What Makes a room come alive?

I know I’m in the right field of work because I still get so excited when I see the smiles on clients’ faces as their furniture arrives and all the talk, and drawings, and swatches start to take shape in an actual put-your-feet-up and relax room.  

It’s a really fun process. But the thing I always caution my clients about is that you can buy the most beautiful furniture and paint the walls the most amazing color, but your room is not a room until you fill it with things you love… like art and books and things you’ve found, or things that belonged to someone who specifically passed it along to you. These are the things that make a room come alive. These are the things that, when you live with them, make your heart sing.

I think this cautionary tale plays out visually in the evolution of the living room of one of my California clients. 

Here's where we started..

My clients had recently been to Europe and had visited some furniture showrooms, so they came to our first meeting armed with photos of things they saw there that they liked. What I saw in the photos was a sort of glam aesthetic of leather and chrome. So we picked a clean, neutral palette… painted the room a creamy white, purchased gorgeous pearl leather furniture and a beautiful white rug.

Every time I do a room, I like to soften it and make it look less showroom-y and more lived in by adding some vintage pieces like the mid century wood lamps and the 1920’s French carved mirror. With everything in place, it was very definitely a huge transformation. But the room felt very empty.

We added a vintage copper vase; a mid century green art glass bowl; a collection of vintage amethyst bottles; and textured pillows and a soft grey cashmere throw. We also added vintage andirons and birch logs in the fireplace. And then, the real room-changer, a fabulous collage print that keeps just the right vibe of modern and engaging.

A mantle is a wonderful space to introduce intriguing collectibles. It’s affords a great opportunity to bring in color and texture. Here we brought in a collection of antique amethyst bottles and some vintage mercury glass for shine.

A Bedroom Story

I am the queen of repurposing. I love to find cool objects that had a past life as a something… and then pick them up, dust them off, and use them as a something else. In the same way I also love repurposing rooms. …Or should I say more accurately, in this case, creating a room so that it can “grow” with its occupant. 

Here’s where we started…

We started with a catch-all playroom in Walnut Creek, CA and turned it into the room for my clients’ soon-to-be-born baby girl.

I didn’t want to get too specific here, as none of us knew just what this precious little child would be like. So we kept it simple, sophisticated … with a dash of romance in an old dresser and mirror. 

When she grew out of her crib and into her firebrand personality, it was clear her room needed to morph into something worthy of the dynamo who was now inhabiting it. This was no shrinking violet who would curl up with a book and shut out the world. This is a strong wonder woman in the making.  She’s outgoing and confident…. of course she would have sleepovers and need twin beds. Although we embraced the pink, it’s never sicky sweet. We used Farrow & Ball paint on the beds and found a wonderful antique kilim rug and pillows made from solid pink kilims.

She’s clearly Owlette-wild over her new room.

The fun thing about designing a child’s room is that you can be playful with what you bring in. A pink fur rug; an old cola crate; antique child’s chair and this great feathery ostrich create interest and whimsy in the room… replacing expensive, generic side tables.

Designing a Small Kitchen… when your budget is also small.

I am both fascinated and challenged by the notion of a small kitchen. My past kitchens have been spacious … room for tables and chairs and big things like “islands”. But having moved to California’s Peninsula where space comes at a very hefty price, the kitchen I was destined to own was going to be extremely small. This notion was born out when we closed on a 600 square foot bungalow from the 1920’s. 

Here’s where we started…

Two behemoth appliances… one that made it tough to get out the back door; old cabinets and a deep, dark hole of a pantry with louvered doors.

I do want to preface this whole post by saying that I love to cook. Eating out for me, especially now, is a not-too-often thing… mostly because I really do like eating what I’ve cooked. So I’m not the person that stores her shoes in the oven or keeps just a bottle of milk in the refrigerator and a can of tuna in the pantry. 

I should also tell you that not only did the bungalow have no closets (at all… and that’s another blog post), it had no washer/dryer. Having no illusions of spending hours in the laundromat every few days., I knew I had to scare up space somewhere for those appliances and other than the living room (now there’s a novel idea), the kitchen was the only place.

Here’s the conversation I was having in my head as I undertook the project:

What’s the vibe of the house?

I channeled the nursery rhyme of the teeny tiny lady and the teeny tiny tea kettle. In my mind her house was eclectic, and layered with treasures that occupied shelves and randomly placed surfaces. The kitchen would follow this overall vibe. It wasn’t big and spacious for a sparse look, it needed to be more like a European flat in a prewar building, with color and pattern and lots of things exposed to view.

What is the kitchen giving me already?

In this case, it had a great linoleum floor…and good bones; batten board walls and ceilings.

How small can i go with appliances?

Pretty small, it turns out. I read reviews and narrowed down my choices. I am a believer in buying really good appliances so I went with a 24” Fisher & Paykel range; 18” Bosch dishwasher and 11” Miele washer and dryer.

Yikes, for all these little, broken up spaces, I need custom cabinets! How does that work on a small budget?

Ikea to the rescue. I stuck with under the counter cabinets only to give the illusion of more space in the room, and then got two tall cabinets with shelves and drawers for pantry items, pots, pans, and plates.

When marble or granite countertops just won’t work with the vibe… what will?

I LOVE formica. It’s cheap and it comes in a million colors and patterns (maybe not that many). I picked a really fun blue solid, edged it with a stainless steal band held on with screws.

What makes a small kitchen “sing”?

Personalize the heck out of it. Since a lot of what you use everyday isn’t hidden away in cabinets and closets, make sure it’s stuff you really love… like glassware and cookbooks and bowls. “Small” dictates quirky and creative… so go for it.