Well, the Country Club of the South 25th Anniversary neighborhood event we did early this fall finally paid off.  A couple came to us for help with their office/study room.  The problem, the room was dated and poorly done by the previous home owners.  For starters, they had used plywood instead of real wood for the built-ins, which is a BIG FAT no-no for a high end home such as this one.  Not only were the built-ins an eye sore, but they also took up too much real estate in the room.  The worst part, because this room sits just off the front entrance to the home and receives a lot of natural light via the bay windows, it should have been a statement room.  Instead, it was the room of doom in which the couple rarely used.  What a complete shame!  However, we were about to change all of that.

Client Request: Ttransform this space not only into a useable and functional area, but also make it feel cozy and inviting.

Our Solution: Our clients already had all the right furnishings so we used the colors and the textures for inspiration.  The area rug and the sofa and chair fabrics had a lot of bold colors; golds, blacks, reds and tans, while the wood tones in the furniture were a darker brown.  The idea was to add dimension to the walls and trim that regular paint just can’t do, but to also make sure they were subtle enough that the furnishings remain center stage.  Therefore, we decided to do a warm, but not too dark glaze on the walls.  We also decided to do a light antique glaze on all of the moulding, and moulding there was!!  (Not only did we have all of the trim on the cawford ceiling, but we also antiqued the 3 window sills, the french door and door trim, the 1′ tall baseboards, as well as the fireplace.)

The first step, our clients had the built-ins removed, walls patched, hard wood floors replaced, and finally, had their painter come in and prep the room before we came in to add the finishing touches.  Once the remodel was complete, we got to work…

Before:

Before - french door wall

Before - large, main wall

Before - fireplace wall

Not the best picture, since the sunlight was coming in.

Before - bay window wall

Before - cawford ceiling

And some of the furnishings we used as inspiration, including the area rug and pillow fabric.

Before - area rug and pillow fabric for color inspiration

After:

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed french doors & wall

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed, large, main wall & glazed fireplace

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed fireplace close-up

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed bay window sills, baseboards and wall

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed cawford ceiling trim & glazed insets

Rusty Bluebird: After - glazed cawford ceiling trim& insets close-up

As always, a happy client = a happy Rachael and Sarah!

Enjoy until next time,