BEFORE
As we begin our work on the living room at the Newburyport Designer Show House, I thought you might like to see a few before photos of the space. In the photos you will see what the living room looked like the first time I laid eyes on the room. I chose this room for my design submission for several reasons.
First, look at that beautiful fireplace! This room, being one of the original rooms in the house, boasts some beautiful original woodwork including the fireplace and built in cabinetry. It also has a beautiful original wood floor. Another deciding factor for me was that this room, which is located in the front of the house, has a waterfront view from all four windows. A room with original architectural elements, in a home of this age, usually presents some considerable design challenges. First, this room has two very narrow doorways entering from two very narrow angled hallways. This means that only the most precisely measured and planned furniture pieces will be able to enter this space at all.
BEFORE
The next challenge, the two doors that open into the room and cover wall space and need clearance space.The windows present a few additional challenges. The window casings are all sized and cut into the top crown molding at different measured increments. This will make our window hardware selection and placement a bit tricky. These windows are also very unevenly spaced on the walls and will require some design techniques that will minimize the uneven window placement. All of these things considered, I knew that this was the perfect room for me to tackle, with my many years of designing and renovating beautiful old colonial homes, I felt drawn to this space and it’s potential. I have enjoyed preparing the design presentation for this space, and now we can begin the transformation of this room into a beautiful cozy retreat.
I hope you will enjoy seeing the progress of this beautiful show house as I continue to update you these next few weeks.
Gia
