Details that Make a Room Stronger

It seems that most of the transformations of rooms that I get to take a very long time. I am about to finish a project that has been six years in the making. Well, fortunately, not all projects take that amount of time. This project was done in just a few weeks, but was a major update. Take a look at the before photos, below:

The homeowner had already painted the room a strong red color, but was a bit lost after that.

Even with the bold color on the walls, the room was still a bit bland, and that drywall ceiling was doing no one any favors!

The first thing I did was add an antique wood plank ceiling. It creates instant warmth and personality. Next, I changed the scale of the furniture. The new pieces are more compact and create much more of a spacious feeling. I also made them a bit taller too and I think that that makes the red less overwhelming.

I also took out that red rug. With the walls, it was too much red and way too distracting. A reproduction Persian rug adds a few other colors for me to work with, and the neutral background softens the room and brings in some light.

Taking a cue from the rug, the pillows introduce some soft green and blue colors that break up the strength of the wall.

I used a collection of botanicals on the wall instead of one big piece, because once again, introducing some smaller scale pieces really give the room some much needed detail.

Mark Cutler
Interior Designer,
MarkCutlerDesign.com