Each project stretches me a bit, and this has definitely been an awesome experience with a bit of aesthetic stretching. My immediate instinct is to go casual and relaxed and rustic, but their style is more formal. And they really like symmetry.
Also, they wanted yellow...which in my opinion is the hardest wall color to work with. I like it in lots of things, but wall color is tough for me. Finding the right shade (one that looks just as good under artificial and natural lights) is super tricky. Thankfully, we got this right on the first shot. It's Farrow and Ball's "Hay 37." It's lovely, warm, and sophisticated. The ceiling is Farrow and Ball's "House White 2012" and the Trim is Farrow and Ball's "New White 59."
Next challenge was not being able to use drapes. Drapes instantly make everything softer, warmer, more inviting. And my fail-safe is to use linen. It always adds just the right amount of casual, relaxed, and natural. But they have major allergies, so any extra fabric, especially anything that couldn't be tossed into the laundry weekly, was out of the question. So no drapes and no fabric roman shades. Bummer. Thankfully, we found some easy to clean roman woven ones that do the trick.
They liked all their existing furniture, so we kept pretty much everything, and just focused on all the fixins. Plus we added some built-ins on the wall opposite the bed.
Here was the plan I came up with (We are still waiting on some elements like the rug and side table b/w the chairs):
So here's what it looked like BEFORE:
And here's how it is IN PROGRESS:
IN PROGRESS (aside from adding the built-ins and mirrors, we haven't gotten to styling this side yet, so that'll have to be a future post). The built-ins are by Econ-ize.http://www.eco-nize.com/ and they are awesome:
The intaglios above my bed are my favorite part I think. They are a DIY, and I will be back with details at some point soon.
While we are very close to the end, I joke with them that that I really don't want to finish up...I just like the excuse of hanging out with them too much :)