Redesigning an Old Portland style home

 

Older homes have so much character.  The architecture is often so unique and beautiful.

Sometimes with that uniqueness, comes challenges such as these radiator boxes that are in every room in my client's Old Portland style home.  You might not be able to tell from this picture, but the bed sticks out about a foot from the wall because there's a radiator box in front of each window.

There aren't a lot of options of where to place the bed in this room because both side walls have awesome alcoves like this one.

Another challenge for this room was this little "closet"?  My client said that it looked as though the former owners used it as a children's play space.  There isn't a door on it but it seemed to me that it would make the most sense to use this as a storage area.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

I started by moving the bed to the small area of wall before the alcove on the right side of the room.  There was just enough space to place a nightstand in the corner.

This space seemed like the perfect place for a sitting area.  They already had the little shelf with books for their little girl in the room.   I moved it in there with a chair that I found in a spare room, along with a lamp and a foot stool.

From this view, you can see where I replaced the curtain on the new storage area with a soft, sheer, cream panel.  You can't see through it but it isn't heavy where it would draw your attention to it.  The armoire is angled in that corner to give the room a nice balance but still allow access to the storage area when needed.

Moving downstairs to the living room, this room is used for viewing t.v., playing and visiting.  You can see in the bottom right-hand corner, part of a large over-sized sectional.  It's a long view to the t.v. and would be difficult for many people to sit and have a conversation using the other furniture.  I was so thankful the day I worked on this home that I took my daughter, Ashley with me.  I really wanted to exchange that sectional sofa with the matching sofa that goes with the loveseat on the left side of the room.  However, switching out these sofas was certainly not something that I could have accomplished on my own.  I move furniture ALL THE TIME, but this required us to move the sofas through the dining room and around the corner and through another doorway into the other room.  The only way to get them to and from the doorway was to lift them upright to get them through.  It was a bit crazy but because I had her there to help me, I was able to take advantage of that.

With the sectional moved, this became a great place to put the toys to create a separate play area.  There's another radiator box under one window that holds some toys and we brought the low shelf from an upstairs room (again, glad she was with me) and turned it on it's side to hold more.

With the toys on the other side of the room, the furniture was able to be brought closer together to create a cozy conversation and t.v. viewing area.

Another view of the living area complete with the family cat!  I purchased a couple of lamps to soften the room and create better light for reading, etc.

My husband and I have built homes for years.  If I had my choice, I would prefer an older home with some of the original features to enjoy and enhance.  Even when there are challenges with the way things used to be done, there's usually always a way to make it work - one creative way or another!