Nancy's Office

Hi Christine,

After 30+ years of having all of our bedrooms filled with children and their stuff, we are empty nesters. Now we are able to have a few luxuries, like turning one of the bedrooms into an office. I am attaching a floor plan of the room, along with some pictures of what I have in mind so far. I thought you and your readers might be able to give me ideas for the lighting, a rug and fabrics to tie it all together.

Our room is approximately 10 x 13' and has a window seat and a wall of closets. Right now there are two craigslist desks I bought that we have been using while I figure out what I want to do for 'real.' I have found that I hate being in the room so I use my computer in the family room instead. I want to make it a place that feels good!

I want the main wall to have a world map mural. The wall is 13' wide and 8' high and you face it as you walk into the room. This is the map I like best: It's about 10' wide and 6' high so there would be a lot of wall showing around it. There is one available that almost fills the wall, but it is the standard blue world map instead of earth tones. I don't think it would look as nice.

I just purchased a rectangular table:  I'd like it to be placed in the middle of the room, perpendicular to the  wall with the mural. I am trying to talk my husband into these chairs: I promised him I could make a comfortable chair pad. He said he would try, but he is used to 'real' office chairs but that wouldn't fit my decor as well!

I'd like two papasan chairs  for the wall on the left side of the mural. That's what you would see as you are walking down the hall toward the room.

So there you have it. There's a ceiling fan in the middle of the room, above the table. I can change that out for another type of light fixture, and I also need lighting for the papasan chairs (a table and a lamp, or track lighting on the ceiling, or a floor lamp or all of the above). And maybe track lighting for the mural. A lot of track lighting! I need fabric ideas for the window. I can make my own window treatments, but I would be perfectly happy with ready-mades if I can find what I want. I also have a window seat bench pad and pillows that I could recover to coordinate. The most boring part of the room is the wall of closets opposite the mural. There are three sliding closet doors. Ideally, I would take the doors off but I haven't figured out a way to make banker boxes and binders beautiful, at least in my price range. I could hang curtains to replace the closet doors and that would add another fabric. The floor is bamboo, which I don't think will look very good with the table, but hopefully the right rug will take care of that. And lots of plants.

So the burning question is -- can this all be pulled off? I know you won't hesitate to tell me what won't look good!

Thanks!
Nancy

Hi Nancy,

I am going to agree with your husband that the chair does not look comfortable- and I don't know that a cushion will really solve that.  The nice thing about a place like World Market- is you can always try it out and return it.  I do love the style- it reminds me of Sundance catalog- which I think has a terrific look to it.  I would actually be more likely to use it as a dining chair than an office chair- but maybe that's because I spend long hours in my office chair and eat very quickly. 

I love the large map on the wall- It would be great if you could get your hands on some weathered looking boards that would make a cool frame.

The papassan chair is a bit wild- but it could be a fun element to the room.  Know that it won't really work if that is your only pattern and color.  If you are going with colorful pattern- go all the way.  Sometimes people get one bold pattern- and stop- like that's as far out on the pattern limb they could go- but that is where the design fails. 

Add some pattern and color in your window treatments.

Add a more subtle pattern as well as texture and color in your rug.  (this jute rug is from Overstock)

Pump up the texture even more with three seagrass pendants hung over the table.  I like the idea of two rows of track lights- oil rubbed bronze- on opposite walls.  I don't think papasan chairs lend themselves to floor lamps or table lamps.  I'd keep the lighting on the ceiling over them.  Add floor lights on timers behind your plants.

Ask yourself if you have enough storage- I don't really see any storage solutions. 

These are from West Elm:

The chair cushions are an additional place for a pop of color.  This fabric is also from Robert Allen:

It might be too late- and I hate saying things when it might be too late- but I would suggest a darker wood table with your other selections.  I don't know that I like the table with the papassan chair- there seems to be too large a disconnect there.  If it is too late, and all of those purchases are made- and cannot be returned- pretend like I said it would look great.  ;-) 

It's like if a friend has already left the house and asks how her clothes look.  They look perfect.  If you are in the store dressing room making selections- you tell the truth.  That's how I roll.  Sometimes, on this blog- I don't know if you are in the dressing room or have already left the house... 

Can you look at the pictures in this post and see what I mean? 

I do like you thinking outside the box- using a dining table for your desk. 

I would go ahead and install keyboard pull-outs to make the arrangement cleaner and more comfortable.  If you have smaller CPU's - I wold mount them under the table to keep a clean look, and make it user friendly.

Be sure to take some before and after pictures!  (and send them to me of course)  Hopefully you will finish your office faster than my personal office is coming.  My wallpaper is still in a box on the floor.  ;-)  I'm a little too busy decorating other homes. 

Baseball Bedroom

Hi Christine,

My 11 yr old son would like his room redone. His room is approx. 12’ x 12’. One wall has a window that is 6’ wide leaving 3’ of wall on each side, another wall is the door to his room and closet (double bifold doors). First of all- rearrange your furniture- I drew a floorplan for you above. Always try to avoid having the headboard on the window wall. Create a focal point with your headboard wall. The other two walls have nothing on them. His room has a chair rail that is 3’ from the floor. Ceilings are 8” tall. I would keep the pennants where you have them- take everything else down- you will put some of it back later. He has a twin bed and his quilt is primarily a medium gray with thin red and blue stripes and sports pictures. We were thinking we would paint below the chair rail red (Benjamin Moore – My Valentine #1330) and above the chair rail gray (Benjamin Moore – Silver Bells #1458). Currently the chair rail is white Should we paint the chair rail, we were thinking blue (Benjamin Moore – Stunning #826). We're not sure if this will chop the room up too much or make it look very small. His current room has taupe below the chair rail and white on top. No- don't cut your room up like that- it is too choppy- too dark, very annoying. Also, he picked out a gray loveseat from Ikea that folds out to a bed for guests. You don't have room for a love seat, desk, and twin bed. In my opinion, it would be too cramped. Use a trundle bed for guests and keep the chair you currently have. It is a great chair. And we were going to go with a desk and shelving from Ikea as well. I would love your feedback.

Thank you,
Jennifer

As readers of mine know, I am not a big fan of chair rails. In your case, I feel like it is limiting where you can hang wall decor. You can keep it- it is not terrible- but I would take it down if it were me.

Wallpaper the ceiling with the Candice Olson Baseball paper below. Use the shades of gray and white in your paper to paint your wall. Go with three wide subtle stripes if you remove the chair rail, just two colors if you keep it.

Red is great to include- just not on the wall- Use two of these tables form IKEA for "coffee tables" in your son's new lounging room. Add a couple of night stands- I like these wall mounted ones from IKEA. They finish off the headboard wall. Along the ceiling about 12 inches out on the headboard wall- add this track lighting- with two pendants- one over each nightstand. A little more red for punch. Make, or have made, an upholstered headboard like the one below from IKEA- it needs to be a custom size to fill your space just right, filling the length, not the width of the twin bed. This desk is 50 inches in width- also from IKEA- should fit great- but I don't know the measurements on the chair. Now fill in your wall space with the larger prints- around the chair and flanking the windows.

Can you see my vision? Happy decorating!

Christine

Kim's lighting Plan

Kim's Basement- which I posted on yesterday- needs a lighting plan. Currently she has can lights.

I have some general rules that I like to follow when lighting a living area. These rules are not the same for task areas such as kitchens and offices. Nor are these rules the same for bedrooms. These are my guidelines for living rooms, great rooms, and family rooms.

1. Light should not flood the room from the ceiling. When can lights flood the room, there is no shadow, there is no beauty in the lighting, just light. Whereas this might be good in an office- this is not good in a living room. Kim- if your can lights are not already on a dimmer- put them on one.
2. There should be light coming from the ceiling, but it should be illuminating something worth looking at. In Kim's room, she has a 19 foot wall- in my design, I put three large pieces of art on the wall. Track lights have a bad image in some people's mind- likely because they were so huge and tacky in the 70's - but they are great as they can add accent lighting to walls- creating beautiful shadows and mood- with great control over the direction of the light. On a long wall like Kim's- she would most likely need more than one. The light above is from Lamps Plus. This also is opposite the TV- and can be used without creating glare during TV viewing.
3. There should be light coming from the floor. Every room should have a plant or two- and every plant should have an uplight. Uplights should be put on timers- so they automatically come on every night at a certain time, and go off at a certain time. Even if you are just walking by the room- how nice to see the beautiful shadows of the leaves of the plants on the walls. This creates ambiance. We shouldn't just have ambiance on special occasions, we should have it everyday. If you have a piece of furniture with lights in it- like an etegier- put it on a timer also. The uplight above is from lamps plus.
4. Light needs to come not just from the ceiling and the floor- but also closer to eye level- generally with lamps. In an asymmetrical setting like Kim's- I like using different lamps with different lamp shade styles. In a more formal symmetrical setting- I might use matching lamps. I never would use a bunch of lamps from the same "series". Totally boring. It is like getting two matching end tables with a matching coffee table- dull. (OK_ all my friends that are reading this that have a set of matching tables- I don't care- I don't notice- please still be my friends- I got a lot of static after I bagged on the sofa love combination. :) For Kim's basement- I am selecting the pharmacy lamp below- from Restoration Hardware- for beside her curved sofa- and the rectangular pendent at the top of the post- for above her box table from yesterday's post. (from Lights Up). (in linen color- not bright white as pictured.)

So- that' s the plan- when you create a lighting plan for your living area- count the sources when you are done and make sure you get to at least 5. Remember sometimes light sources are fireplaces. This room doesn't have sconces- but don't forget sconces- they are a great addition. :)