Unable to find someone in their area, a young professional couple contacted me after reviewing interior designers on line. They needed help with furniture styles and placement for their newly acquired Brooklyn Brownstone. Upon studying the photos, instead of visualizing furniture placement, I recommended they remove the unsightly existing built-in shelves that covered the fireplace and dominated the long and narrow room.
The Before image of the living room.
Brooklyn Brownstone living room Before image shows volumes for potential!
This was not the reason why I was hired, but I couldn’t go forward with the furniture placement until I addressed this issue. I emailed them some Sketch-Ups to show them how much more spacious the room would feel without the shelves vs. with it.
sending this sketch up helped in showing how maximizing the space space would allow for an uncluttered and functional result.
Their concerns were valid: What would the floor look like once this had been removed? And the fireplace wall? Would they have to repair those areas? Most likely, I replied. They happened to have a builder there working on the patio, so he was able to take a closer look and tell them what was needed and estimate costs.
Longstoryshort: The after photos tell the story best, along with the client’s own words:
“Kathryn was able to identify issues in our small apartment that we had not really “seen”. Throughout the process, she created floor plans that reflected the original layout and also a new and improved version of that layout. This helped give us a new orientation to our space and to see what she had immediately seen from the pictures we first sent her of our place here on the East coast. Working east coast/west coast was not an issue–she was very easy to communicate with–and we are very glad that we trusted her with our project!”
The removal of the built-in shelving allowed for optimal shelving, an open feeling, and a better appreciation of the building’s original “bones’.
The removal of the built-in shelves shows off the original fireplace and allows breathing room for the photography.
Analyzing spaces on another coast and advising clients across the globe via Skype and DropBox is an efficient way of interior designing when the right designer is not in your immediate area.
