This client had a very tricky basement room. It was 18' Long and only 8 1/2 ' Wide. Due to an ill-placed furnace in this townhouse, she had no choice but to make this room narrow. It is actually L-shaped, with ther office around the corner. Not only was it narrow, it had a fairly large corner fireplace which was quite bossy.
The carpet was existing and in good condition. She had 2 leather club chairs, a red leather bench/coffee table and a large dog to work with. She called me because she had already bought a sofa that wouldn't fit down the "crazy builder" staircase. Plus she had had the room painted to go with her new "wouldn't fit" sofa and needed help before spending any more money.
Because this room was her primary a lounging and TV room we invested in a custom Gresham House sofa that we had made to fit down those stairs, and added feather wrapped seats to make it perfectly mooshy. We tested the fabric samples by rubbing them over the dog and scraping his claws on them as we knew he would be using it regularly and we didn't want his hair to show too much or his claws to pull threads.
I added a red wool Indian rug in front of the sofa as that is where the dog lies when he is not lounging on the feather wrapped sofa!. She can easily roll it up and take it to be cleaned. It also gave the sitting area some definition and visually detracted from the bowling alley length of this room.
We re-used her round mirror as it was lovely and we needed to relect more light and space into the room.
I added a large mahogany cabinet with a bit of an ethnic feel to hold a rather modern clear ribbed glass lamp and a huge Indian silver vase full of pussy willows. Because we has splurged on the sofa, we saved on accessories and feather filled red stripey silk pillows that I found at Home Sense. I loved this client and especially her dog who always took my shoes or tape measure when I was there. At first she was embarassed when her dog would jump on me and lick my ears, but felt better when I told her I had 2 labs also.
Chania, you did a really nice job here. The limitaions of the room seem mimimal with the way you pulled it together. I like that it looks comfy and sophisticated at the same time. Well done!
ReplyDeleteAnne
Wow, you did wonders, especially considering the numerous challenges. Very wise to splurge on the most used piece of furniture. The dog and his owners must be thrilled. I laughed out loud picturing you guys rubbing cloth samples over the dog. Love your descriptions of how you tackled each challenge. My favorites are the red pops of color and the cabinet, which adds a regal touch.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely job you did at making an awkward space work. I think it's gorgeous, what a nice place to lounge.
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