Apartment Turns Home

Design can be healing. This is another amazing project to share because the process was so special to myself and my client. She had just experienced a very difficult life change and found herself in a new space. Her request? She wanted this new apartment to look NOTHING like her old place. She needed her apartment to be peaceful, calm, restful, and healing: she needed that apartment to become a home.

You know those design shows that have the "white box" challenges? That's what walking into this apartment was like. White box with a white sofa. The apartment complex had a no-paint policy -- so we had to work to think how the furniture and accessory choices could provide that warmth and peace she was seeking. She loved the beach, and the complex was located next to a lake, so our inspiration became water. It was a great symbol for the peace, calm, and healing she was hoping for in this design.

One of my favorite projects here is the shelving unit we created in her room. I took the inexpensive IKEA VITTSJÖ shelving unit and gave it a couple of coats of gold spray paint. This is such a simple DIY project - and the result is stunning, sophisticated, and adds the right amount of elegance to her bedroom.

With a blank page in a new chapter of life and a blank canvas of an apartment, I designed a space that was rich with color, metallics, and texture to reach our goal of warmth without the use of paint.