I met these beautiful clients through a networking group that I’m a part of. Our painter in the group, Freedom Painters, was going to paint their home and she wanted to talk through the paint choices.
The entire interior of her home from floor trim, doors, door trim, walls, and ceilings was beautifully crafted honey-toned wood. Some craftsman took his time and laid these pieces of wood perfectly throughout the home, in each and every room. As beautiful as the craftsmanship was, my clients were drowning in a huge honey pot of wood, and desperately needed some lightening of the interior.
The minute I saw it, I felt so much respect for the love of the heart that took pride in his craftsmanship. I knew we had to honor the home by leaving some of the wood exposed. There is something about a home speaking to you, listening, and voicing your instinctive thoughts.
As I walked through the home, the client had antiques around the home, that were absolutely gorgeous pieces, and the lighting was very low in each room. I suggested painting the walls white, leaving the doors and the ceiling in the honey-stained wood.
The kitchen nestles into a corner of the expansive open area of the dining room and open walkway leading into the living room. It was just sitting there, all cuddled into the corner, screaming to be seen! This particular client really loves blue and white antique china and had it displayed in her plate cabinet. I immediately suggested a darker blue shade of cabinets. We also chose new lighting that would complement the wood ceilings and accent off the white walls.
When we finished the selection process, we went into designing her new office. This precious lady had been in a closet for years, keeping one of her rooms available for guests. She asked for an office with ample storage for filing, a desk that could occupy two people, and something that was pretty, uplifting, and somewhere she could joyful spending 8-12 hours a day.
We planned to use her closet that she was moving out of for storage, the printer, and files, and to hide the dry erase board. That was pivotal to her business process and needed to be private. When we went to draw out the floor plan for a custom-built unit, it was really, really expensive and didn’t meet all of her needs.
We also needed color and efficient cabinets that would be able to be moved out of the space, if for any reason our client needed to sell the home one day. So, we started designing the office with a custom concept in mind. We used IKEA cabinets, with a butcher block top.
Having the color on the cabinets with the Minwax Special Walnut stain was perfect, but we needed more. With a stick-on wallpaper raving, we had been DYING to try it! This was the perfect opportunity to deliver a beautiful, custom wall for a deserving client, and for us to try the product!!! I literally was jumping when this idea presented itself.
So, as I normally would do, I reached out to my professional wallpaper installers. After 10 calls, each and every one of them would not touch the stick and peel wallpaper, and if they would, they wanted to skim the entire wall down because it was textured, charging more than what normal wallpaper would cost…. leaving me feeling anxious about the product. I read for hours about DIY install, watched YouTube videos, made more phone calls, and googled different scenarios, and what do you think I did??? We walked in there on install day to install it ourselves (Becca Wooten and myself). We are both 10+ years of experienced interior designers, and have trained in many, many different aspects, including wallpaper before, so we were confident that, if the product was good, we could install it.
WE DID IT, and IT LOOKS FABULOUS!!!! It has held up and proves to be an easy-to-use, great product!!! Of course, we disclaimed all of the variables with the client before risking time, money, and her wall!
I am so excited to share this beautiful office with you. I always, always say, the end result is a representation of each and every client. This house and room definitely sit boldly, graciously, and beautifully in my heart, and so do the clients.
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