DESIGNER of the YEAR Entry
Before
After
Description
Summary
This home sits on a golf course with greenway-facing, double-story windows of its great room providing mesmerizing views. The homeowners primary concern was to preserve the breath-taking views, but improve privacy and light control. Physical limitations of one of the homeowners had to be incorporated into the final design. They also wanted ample seating in the small space. They however, did not want to change the Brazilian Cherry floors.
I began by classically anchoring the room with a traditional sofa that unified the great room, yet functionally divided the separate living spaces. Comfortable transitional exposed walnut side chairs flank the sofa. The main seating area is completed with modern polished chrome, glass top, side and coffee tables. Seating for 14 is provided by the main area plus bar-height chairs, high stools and a faux Mongolian lamb bench; the latter conveniently nestled away when not in use.
Privacy and light control needs were addressed by installing honeycomb shades to the lowest windows and sliding glass door. Semi-sheer panels, hung on a single substantial solid-wood rod with mercury glass finials, pays homage to the grand architectural integrity of the window without detracting from the view. Holdbacks help further frame the view and provide unimpeded egress through the sliding door.
Television placement was optimized to the client’s physical limitations by consultation with our Director of Ergonomic Design, Paul Sorell, MD and implementation of custom cabinetry. The client was ecstatic with the transitional style, invisible ergonomic considerations and dramatic, yet muted color palette.
Specifics
- NEED: Television Placement – Traditional placement over the fireplace was not an option as, due to one of the client’s physical limitations, it needed to be at a lower eye level for more comfortable viewing from a seated position.
- SOLUTION: Client was recommended to consult with our Director of Ergonomic Design, Dr. Paul Sorell, to determine optimal height and best placement of the TV within the room. It was found that installing the TV in the vacant space just to the right of the fireplace, on top of a cabinet of specific height, would ideally suit the client’s physical limitations while also providing extra storage space. The client was additionally pleased as this plan also afforded a more minimalistic-look to the TV as it was now nestled-away in the corner and not so prominently displayed atop the fireplace. That part of the room was finished by balancing the left side of the fireplace with a bar-height table & custom-reupholstered chairs and a black-framed original Erté (client’s existing collection) just above; mirroring the shiny black finish of the TV on the right.
- NEED: Great Window – Client wanted to maintain an unobstructed view of the grand golf course and lake afforded by the great window, while also having the option for privacy when desired (such as at night) and the ability for control of the natural ambient light when needed (such as for TV viewing).
- SOLUTION: I began by adding custom architectural molding to the arched fanlight window at the top so as to harmonize its look with the balance of the windows below. Honeycomb shades, in patina gray, were then installed to the lowest tier of windows and sliding glass door to immediately and directly address the client’s privacy concerns and varying ambient light control needs. It was next decided to install silver horizontal-striped, white semi-sheer panels to the sides of the window so as to accentuate its inherent architectural beauty but not be so heavy as to detract from the dramatic views beyond. Here, less was more. The treatment colors chosen brought out the natural hues of the golf-course beyond and enhanced the tones of the unchanged wood floor and adjacent stone fireplace.
- NEED: Pets – The clients have several cats and wanted finishes that would stand up to the increased demands of having such pets share unrestricted access to the living space with them.
- SOLUTION: Client was offered options at several different price points: custom High-performance Fabrics for the furnishings (something in which we specialize), professional third-party “fabric-sealing” services or consumer-grade after-market applied products. Although advising the client that the two latter choices would not provide the increased structural integrity against wear and abuse as the first, because of budgetary concerns, they settled on the least expensive option. So we accommodated their wishes by applying 303 High Tech Fabric Guard to all the soft materials in the room.
- NEED: Seating – Being the homes great room, the client wanted ample seating for family and friends to gather, but needed it to fit within the relatively small space and be “out-of-the-way” when not in use.
- SOLUTION: Several solutions were implemented. Working with the kitchen designer, we were able to narrow the kitchen island and have an overhang provided, under which three (3) backless stools were placed. Neatly tucked away when not in use, but serving dual function for additional seating when necessary in either the kitchen or den area of the great room. Next, the bar-height table to the left of the fireplace provides an additional four (4) seats when needed, but again, unobtrusively tucked-away in the corner when not in use. And, finally, unseen in the photos provided, is a contemporary faux Mongolian Lamb bench with Lucite legs that can be pulled into the space for an additional two (2) places to sit.
- WANT: Family Heirloom Artwork – The client requested that a piece of family heirloom artwork be displayed somewhere in the room. Several challenges immediately presented: they wanted it “prominently” displayed, maintained in its original frame, and there were no empty walls remaining within the space on which to hang it.
- SOLUTION: As we could not reframe the painting and, in its current form, was too diminutive to hang high above the fireplace, it was best thought to set it off-center on the mantle and juxtapose it with complementary candlesticks of sufficient structure and height to draw away some attention. In this manner, the client was very pleased, but the overall visual impact of the piece on the room was minimized by having it blend seamlessly with the color and texture of the surrounding stone.
This room abounded with multiple, not immediately apparent, design challenges.
- CHALLENGE: Television Placement – After the decision was made to place the TV on a cabinet of a certain specific height just to the right of the fireplace, the problem was that there existed no such cabinet of that specific height that would also fit in the space because of the interfering 45° angle of the adjoining wall to the right.
- SOLUTION: Tasked our carpenter with building a custom cabinet of the ideal height as specified by Dr. Sorell that would also accommodate the architecturally impressive but interfering 45° angle of the adjoining wall to the right.
- CHALLENGE: Great Window – How precisely to install the drapes so as to embrace the height of the room, yet still respect the balance of the segmented nature of the window.
- SOLUTION: To uniformly anchor the look from above, the panels were hung just below the arched top fanlight window on a substantial, smooth, platinum color 2 ¼” solid-wood rod with mercury glass finials. This paid homage to the grandiosity of the window but didn’t compromise its integrity or interfere with the new beauty of the arch just above. Complementary holdbacks were placed on either side, just above the lower window top molding, thereby still framing the view, yet still allowing a flood of natural light into the room and providing unimpeded egress and ingress through the sliding glass door between.
- CHALLENGE: Infrastructure – As with most clients who have a great room, while they want the look of one big unified area, they also desire a visually pleasing delineation of the different functional living spaces within. Hence, we went with a classic look; utilizing the sofa to serve as the visual demarcation point between the kitchen and den areas. However, as the client also wished to have accent and task lighting on the side table of the sofa (of course directly in the middle of the room) it presented the problem of electrification. We advised the clients that the previous homeowner’s DIY solution, of running an extension cord under the area rug to a nearby wall outlet, was both aesthetically unacceptable and a downright dangerous fire hazard.
- SOLUTION: Electrification for the side table lamp was provided by having our electrician properly install a UL-Certified, brass, recessed in-floor electrical receptacle. And, being that the client intends for this to be their “forever home” we recommended that, while the ceiling in the basement below was opened, a second in-floor outlet be placed on the other side of the sofa to accommodate additional lighting on that side, should the client ever decide to put such there in the future.