The story of this house begins with a family that wanted their home to be renovated. Their desire was to change the interior in a way that follows certain contemporary standards as well as they was looking for something welcoming that will be sunny, cozy and full of good energy. That’s why they have decided to contact Reiko Gomez, who is a famous interior designer and a feng shui expert. As a result the house has been transformed into a splendid mixture of some old architectural solutions, casual and modern street art, vivid accents and feng shui organization of all the details in the interior. Now, the interior could truly reflect the owners’ nature.
The couple that lives in this home has know each other for many years. They were schoolmates previously and then they have decided to live together because obviously they liked each other. Their live has always been near the seaside in a small town that the couple simply adore. And because they wanted to have their own private nest, the buying of this property could be able to provide them with the needed comfort for a life together. Since the house was being part of a village with rich historic background, the family decided to keep small fragments and details in the interior.
Reconstructing a house is not an easy task. Just right before the interior designer took the management of the house, the family had borrowed and architect in order to create additional plans that needed to be synchronized with the entire feng shui concept of the building. For example, the front door’s swing has been changed a little bit in order to avoid alignment with the stairs. This is a definitely feng shui argument since lighting up two objects means that money in home go away. And more precisely – they go down the stairs and leave through the entry door. When changing the alignment, this could be avoided.
Originally, the building didn’t have any foyer. For Gomez it was very important that the occupants and visitors of this lovely home land in a specially designed place, when they enter though the main door. In order to create this type of entry hall, she places some thin closets in the space between the door and living room. Additionally, Gomez added a small helpful table that becomes really handy when you come back home and just want to leave all your stuff, like keys, purse, wallet, etc, somewhere.
The interior designer shared her point of view that the homeowners are really great people! They like innovative thinking and appreciate colorful ideas. That’s why she managed to keep the woodwork and architecture that reflect the historical background of the surroundings while she figured out how to add some stylish and modern accents. And we must admit that Gomez is really good in finding the perfect balance between old and new. Have a look at the large piece of art that is being displayed in the living room. This is a true masterpiece of a French street artist. His name is SupaKitch.
Later, the contemporary piece of decor turned out to be the starting point of a something much larger in scale in terms of creating the interior of the entire place. Gomez found materials and colors that perfectly match the drawing and created and ottoman that completes the palette in the room. To continue with experimenting, she chose a zebra-patterned rug. Actually, she was thinking that this rug will be a great complement at the porch, but later decided to use it here instead. As you can see from the image above, the result is devastating.
In feng shui, there are five essential elements everybody should bring inside a living space. These are the wood, fire, earth, metal and water. If you pay special attention to the fireplace, you will definitely spot a light fixture that looks very much like a seashell. To continue with, Gomez placed jade sconces and marble.Thus, she established the earth element in the interior. Moving our sight down to the floor, we find white oak throughout every part of the home. In the living room, the panels are united in a herringbone pattern.
Exploring more carefully the interior of the home, we find some great personal corners where the occupants can enjoy private moment of relaxation, happiness, meditation, reading a book and many, many other activities. For a corner to be cozy enough, it needs a beautiful and comfortable armchair, as well as a small table besides.
In the kitchen, the interior designer changed this and that. For instance, the U-shaped counter that provided enough functionality for the occupants – they can use it to temporarily store things on the surface as well as store kitchen or flatware in the drawers below. Since we are talking for feng shui placement of objects in the interior, the U shape has another role. It protects the cooking area where the occupants must be fulfilled with love while preparing their meals.
This is where the Gomez decided to settle the fire element in the house. There are many ways to incorporate the feng shui element and the most common are either use it itself, or placing one of its colors. This is the actual reason why the counter bar stools are all painted in red and white – the blend symbolizes burning flames.
When Gomez presented the idea for the bar stools at the owners of the home, they were so excited that they fell in love with the colorful palette. Later, their love for the red and whites have driven the interior designer to use the same idea for the cafe chairs. And since the family was supposed to spend a lot of their time in the sunporch and also invite their friends there, all the people arranged with this project agreed on the following – these cafe chairs should be used just right in there.
Next to the kitchen, there is the dining room. Metal is the leading element that the feng shui designer incorporated here. As you can see, its presence is highlighted by steel tabletop and light fixtures. Additionally, there are upholstery nails that can be found on some of the chairs.
Deep blue paint symbolizes water and it can be found in the inner part of the china cabinet.
In the powder room, Gomez introduced some welcoming green accents that correspond to the earth elements, essential in the eastern traditions. A pattern that looks very much like leaves has been used at the wall, while darker in color scones display wooden accents. What do you think of the sweet little birdie at the top of the mirror? It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?
In most houses, the basement are is not that tidy and ordered, neatly arranged place. In this particular home, this shouldn’t be the same! The basement needed to be special, to be designer in a modern and comfortable way. A few steps down the stairs and you notice another SupaKitch piece of art – a casual statement for the essence of the atmosphere. An impressive Mah Jong sofa takes a central place in the basement, which actually can easily be turned in a guest room. Some functional decisions make it easy to quickly rearrange the place according to the need of different purpose. A Murphy bed in the wall, as well as nightstands hidden in the cabinets make all this possible in a fraction of a second.
Do you know what pocket doors are? Well, have a look at those that separate the playroom and the home office one from another and you will definitely get the idea. When closed, these doors look very much like a paneled wall – another great job done by Gomez.
We believe that every home should have its own library. It’s like a status for well being and intellectual skills. Usually, men are more likely to spend their time in a library, so it is very common that you find its interior in a masculine look. Some colorful accents add casual character to the library and the fireplace is a lovely detail that warms the cold winter days.
A typical library? Not at all! Have a closer look at the art lights and you will notice a split. The surprise comes out when a special button is being pushed and a flat TV screen appears from there. Thus, the library quickly becomes a home theater room. Get ready for a movie?
One the second floor, there is one of the most fascinating objects in this house – the turquoise classic chandelier. It was a desire that was provoked by an image that the owners found while spending countless hours browsing online interior design magazines. When the image of a chandelier in this color appeared, they immediately realized that it is something that should be present in their new home. We must say a word of two about the placements since it’s not the typical one. Usually, in most homes you will find those types of light fixtures somewhere above a dining table or in the middle of a living room. In this particular example, the spot is on the second floor where it could be enjoyed from both levels.
Just a step towards the window, you will find a great comfortable nook where family’s children can enjoy reading or playing, while not being in their bedrooms (situated on both sides).
Inside the bedroom, Gomez created some really inspiring changes. First of all, she changed the position of the bed since it had been placed beneath the window. This wasn’t the most appropriate setting for a pleasant and calm night, so she changed the angle. Actually, the window position has also been rearranged in order to free enough space for the bed. After that, Gomez created unique headboard with some additional build-ins. As a result, she achieved a warm and cozy atmosphere and the newly opened niche for bookshelves complete the owners’ dream – to have their own, private and relaxing space. On both sides of the bed, there are trays that can be used as nightstands.
Gomez carefully investigated which feng shui element will suit best in the master bedroom. After countless hours of calculation she came up with the result that this should be earth. That’s why the walls are painted in pale green with a striped pattern that can hardly be spotted. Of course, it makes a definite difference from the solid painted walls. Some metal touches have also been added because feng shui calculations showed that it should be present there, even though in small amounts.
In the bathroom, the interior design made an exact copy of one of the owner’s favorite place’s bathroom – the Inn at Windmill Lane in Amagansett, New York. They wanted to have their own showing area just like in the place they like spend days off.
The interior designer of the home placed subway tiles and added marble counters in order to recreate the exact atmosphere as in the inn. Some other details also had to be present in the bathroom, like the chrome mirrors, for example.
In one of the boys’ room you can find an attractive sports interior. Actually, this surf vibe and the waves incorporated in the design correspond to the water element from the feng shui categorization. Gomez though how teens spend their time and decided to include a blue ball chair that can be used either for relaxation or for reading. The light fixture used for the room is flexible enough to be changed in height, according to the boy’s preferences.
The room for the younger child has been projected with accents of a street scene. Again, a ball chair is an inseparable part of the setting.
The last and youngest member of the family is still a baby and she still sleeps in her parents room. Of course, Gomez has also prepared a room for her but now they use it more like a playroom until the baby grows up. The colorful palette sticks to pale pinks with floral motives – a typical girly interior.
Inside the children bathroom you can spot beautiful beach touches that make the interior so attractive.
Those inspiring bluish tiles reminds us of a summer nights spend near the ocean.
If you need some more professional advices you can always count on Reiko Gomez @ http://reikodesign.com/
You can also check our advices in the video below:
