Teen Space and Visual Storage for a Creative Kid

M wants my help in organizing and redecorating her room. M collects vintage shoes, has several animal tanks and is very visual. Her room, like many teenagers' rooms, is a mess! Storage is lacking, for sure. The first thing her mom asked me about was a new dresser. I opened the closet, and there is one garment hanging, a small old dresser stuck in there and no shelf space. There is another larger dresser in the room. Rather than another dresser, I suggest we redo the closet so M can see her clothes. The closet is typical of an older home, just under four feet wide, but with more shelf space, enough storage for  at least ten pairs of shoes, and hanging for the few party dresses M has now and might have over the next few years, and room for a few laundry baskets on the floor, it will be a lot simpler for M to store her stuff.


Here's what I came up with.


The total cost including installation is less than half what we would need to spend on a quality dresser, and without moving parts and drawers that need to be closed, it is more likely that M will actually put her stuff IN the closet. M's existing dresser may be painted so she can store overflow in there, and her snake tank will rest on top. The closet will be a good first step in renovating this teen space.

Classic Bathroom in an Eclectic Home

My client MB contacted me last winter about her bathroom. She is overwhelmed by the many options available and needed some help choosing finishes. Her home is filled to the brim with sunny colors, eclectic artwork and furnishings, stacks and stacks of books, and dozens of animals. She wanted a bathroom that would fit with the style of the home, but how could I not add some color? And storage...that was a must!

Rather than a store-bought vanity, I designed cabinetry that would fill the space and give the family of three room for toiletries, laundry and anything else that might land in this first floor bath. Taking color cues from the glass mosaics, I had the cabinet maker finish the cabinet in a gray-green with a subtle gray glaze. MB chose chrome fixtures, but with the deeper tones in the mosaics I suggested oil rubbed bronze hardware for the cabinetry, just to mix it up. White tiles, gray grout and a carrara marble vanity top contrast the cabinetry, and the walls and ceiling are painted the same neutral—not beige, not yellow, not green, not gray—Benjamin Moore Camouflage, which actually makes the small room feel larger than it would had we painted the ceiling white.

The family loves it!

What M Wants, M Gets...

My client, MB, has a very artistic daughter M, and she wants her to be able to express her creativity as I do, through my design choices. MB contacted me several weeks ago, as her bath project was finishing up. She needed me to help them choose exterior paint colors...but M wanted the house to be purple. My only issue with this was that the lower half of the house is brick. How could I combine brick red and purple successfully? This might be a challenge.

Looking at swatches, we actually were able to find a great color—a muted violet with hints of navy and gray—that picked up the deeper tones in the brick, accentuated the stained glass transom and read as the same value as the brick so the house feels more cohesive. Initially MB wanted the shutters and front door to be red, but that got lost against the brick so we did them both in high-gloss black. Bright white trim blends with the new windows.

The hint of purple in the body color picks up the color in their spring flowers, and contrasts nicely against the greens of the summer foliage.

I am happy to say I pleased both MB and her daughter with this choice.