Monday, November 17, 2008

Studio Make-Over

I told you I was gonna do it. Below are pix from our studio renovation which took two months to happen. You wouldn't know that painting and redecorating 400 square feet of space could take so long, but it does. And I'd do it all over again.

The goal: Turn our studio into a plush refuge that reflects James' sensibility and my penchant for flash. The big issue for us was controling the light in the space, which for a while came from a corner lamp and the whim of our solar system. We installed track lighting in July and from there set out to redo the entire space.

My inspiration: Gilded fantasy. Back in the days when I used to paint in high school my work always had deep blues, a touch of gold and lots of swirls. Without knowing it, I reverted to those same themes with this project. With gold and champagne accents throughout, my rug and coffee table both have my "signature" swirls and our walls "pop" with one of my favorite colors: turquoise blue.


So who did what? James installed our shelving, our curtain rods and ensured the functionality of other vital home accoutrements - specifically our internet access -as I plowed through walls and kicked cables out of the way to turn this place into Gianni Versace's rendering of Versailles. I picked out the couch, our rug and our wall colors while keeping the sturdy, earthy and James-y pieces that my beloved owned before we met.

One could say this design project is an exercise in sustainability as the only thing we tossed during the renovation was the couch. Everything else was kept and repurposed, including our first coffee table, which James carefully retiled about two years ago.

Stay tuned for an invite to the champagne unveiling.

***

Before:





After:
















Couch, Rug: Safavieh
Glass Coffee Table: Housing Works
Glass Armoire, Tiled Coffee Table, Leather Chair: ABC Carpet & Home
Floor Lamp: West Elm
Wall Colors: Ralph Lauren (Blues), Behr (Gold Trim)

3 comments:

David said...

I love before and after pictures. I want to sit in the couch.

Alejandra said...

You guys did a great job.

Anonymous said...

It looks like you two are having great fun together. You're both very lucky