Evolution of a Room- Creating a Plan

Today I am back to talk about the next steps in the "Evolution of a Room."  In the past few weeks we've talked about Creating Your List  and Assessing your Time, Space, and Budget.  This time around we are are going to go through the process of "Creating Your Plan." 

Last time that we talked about creating lists including: the things you love about the space already, design elements/functional points you know you want to include, and the items you already have to work with.  Just to recap, here are those lists that we created with B.


pic found here

Things She Already Loves About The Space

- Love the Fireplace

- Love height of the space

- Love the wood beams

- Love the light

- Love the wood floors

- Love the openness of the space to the kitchen and dining area

Design Elements/Functional Points

- Wants to be able to watch tv, sit and talk to family and friends, play board games 

- Need a space to store Jaxon's toys so he can play in space but not take it over

- Need a small play space for Jaxon

- Lots of seating (for 6-7 people)

- Childproof/durable design

- Would love to use purple and brown colors

- Do not want to use red or white (due to the difficulty in keeping it clean)

- Clean lines, simple designs accented with colors and/or bold print

- Pieces that are comfortable as well as functional while still managing to look good

- A rug because dad and son like to wrestle around on the floor

What B already had

- sofa

- media center

With these lists in mind, it's time to start  the planning process.  The very first thing I like to do is create a floor plan.  The floor plan is extremely important. It will create your focal points and balance the room.  Here's the layout I suggested for B's space. . . 

It is best to create your layout on grid paper allowing you to draw everything to scale. This will allow you to see how things will fit and what size of furniture you will be looking for. 

Of course the main feature that I wanted to highlight in this room was the fireplace, therefore I placed the couch directly across from it. The fact that the fireplace: is centered in the room, that it stretches all the way to the gorgeous wood beam ceiling, and simply the fact that a it makes a room feel instantly cozy are all reasons that you want to make your fireplace the focal point. 

The TV is going to be a focal point in most living rooms as well, so creating a seating arrangement that allows for easy viewing was important as well. Once I placed the two current pieces of furniture, it was time to decide on the rest of the furniture arrangement.  Two chairs flanking the fireplace once again bring attention to the focal point, but it also creates a great conversational layout in relation to the sofa.  The rug and large coffee table fit the scale of the room and also meets B's requests for creating a soft place for Jaxon and Dad to wrestle around and provide a great space for board games.  The sofa table was an obvious placement.  I always try to use a sofa table when the back of a couch can be seen.  The big block of fabric should be broken up and a sofa table does that really well.  I also wanted to place something directly opposite of the media center to not only fill wall space, but to balance the room.  It needed to be similar in size to the media center so I opted for a console that could conceal Jaxon's toys.  A few extra chairs serve as great guest seating when friends and family come over and also fulfill B's request of having seating for 6-7 people.

Once the floor plan is created, I like to go ahead and move what I have into place.  That means this B's room now looked like this. . .

Once the floor plan has been decided on, I start to think through the design elements that I want to include to enhance the architecture of the space.  In this case there were three things I wanted to accomplish.  I wanted to bring attention to the height of the room, bring attention to the gorgeous wood beams, and continue to make the fireplace a focal point.  My plan to accomplish all of these was to hang really tall and heavy (not linen or other light fabric) curtains.  I also wanted to add an architectural element to the room- a chair rail.  The chair rail would serve as another layer and would allow us to bring an extra color into the space.  B, like many other home owners, was intimidated by the height of the room and didn't want to tackle painting the whole thing.  The chair rail would allow us to paint part of the wall and add a great architectural statement.

Once the layout is decided and the architecture considered, I start to look for pieces to complete the space.  Like most designers, I put together a design board which shows all the elements together.  This helps to give the client an idea of how things will look once the room is complete.  Here's what B's board looked like . . . 

When I create design boards for clients, I always include options.  I will make it known if I believe one option is better than the rest, but I find giving clients options help them to feel like this really is their room that they helped to create.  

If you are designing a room for yourself, it might also help you to keep options on the board.  Many times a decision on one element will effect the decision of another.  Keeping all the options laid out in front of you will help with the decision and many times you end up picking something you would not have initially.  

You can see that the design board at this point is simple, sophisticated, and elegant. . .but there's one problem.  It's lacking personality!  Next week, we will talk about how you can bring your passions and personality into the space.  

Until then, consider all your lists and make a design board!