daily decorator

Michelle has an awkward space that she is trying to upgrade because it is the first space you see when you walk in her home. Like many of us, sometimes a home’s design throws us some stumbling blocks. In Michelle’s case she has two different sized windows and tile flooring butting up to wood flooring in an open space plan. The daily decorator is up for the challenge. Here is a snippet of her letter.





And here is the space in question…





Right off the bat I agree with Michelle that the space is lacking a purpose.  To solve that, I suggest creating a reading corner where the ladder shelf is currently located.  Although Michelle owns quite a few nice antiques, they are getting lost in the mix.  Instead of just lining the walls with diffferent pieces, select 1 or 2 pieces to highlight and use the other pieces in different parts of the house.  Michelle loves her grandmother’s desk and it fits perfectly against  the wall by front door.  I suggest finding another spot for the sewing table (maybe it would work as an end table in the living room).  In its place I would put the antique dresser.  It holds more “weight” in the room and will help anchor that side of the room.  To help balance the other side, I would think about replacing the current sofa table with one that is more substantial to help balance the room and act as a divider between the two spaces. 

Here is the concept board that I came up with for Michelle’s space.





Now she has a purpose to this space with a little reading corner.  To help with different sized windows,  I would replace the curtains with a fabric roman shade.  Hang on the outside of the window frame and for the shorter window, cheat the placement by hanging it at the same distance from the ceiling as the larger sized window.  Lower the shade to cover the section of the wall to fool everyone into thinking the window is larger.  Because this room is open, it would make sense to continue this look with all the windows.  Don’t be afraid to use carpeting on top of the tile (just make sure to use a rug pad).  To keep it casual I selected a printed jute rug.  It also comes with a matching doormat to help tie it in with the actual entry area.  Ready for the breakdown?  Here it is…


1. lampsplus.com Robert Abbey Tilton Swing Arm Lamp $169.99 
2.  overstock.com Mardi Gras Chair $339.91  3.  lampsplus.com Barrington 13″ bronze ceiling light $73.91  4.  etsy.com (seller:  flamingogirl) $14 
5.  jcpenney.com Linden Street Antique Vanilla Table $149  6.  target.com Curves Tufted Ottoman $79.99  7.  ballardsdesigns.com Jute Rug $179 
8.  lampsplus.com  New Informality Hammered Lamp $79.91  9.  pier1.com Embossed Floral Vase $49.95  10.  amazon.com Magnussen North Park Console $350  11.  etsy.com (seller:  nestings) Sprout Bags for holding magazines $34  12.  etsy.com (seller:  joom) Hummingbird Pillow $  
13.  etsy.com (seller:  cicadastudio) Forsythia Fabric to dress up bulletin board $10


As a final touch, Michelle liked the photo arrangement pics that I posted about not too long ago see below.  (Click image to see old post from September).





The best way to achieve this is to have a large amount of framed pictures.  Testing out on the floor or a table first, line up a square perimeter of pictures.  Fill in this perimeter with different sized framed pictures.  Keep the space inbetween the frames uniform.  It will work better if you use smaller sized frames and each framed picture has 1 photo or artwork in it.  It also helps if all the photos are black and white or all in color to give some kind of unity.  It is a great look would fit nicely with Michelle’s decor.

As you can see, it won’t take too much to turn this space around and put a smile on Michelle’s face each time she walks in the door!