When our needs are specific, and they often are, customization is the way to go. In designing this piece, the focus was accommodations for extra seating, a pseudo desk, drawer space, display for collectibles and family photos, a TV that could be hidden when not in use and for it to be stunning yet in harmony with the architecture of the home.

Few things can enhance a space more than improving its’ natural light, artificial light, light fixtures and their quality of light meaning: choosing the right type of bulb and color temperature. In this space we did all three: added more recessed lights where needed and upgraded the LED bulb to around 2700 kelvin, kept the window treatments light and left some “untreated” where there we no privacy issues, and added a decorative 3 tiered drum shade light fixture that would speak to the casual elegance we were creating. In the dining room, we improved the light by choosing a fixture that was gracious in scale with a good number of bulbs for light output and the clear glass droplet shaped pieces surrounding the bulbs gave more opportunity for light to reflect and pass through further maximizing the amount of light into the room.

Tudors can be moody spaces with its’ half timber on walls, often darkly stained hardwood floors and exposed wood ceiling beams. When not altering those elements, another way to elevate to bright and light is by choosing light colored area rugs of appropriate scale. You will see as soon as you roll it out how nicely the light from the windows and fixtures reflect light back into the room rather than stopping flat on the deeply colored wood floors. It is nice, however, seeing the rich wood color peek out in the uncovered areas.

When we lead busy lives, order and adequate space for activities and objects reign supreme. For this project, achieving that order was adding a mudroom to the footprint of the home. It was a smart move on the homeowners’ part because without this dedicated space, transitioning into the home from outside after various activities like sports, school and play would be hectic without this accommodation. Designing the features within this space was a joy just giving thought to every detail like the size, style and finish of the hooks, the proportions of the built in unit for seating and storage as well as it’s color and of course the flooring which selecting a slate tile seemed the obvious choice.