Opening Doors

“The New Year will open many new doors ….all you have to do is walk through some of them.” This is a deep thought authored by Ruth Dyer; I wrote on the card I was sending off to a friend and I chuckled as I sealed it. We as a people are fascinated with doors; I have hung pictures of doors from around the world on my client’s walls. In Key West, there are cute entrances to side yards that are marked not by a gate but an interesting door. A quick perusal of the internet will reveal a mired of fabulous quotes about doors and finding bliss and the opening and closing of doors. Many people flock to the Villages seeking their bliss and are always trying new doors but what about in their decorating? Are they opening doors and finding decorating bliss? Let’s take a peek into a Gardenia living room in which the homeowners have found their bliss by adding a big door that they walk through every day, somewhere in the heart of The Villages.

• Space planningPool-with-the-Firepots-looks-like-a-Resort
Originally we were going to move the furniture around so that the room would look larger and more pulled together. I usually accomplish this by moving the TV to one of the side walls in the room. The TV can be placed on the large angled wall or the small wall but the sofa is usually placed on the wall between the windows. However, when I discovered that there was a pool behind the living room wall and it could not be seen because of the wall, that was a game changer! The pool is so pretty that seeing it from the entire living room space would be amazing. All we had to do was take down the wall and put in a big door.

• Get quotes
The homeowners had wondered about taking out the wall once they had the pool installed but had not pursued it. Hearing someone else say, “You should put in a door!” motivated them to make it a reality. They had a four panel sliding glass door installed. All the money that was put into the pool and deck area is now completely worth the investment because they can see it all the time.

• Furniture placement
The homeowners wanted to see the TV from the kitchen as well as the living room. To achieve this goal we placed the TV on the smaller wall in the space. We placed the couch against the second largest wall (opposing the TV) and the recliner was placed beside the sofa and turned inward at an angle toward the TV and the spectacular view. We angled the love seat in toward the room beside the TV console to round out the seating and balance one wall against the other. The room looks so big and the fire pots can be seen all the time. The pool looks like a resort and at night the fire is amazing.

• Trim out the door
We wanted the door to stand out, so we trimmed the door with big white casement molding. This creates a large picture frame to show off the view outside. The other set of sliding glass doors was given the same treatment so that they would look visually coordinated.

• Rug
We laid the rug at an angle in the living room because it fills the space and covers the floor outlet. We liked the way the angle and pattern of the rug worked in the space to create movement and interest.

• Large art
We needed large art pieces on the wall above the sofa and the homeowner chose palm trees at a peaceful lake by watercolor artist Elizabeth Kershaw.

• Enhance the dining room
The dining room already looked amazing because the homeowners had a large built-in server/china hutch added. It really maximizes function and adds visual drama to the space. To create a finished look we added the large arched mirror to the back wall of the dining room opposing the kitchen window. In this space it added lots of light and it balanced out the visual weight of the built-in cabinetry.

• Rug
We added an 8×10 jute and chenille rug under the table to visually define the space and add warmth. The materials jute and chenille add an earthy texture that keeps the space feeling casual and inviting.

• Chairs
We brought chairs from the kitchen nook that had been painted black and used them around the dining room table. It looked like they came with the table, but the table is a DIY. The homeowners had two heavy garden pots that they made into table pedestals. Once the chairs were in placed around the table, the room looked finished.

P.S. –Attention, club presidents! We give free decorating seminars. Call and schedule your club today. Also, we are on-line check out our web-site at www.ruthdyer.com and you can always e-mail us at ruth@finishingtouchfl.com. Call Ruth your full service decorator at 352-804-2056.

Before and After Pics Below