a room in your home!