Living Room Before & After

Welcome to part two of my portfolio tour! Once again, I love the transformation we were able to achieve in this space, and would love to share a bit of the process. Next up, we're taking a look at a living room + home office combo in the the same home as yesterday's master bedroom feature, a modern condo in downtown San Francisco.

Let's start at the beginning. Those windows (below) are awesome... and also posed some challenges! Similar to the bedroom, my clients were looking for a more efficient use of the space, better storage solutions and a more cohesive look and feel. These 'before' shots were actually taken after I had started pushing around furniture, playing around with the layout. I realize it may seem counter-intuitive to place the tall piano in front of a window, but it made the most sense with the overall needs/plan/space. One of their goals was to carve out a small desk/work space. The spaces that you see in these photos are also open to the kitchen and hallway, and I felt strongly that some subtle definition was needed, in terms of carving out separate 'rooms.' 

We used the light blue sofa (which they owned already) as a casual room divider, separating the 'office' from the living space. The new, larger, area rug really helps with this as well. It draws you in to this cozy area... makes you want to pull up your feet and stay awhile. The space itself is not large and there's a lot going on in the bordering spaces. Also, the angles of the windows as well as pillars in two corners (to the left of the desk and the chaise) made the overall space feel a little choppy, and furniture layout was a bit tricky. The odd shape was another reason I felt the need to square-off this 'room.' So, here's what we did!

The two photos above show the separate office area behind the sofa. We kept a consistent color scheme throughout the open space, which is pretty unusual for me! But again, with so much going on in a small space, I knew some uniformity would go a long way. The desk was a Craigslist find - one of my favorites ever. I love that piece. Given the lack of square footage, we added some storage to the walls with the floating shelves. I found the sideboard storage cabinet at a thrift store.

The framed art pieces above the desk are not totally consistent in size, but it works and is worth it! They're framed letters written by their eight year old daughter, and are ridiculously precious, hilarious and sweet!

Thanks again for tagging along on this little tour. You're welcome to visit my Portfolio page to see many more photos of the space, if you're curious!

photos by Ruth Sonza of Tris Photography

If you're interested in working together to make your home a place you love, contact me for more info: katiegaviganinteriors@gmail.com. Thanks!

My Portfolio (partial) Reveal! Master Bedroom Before & After

Yippeeeeee!!! I can hardly believe the day has come to share these photos. As I've mentioned, I plan to launch my website soon. In the meantime, I've decided to share my portfolio photos with you, one project at a time. You may have noticed that I've also added a Portfolio page to the blog, where you can  check out completed projects as they're photographed. (We have just a few to go, including our house :)) What I'll share in the blog posts are 'before' photos as well as details about the process, sources, etc. So, without further ado, let's go!

The starting point was a fairly small bedroom with and awkward shape and furniture that didn't fit the space well. My clients also wanted to brighten up the room and incorporate more efficient storage. Here are a couple of 'before' shots...

And here it is now! We didn't paint the walls, but by adding crisp white linens, a mostly neutral color palette, and a more efficient furniture layout, the room feels larger, brighter and so much cozier! Let's talk about some details...

You may have noticed from the views that we're not at ground level! This compact condo is on the eighth floor of a modern building in the SoMa district of San Francisco.

I knew right away that I wanted to place the bed in front of the windows, and was so happy when the dimensions confirmed a bed would fit here. The super soft runner at the foot of the bed (scroll up to top photo for a good look at it) stretches out ahead of you when you walk into the room, and the effect is that it kind of pulls you in. It also invites you to sit on the floor as it's sooooo soft!

The wardrobe you see above is actually a standard Ikea model on which the doors were customized with wallpaper on the front. The really nice part is that I found it this way on Craigslist! We were able to benefit from the added texture, which was very much appreciated by me. And the additional storage space is being put to use, of course.

To keep with the neutral, cohesive theme, we went with two mirrors as wall art. The wood-framed piece above is also functional, almost as good as a full-length variety. (An awesome HomeGoods find.)

My clients had the bookcase already (and it can be seen in one of the before photos, above). I feel like it's been given new life when paired with this dresser (which I sourced from overstock.com last fall, along with the platform bed). These dresser drawers provide a lot more storage than their old dresser, which had clunky construction with lots of wasted space. Tip: mixing woods is such a simple, great way to add visual interest when sticking with a neutral color palette (and might help you reuse an existing piece!).

This project was quite a transformation, and so rewarding. Please do comment with any questions you might have. Thanks for coming along on this little tour.

As I mentioned, more photos of this room (and others) can be found here, and I'll share details about additional projects as soon as I can! 

photos by Ruth Sonza of Tris Photography

If you're interested in working together to make your home a place you love, contact me for more info: katiegaviganinteriors@gmail.com. Thanks!

some master bedroom updates

Hello! 

If you follow me on instagram, you know that I've been in Michigan for the past week. The main reason for the trip was to work on my new website with my dad (yaaaaayyyy!!!), but of course there was lots of family time as well. (Hoping to launch the website later this Spring :)) It was a great time, and of course it's always good to be back home! Happy to be working away in my office this morning...

I'd love to share some recent updates to our master bedroom. It's not finished, but I'm trying to be better about sharing progress, rather than wanting everything to be perfect. :)

Last Fall, I shared plans for this room, and they haven't changed a whole lot. Over the past couple of months, I've gradually and diligently been working away at this room. It's been neglected far too long, and it feels so awesome to see it finally coming together! It's not finished, but we're getting there. Last fall, we purchased a rug for the room, which was a great jumping off point. Then, over a long weekend in February, I cleared my calendar and painted the room. This was looooong overdue (as in, four years or so!). Ah, the magic of paint.

In the above photo, you can kind of see the old wall color. It was the same as most of our house when we moved in -- a yellow-y cream-ish color which I am not a fan of, especially with the yellow tones in our floors. Sorry I can't find a better 'before' photo, but let's move on to the fun stuff!

These are super inexpensive Ikea sconces, spray painted gold. (I can't find them on the Ikea website, sorry!) This is a FAST, high-reward DIY. I know the visible cords are not for everyone, but honestly, they don't bother me. We previously had lamps on the dresser, and while I loved them, the dresser surface was just too cluttered with all the jewelry. The sconces free up surface space, and double as jewelry storage. I'm happy with this budget solution, at least for now!

Back to the paint color...as you can see, I decided against the lavender which I'd originally planned on. When it comes to our house, I always have a few moments of extreme indecision just before pulling the trigger, and this was no exception. I considered going reaaaallly dark (as in, the darkest charcoal gray or midnight blue)...but in the end decided to keep it light and bright.

This room doesn't have a lot of natural light, so it's tough to capture the true color! It's a very pale green. I wouldn't say mint exactly, although some friends have called it that. :) Either way, it's very pretty. Because it's such a light shade, it acts as a neutral, but has just a little more depth and presence than white. You know I love my white backgrounds, to layer the color and pattern over, but this gives me the flexibility to layer OR keep it a bit cleaner, calmer. For example, the wall that runs next to the bed -- if the walls were white, I think I'd need to hang something there, but this slight bit of color makes it okay to keep it empty, which works better in the space. I like keeping things less maximalist in this room. 

I'm planning to add trim to the roman shades. Haven't found the perfect thing yet, but I'll know it when I see it.

And as planned, the lantern moved from the dining room and I love it in here.

So, as you can see...not quite finished, but huge amounts of progress, and I now love spending time in this space which really is the best reward!

I'd love to work together to make your home all it can be! Email me at katiegaviganinteriors@gmail.com for more information.