This newly designed lower level went from being a typical basement used for storage, exercising, and watching tv, into a fun and funky bar lounge with a full bath and home office.
Category: Custom Pillows
Birds of a feather play together
At one time, this room was a great space for girls to play dress up, do arts and crafts, build legos and play games. Now that they are transitioning out of traditional playtime, this large room can serve another purpose.
My client was interested in upgrading to a guest room for family. It already has a bathroom and closet. We halved it to allow a place for sleeping and lounging. The seating area still allows the girls to have a recreation area when guests aren’t visiting.
The Schumacher fabric is a great complement to the purple polka dot valences that are to remain in the room. A custom headboard, embroidered bedding, and bedskirt give this room a little sophistication and make it feel more like a guestroom.
While this updated space, it is still decorated with their adorable artwork, now it is a more “grown up” room.
Sitting Pretty
This sitting room was so much fun to decorate because it already had elements like custom wainscoting, eleven foot ceilings, and an open floor plan that helped to add interest and light to the space.
The starters for this design concept were the window panels, oriental carpet, and antique hutch. Incorporating existing pieces into a new design not only offers a direction but also allows me to be more creative and work with what I have.
After
Before
The first thing I did was to update the existing panels by adding a 5” decorative tape on the leading edge of each. The tigers worked perfectly with the Kravet panel fabric and gave the windows that WOW factor. The cornice layout was tricky but we were able to fit four full tigers in by using the return to the wall. This window treatment set the tone for this room and later for the entire first floor.
Wayne Basement Renovation
This young family needed more space in their traditional Cape style home and going up was not in the budget so they decided to go down into their dark, completely unfinished basement. This new space, although not without challenges; electrical boxes, an old oil tank, sump pumps, HVAC, sewer pipes, and low ceilings, gave them a great new area to entertain friends and family.
Family Room Blues
From the start of this project my client had a really good idea of what she wanted. A family room where she could entertain, as well as a space for her kids to play comfortably.
The sofa was the one piece of furniture that was to remain and my client was not too excited about it so I had to find a fabric that would enliven the room as well as her love for the sofa.
This teal floral Thibaut fabric did the trick and it became the generator for the entire space. Teal is such a great hue because it works well with many different colors and the oversized florals make the fabric whimsical and fun for this young family.
A bar area was also added for setting out hors d’oeuvres or making a quick drink for friends. A 5′ alcove was the perfect spot to house a custom bar equipped with a wine fridge, wine rack, glass storage, and a countertop for serving.
In order to balance the room, cabinetry was added for toy and game storage. A custom cushion in a striped Crypton fabric on top could be used as a homework spot or for extra seating when entertaining.
The final touch was the artwork. My clients grandparents were accomplished painters but it was a matter of total happenstance that each piece complimented the design beautifully and completed the room.
You’ll never be blue in this Living Room.
This spacious Living Room in a beautiful old stone colonial needed a little freshening up. My client wanted to get rid of the salmon and pink that adorned the room and bring in more blue and green. I felt the best way was to start with the walls and Farrow and Ball’s Cooks Blue, was the perfect color to do it. A gorgeous Stark carpet already lived in the room however, it wasn’t big enough for the main seating area. I pulled the blue from the Stark and selected a wool Karastan to go underneath the matching sofas. Together the two carpets worked seamlessly to bring the seating area into one cohesive unit.
The slipper chairs were reupholstered in a durable Robert Allen fabric and dressed with a beautiful Scalamandre tape along the bottom of their skirts. Throw pillows were added to both sofas and the chairs to bring in a little color.
Lastly, Sconces on dimmers were added along the perimeter of the room to allow for accent lighting when needed. The antique brass against the crisp blue walls was the perfect detail to finish off the room.
A Master Bedroom to love….
When this client sent me an inspiration picture of a bedroom created by a Designer that I love, I was more than excited to work on her Master. The room already had a lot of great design elements like a Thibaut grass cloth on the ceiling, a four poster bed, a chair upholstered in a blue bird print and a window seat. The room just needed to feel like a bedroom that she LOVED walking into and I think we achieved that.
A Modern Family Room
This modern family room is a great representation of the way we live today. A multi purpose room that is used for watching tv, a children’s playroom, lounging, and entertaining. When clients ask me to assist them in kitchen renovations more often than not they want a design that opens up the kitchen to an adjacent family room and this project was no different. A wall separating the two rooms was removed and replaced with a Carrera marble peninsula creating an easy transition from one room to the next. Since the first phase of this project was the kitchen, the family room fabrics had to coincide. Another consideration was that space is used for entertaining both adults and children so the fabrics had to be sophisticated yet durable. The white sectional sofa allows for optimal seating and is upholstered in a high performance Perennials fabric. For the drapery, a simple lightweight fabric was selected to allow for optimal light. A five inch Schumacher tape was chosen to line the interior edge of each panel along with a beautiful brass rod with lucite finials and rings. The rod added sophistication and glamor to this window decor.
Kitchen Roman Shade
Master Bedroom Makeover
After living in this Master Bedroom for thirty-five plus years, my clients decided it was time for an update. Their stone colonial has all of the beauty and character of an older home, but with that character comes small closets, limited lighting, and very few electrical outlets. It became obvious that the main objective for this project was to achieve optimal storage space. Unfortunately, creating a larger footprint for the room was not a possibility. In order to optimize storage, I designed custom bookshelves with docking stations, accompanied by high hats over the bed, and outlets in the baseboard. I also added a seven foot closet with built-in drawers and shelving, a window seat with storage inside, and an additional closet for shoes. 
Having skilled carpenter, Mark Campbell on board was very important to the success of this project. He was able to repurpose old doors saved from previous renovations and reuse them for the new closet. A key factor to the design of the room was to keep the same characteristics of the woodwork which Mark was able to do by matching the new trim, molding, and baseboards.
At the start of this project my client told me that she wanted her new room to “feel happy and bright.” A floral Kravet fabric that was selected for the window treatments was the key ingredient to bringing in a variety of accent colors. The crisp white built-ins and Aberdeen Green walls were the final elements that tied everything together to make their new Master Bedroom feel updated and fresh. Check out the before and after photos below!
BEFORE
The custom woodwork was done by Mark Campbell of Greengate Woodworks. www.greengatewoodworks.com
The custom roman shades & pillows were done by Claudia of Urban Loft Window Treatments. www.urbanloftwindowtreatments.com
Ann Decker Design 