Project: Interior design for living/dining room (small space solutions) and custom designed placemats
Key words: Smart storage, cozy, symmetry and easy cleaning
The owners of this house in Oegstgeest are Matt, an Englishman, and Janice, an American. They have a daughter who speaks excellent Dutch having grown up here and a lovely black mid-sized dog from Russia completes the family.
Having lived in their house for a couple of years, they were ready for a makeover to make it more homey, and add personality and functionality.
The Scope
It actually started with a lighting question. Around Christmas the room was lit so nicely with the little lights, but then afterwards, when all of the seasonal lights were gone so was the extra sparkle and atmosphere. They were looking for a way to continue this feeling of comfort and also needed lighting above the dining room table, which can be pulled down or moved according to the placement of the table (which is dynamic).
The wish list quickly grew, adding color advice for a homier atmosphere, and a new cabinet of sorts for more storage and adding a focal point of interest to the left of the long wall behind the dining room table. Finally, there was also a need for some new interior textiles. Basically the project grew from advice into a complete interior design.
Inspiration
For many years Matt and Janice lived in Tucson, Arizona. They really enjoyed their home there, it felt comfortable. Lucky for us: cacti have been in fashion for a while now, so I was able to buy quite a few cactus-accessories. Like the Serax cactus vases. The cactus lamp was the perfect solution to the first question: how to bring a nice atmospheric light into the room.
Colors
Whereas Tuscon is an important source of inspiration: the room is far from desert-like. This is thanks to Janice’s preference for the color blue. Blue literally makes her feel happy. Isn’t it awesome when you know the exact color that has such a positive effect on you?
The entire wall, from living room to the kitchen, is blue (S 3030-R80B) and this elongated the room visually towards the kitchen. The green (S 2020-G30Y) is the backdrop for additional Hulsta cabinets and the wall opposite to the blue one is beige-brown (FE203, Flexa) giving it a nice backdrop for the dark brown sofa.
Floor Plan
What made it difficult to get the right balance in the living room was the size and the shape. We needed to come up with some clever small space solutions. How do we make it feel bigger? Or do we embrace the smallness by making it more cozy? One thing was certain, we had to make clear zones for sitting and for dining.
Dinner Parties
Being able to have a group of people over for dinner, be it pizza, pot luck or yummy Mexican food, is important to Matt and Janice and therefore it was a big part of the design. We choose Hulsta cabinetry (now! time) around a bench to achieve the requested easy storage and an impressive wall feature all at the same time. The bench itself we purchased at Oud is Nieuw, and had it spray painted in the same colour as the new Fritz Hansen chairs. The seat of the bench opens up, giving extra storage. You will see on the drawings above that the table (Oqui van LaForma) is super extendable: if you use only one extra leaf it measures 210 cm long and if you use two it measures 260 cm. At least 8 people can sit comfortably at this table.
Bespoke Placemats
Above you see textile placemats I designed for the family. The colored background is actually a pixelation of a photograph taken by them by a stream on one of their holidays. The white outlines are of their daughter and her BFF, photographed on a porch swing when they were happily reunited in the U.S. (She got a special one for herself, with the actual picture instead of the outlines.)
Looking forward to (more of) those dinner parties!
Would you also like an interior design for your own home? Do you also have a need for small space solutions? Have a look at my services, or contact me directly, so we can discuss the possibilities in person.