"What to do about Harry Potter . . ."



Greetings,

And no, don't worry. This is not a long, laborious missive about our favourite young wizard. What we're dealing with here today is that little extra room in your home. Maybe it's a little off the beaten track. Down at the dead end of the hallway . . . it could be a lot of different things - An extra bedroom? Do we need a home office? Maybe we should create a dressing room? And there's such freedom when you're not confined by any pre-conceived notions about the room.

And we had such a space in a recent project here at the office - a lovely one bedroom cottage. It had a little 'bonus' room that really could have been anything. Cons: A few too many doors. Small - 9 feet by 11 feet. Pros: A good sized closet. And a beautiful window - great for afternoon sun. It was small, and without clear purpose - so we started (in almost a designer/client shorthand) to call it 'Harry Potter.' Like the little cupboard under the stairs that Harry called home for the first part of his life.

So clearly all it needed was a little bit of magic . . .


The drama of a dark, moody paint colour . . .


Several layers of lighting . . .


Comfort with flexibility . . .


Presenting - The Dining Room. And we solved several problems all at once. Firstly, we needed a space for more formal dining and entertaining. Dinner for four or five is simple. But, the table actually folds away - and the chairs are pulled from other parts of the house. So the space can also used as a dressing room - the closet actually holds most all of one of the homeowner's clothes. And the black lacquered sideboard serves as extra storage.

The banquette is great for seating year-round. And since it's at the far end of the house - when the table isn't present - it's a great little retreat. A quiet place to read, snuggled in a nest of down pillows and a cashmere throw. Maybe an afternoon cup of tea.

Or when needed - the perfect place to entertain.

Cheers,
tartanscot

Comments

Lynn said…
Hi Scot - I am an interior design student and also an interior photographer in San Francisco. I love seeing your work on your blog and the photography is also lovely. I would like to offer professional shoots for your projects that are magazine worthy, and I would like to shoot for you for free if you and your clients agree to have me come in for a day of shooting. In turn this would help me build my portfolio. I would love to talk about this more, so please send me an email at lynnkloy@yahoo.com if you are interested and I will send you some portfolio samples. Keep up the beautiful work!

Lynn
Mrs. Blandings said…
! Scot - this looks amazing. Totally terrific.
Gwen Driscoll said…
Just a beautiful room. Good work my friend.
Vickie H. said…
Excellent use of this space! Beautiful work!!! Bravo!!! Makes me want to re-imagine one small room in my own home!!! Thank you for the inspiration!
Pinky said…
MMMNNN, you really have me thinking here. I would love a multi purpose room. I am going to work on this idea! Thanks. Pinky
Lynn,

I'm working with several great photographers - especially Nicolas Smith here in San Francisco.

But, thanks for the offer.

Scot
Mrs B. and Gwen,

Thank you for the sweet feedback! It was such a fun project to be involved with.
Vicki and Pinky,

That's my favourite thing about reading blogs - finding fresh inspiration! Hope I was able to provide a bit for y'all.

Cheers,
Scot
Unknown said…
looks great, scot. of course, now i picture you holding a stick and yelling "DECORATUS!" at your dining room.
Laura said…
So genius! I really need a banquet in my home, this is fantastic.
Very nicely done!... I love multi-purpose spaces... and I really like the intimacy of this space with the dark color scheme.
It's perfect!
Really job well done.
Congratulations!
Love the table and the setting. It all looks great.

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