This week we continue our look at the process of designing the interiors of a home from start to finish.  Since this home started as a prefab home designed by a local architecture firm, we had great bones to start with, and we just needed to tweak the details of the rooms to improve functionality for the clients.  Let’s start with the lower level.

In the original concept, which was created for another client that needed a garage built into the footprint of the house due to site conditions, the lower level of the house also included storage, laundry, a multi-purpose room and bathroom.

Since my clients had room for a garage elsewhere on their site, we were able to reallocate the garage space into a larger den.

In order to offer the family a space to watch movies, do homework and craft projects, and just hang out, I added a long desk with built-in cabinetry on the right wall.  There is still plenty of room for all the other functions without them falling over each other. 

What had been an undesignated room in the previous plan became a guest bedroom by closing it in with a new wall and the addition of built-in closet storage that also incorporates space for a TV on the wall.  The adjacent bathroom is conveniently located for both the guest bedroom and the den.   

Even the laundry room can be made into an enjoyable space by thoughtful space planning and finish selections.  By using washer and dryer units that fit under a standard height cabinet you gain a lot of valuable counter space.  I’m a big fan of line drying clothes as much as possible to extend their life, so there is plenty of floor space for a pop-up drying rack.  There is also a rod over the sink so items can be hung to dry over the sink, which is great for handwashing items or damp workout clothes that need to dry and air out.  (The dad in this family is a marathon runner, so that is a real need!)  I even added a fold down ironing board hidden in a cabinet on the opposite wall so that there’s no need to store and set up and break down a full size ironing board (which always seems to make the chore of ironing much less appealing).

Since there are so many floor plans and elevations for all the built-ins we designed in this house, I’m going to break this segment into 3 posts (one post per floor) so I don’t overwhelm you with information all at once.

Do you have any questions about the choices we made?  Feel free to ask away! I’m happy to answer questions to help you better understand the process.

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The long Minnesota winter has hidden the grass, trees and flowers for too long. I’m itching for bright green as far as the eye can see.  But since Mother Nature isn’t ready to start spring, I guess these rooms filled with bold greens will have to inspire me for now.

It’s easy to see the power of tile in these kitchens – talk about a wow factor!  But are you bold enough to not only tile the walls to the ceiling in shades of green and blue but also paint your cabinets a bold green?  It may be too much for some, but that kitchen certainly packs a lot of personality.

These living rooms have just the right balance of green and neutrals.  The armoire and coffee table add punch to this casual living room on the left.  The pillows on the couch serve to pull the palette together. 

The living room in the middle might be one of my favorites, if only for that kelly green armchair.  I would consider breaking and entering to make that mine (if I knew where the house was in the first place). But I guess the look could be achieved with no criminal activity by finding the right vintage chair and reupholstering it in the perfect shade of silk velvet.  Notice how the large plant adds height, drawing your eyes up to the high ceilings, accentuated by those silky spring green curtains.  Wonderful! 

Finally, why not treat green as the focal point – upholster a sofa and ottoman in rich shades of green, add coordinating pillows and window treatments, and then top it all off with plants that provide the variations of green that nature does best. 

Now these bedrooms clearly demonstrate the power of paint.  Without that vivid saturated green on the left, the bedroom would be nice, but not eye catching.  By using two shades of green paint, a “headboard” was created on the right to give height and interest to an otherwise simple bed (though the bold pink bedding is hardly tame).  But it is the kelly green bed in the middle that I can most see recreating in my own home.  The bold color is perfect for a guest room, where it won’t overwhelm, especially when tempered with lots of white.  I appreciate how the woven shades on the windows and the cowhide pillows add texture and whimsy, respectively.

Green can add a punch to other rooms as well.  A bright cushion, throw and accessories liven up this corner of a home office.  Kids tend to be more comfortable with bold colors, so their rooms are a perfect place to experiment with mixing together bright shades.  But since they tend to tire of a look quickly, be sure to implement this palette in easy to update accessories, like the bedding and stool, as seen above. 

Finally, green can be incorporated into a home in truly breathtakingly surprising ways.  For pure wow factor, the winner would have to be this ivy wall in a Manhattan apartment!  The (all-white) kitchen is just up the stairs, where the homeowner can look down on their reflecting pond and enjoy their own private calm oasis in the city. 

So how can you going to bring green into your home?  Or how have you already incorporated green in your home?  For example, I’m sitting in my office with walls in two shades of bright green with accents in white, brown, pink and orange.  It’s bold, cheerful, and stimulating (just what an office should be, especially in a dreary Minnesota winter).

Every time I start a new project I have to find that magical “Inspiration.” So where does it come from? How do you find it for your own projects? For me inspiration can come from the color palette and mix of textures of a necklace, or simply a unique color combination in an advertisement. Primarily I am inspired by seeing other people’s homes and how they create their own personalized mix of colors, possessions, textures, and layouts. In order to get a steady stream of this inspiration I subscribe to design magazines that feature a variety of styles, and I read a wide variety of blogs online that feature everything from product design, home accessories, and fashion, to the homes of creative people who didn’t work with a designer. I’ve been tearing inspiring images out of design magazines since I was a kid, and the files keep growing and growing. Now I also save copies of inspiring images from websites electronically and organize them for easy reference. So now when I start a new project, I usually have an idea of the client’s general style, but I need to flesh out how their style will be carried through into all the details, and that’s where the inspiration images come into play.

So, let’s imagine a client who is interested in updating a guest bedroom and wants it to be neutral but with some pops of color to make it interesting but easy to update. I found this image, where the warmth of this den is created by using grass cloth on the walls and a rich palette of deep tones. But the neutral color palette is set on edge by the use of bright orange accents in the armchair and the two coffee tables.

Then, to show that a lighter color palette could work as well, the following image shows how pale yellow accents can add interest in small doses in easily updated pieces like throw pillows and an ottoman.

By pulling these images together with others you can begin to see the elements in common that highlight the direction for the design. From there, I can see what mix of materials, textures and colors I want to use, and it becomes a matter of finding the right mix of pieces to create a harmonious balance in each room.

Working from these inspiration images, I developed this example of how the guest bedroom could be designed to coordinate with the dark wood tones and clean lined transitional furniture and color palette of adjacent rooms that had already been updated (Concept 1a). Or the room could be taken in a slightly more modern direction with a more Danish influence with a bold accent color that still ties in to the color palette in the guest bathroom (Concept 2).

So for your own projects, start pulling images that you love, even if you are not sure what exactly you love about them, and start a folder. As a designer, it is really helpful and more efficient when clients have started the process of thinking about what their style is, and what they do and don’t like. Even if you feel like the images you’ve pulled together seem like a mismatch, I usually can see the unifying threads that weave them together and reflect your taste and preferences. So get that pile of magazines and scissors out and get inspired! Or just call me, and I’ll figure it out for you.