Dining Rooms Archives

Rooms, or spaces, available for a number of different functions are called a considered ‘flex rooms.’ Also called a bonus room or multi-purpose room, they can be an entire room or even just a specified area in another room. Subsequently, many homes are creating a flex area into the floor plan – one that is not designated a bedroom. The adaptability of a flex room can be numerous.

The beauty of a flex room is that it provides the homeowner with a plethora of options and flexibility depending on what is going on at that particular time of their life.

The following are a few ideas for our favorite flex rooms.

1. Home Office

With people still working from home, one spouse monopolizes the office space and the other has to find a place to work. After all, you cannot both be in a Zoom meeting talking at the same time. It gets old fast to finally have everything set up on the dining room table to then have to clean up it all up for dinner. If you have a flex space designated for the second spouse, it can stay out over a period of time, creating a workable option for all.

Check out more of this project HERE!

2. Workout Room

There are many benefits to your own home gym: no drive time, no masks, no gym memberships, no waiting in line for equipment, and… you can blast your favorite tunes! You can customize your own gym space (with free or universal weights, a yoga mat and resistance bands, the tried-and-true treadmill, or the newest Peloton bike), take care of your health, and reach your fitness goals all within the comfort of your own home. A great example of the adaptability of a flex room!

Check out more of this project HERE!

3. Play Room

It’s fun to have a room made to play in while serving duel purposes of keeping all the toys and books corralled. These rooms should be designed to get dirty, have spaces to do different projects, and be organized in a way to clean up easily. A few ideas for spaces within the room are an area with pillows or beanbags to curl up with a good book, a table to spread out a puzzle or project, storage areas with easy to hide organizing bins or drawers, good lighting for reading, designated space for board games, puzzles, crafts and dress up, and even a teepee, tent or fort for using the imagination.

4. Hobby Room

Turn your flex room into a space for your favorite hobby. Let your creativity run wild in this space dedicated to do what you love. Ideas include a craft room, music room, fly tying room, wrapping presents, building projects, recording studio… you name it. One must-have for a hobby room is lots of countertop space to spread your projects out. Consider varying the height of the work surfaces from thirty-six inch counter to work from while standing to thirty inches when sitting down. Therefore, another thought when planning for your hobby room, is to think ahead to allow for adequate cabinetry to store your materials, good lighting, and electric socket placements.

Check out more of this project HERE!

5. Library / Learning Area

With thousands of kids schooling from home, a learning area can be set up with multiple chairs or workstations. Therefore, keeping things organized is important to plan for before you even get started. Plan out where you will keep items for access to all using this space. Therefore, creating a smooth-flowing layout for easy accessibility, and multiple technical aspects your family needs in this space. This is a great place for shelves to display your home book collections nurturing education, discovery, and personal growth.

6. Media Room / Man Cave

Who wouldn’t want their own home theatre? This space can be used for teens inviting their friends over as a game room or to watch a movie. It can also be a music room with a top-notch sound system, or a man cave including a refreshment bar. Particularly, socializing with friends or immediate family is a perfect use for this kind of flex room.

Living Space, Portfolio, Barbara Gilbert

Check out more of this project HERE!

A flex room can be set up in different ways throughout the lifetime of the space. For now, it can be used for working or schooling from home and later a media room for the kids. As the kids leave home, you can transform it to a workout room for you and your spouse. As well as, down the road, a playroom for the grandkids. Any way you look at it, a flex room boosts value to your home and allows you to meet the current needs of your family. Nevertheless, the adaptability of a flex room is endless.

If you’d like to see more of our projects, follow us on Instagram at @bgidesigner.

Best,

From pumpkins to autumn leaves, orange is all around us this time of year. But why is a color that brings fall foliage tours and smiles to so many faces seldom used in interior design?
Simply put, while most people love color, they’re afraid of choosing the wrong color. So they choose colors they think are “safe.” And while understandable, they’re missing out on the power of color!
Orange is a powerful color, and orange decor can be dazzling. Orange is considered the color of joy, adventure and creativity. It combines the warmth and happiness of yellow with the energy and stimulation of red, and it’s also thought to invoke feelings of optimism.
Here are some of our favorite rooms with orange décor that embrace the power of color.

Home Office

Via Barbara Gilbert Interiors

Home offices don’t have to be all work and no play! Liven up the space with fun patterns and vibrant hues. Orange and fuchsia make for one fun, festive color combination in this family-friendly home office we designed for a busy family that loved cheerful rooms.

Nursery

Via

Forget pink or blue! An orange and white color palette mixed with cheerful yellow and blue accents creates the perfect nursery for a boy or a girl. In this room, it would be hard not to smile evening during those late night feedings!

Guest Room

Via

As complementary colors, orange and blue always bring out the best in one another. Add a bold detail like these large-scale suzani headboards, and you’ve got one showstopper of a room.

Kitchen

Via

Yellow isn’t the only happy color to paint a kitchen. Break with tradition and wow with orange! The color alone sets the mood regardless of the decorating style you choose.

Dining Room

Via

There’s a reason people flock to see fall foliage. The warm, dusky hues naturally soothe the soul. So what better shade to choose than a deep earthy orange for the dining room – a frequent gathering place for friends and family?

How many people does it take to hang a slab of quartzite on the wall? It sounds like a joke, but it’s actually no laughing matter and was recently all in a day’s work. But how did we end up using quartzite art in the first place? We blame the nature of art, and possibly Pablo Picasso.
Picasso once said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” A beautiful sentiment, but no simple task! Few things are more personal or challenging to select than art – especially when choosing for another.
Many factors must be considered when selecting artwork for a client, from the client’s tastes and desires to the room’s style and design. And customary works of art often won’t do. Something bigger, grander and unusual is often required to fit the space and stir the soul.
This was the case recently when we designed the breakfast room of a stately Moroccan-inspired estate. The home was already striking, but our client wanted a fresh color scheme, an updated design and a “wow ” factor to every room. This had to be no ordinary breakfast room and no ordinary artwork would do!
Enter the slab of quartzite and the answer to the opening question. It takes thirteen men to hang a 1,200 pound slab of quartzite. Thirteen very strong, patient and competent men and one very nervous interior designer!
Wall preparation quartzite art
But first the wall must be prepped, brackets installed and anchored, scaffolding brought in and a special stone epoxy applied to further adhere the quartzite to the wall.
Quartzite Art Installation
Next, the praying begins. Seriously. And the quartzite art is gently kissed by many of the men before they begin lifting and securing it to the wall. Deep breaths are taken, more prayers are said and finally sighs of relief can be heard, which are quickly replaced with inspired oohs and ahhs.
Quartzite art on wall
The slab is now secure and simply breathtaking. Our client is thrilled and so are we! And although there was dust throughout the room that day, we’re guessing Picasso would say our souls were spotless.

We recently gave you all the details of a living room design transformation we created when our clients moved into a high-rise condominium. With its contemporary architecture, the condominium was the complete opposite of their traditional interior design past and a style 180 was in order!
Today, we’ve got all the scoop on the streamlined kitchen and dining room design they also embraced with their new surroundings. They love their new home and we couldn’t be more excited for them!

We continued the soothing indigo and gray color scheme in the design plan and furniture design, making the open floor plan flow beautifully. Custom-made cobalt blue barstools with legs finished in white chocolate welcome guests to the kitchen, while simple pendant lights add understated elegance. [Read more…]

Tours of the Village Park Eco Home are over, but don’t worry if you missed touring the home in person. Thanks to Michael Hunter Photography, we have stunning photographs of all the rooms to show you!
We were very honored to be the interior design firm for this project and really did not fully realize all that was in store for us! In the spirit of the project, we did extensive research on sustainable living and eco-friendly design, and sought out the finest materials and vendors to outfit the home. Needless to say, the design process was lengthy, but oh so rewarding!
Plus, the exceptional interest and almost immediate sale of the home is proof alone that sustainable living is more popular than ever. In fact, the home was under contract within two weeks of being on the market and was sold even before the public tours were over!
The new homeowners are preparing for their move into this high performance home that caught the attention of numerous media outlets, including D Home Magazine, The Dallas Morning News and Green Source DFW. And the buyers also chose to purchase virtually all the furnishings and artwork we used to outfit the home. Talk about move-in ready!
Here are a few of our favorite rooms and features.
The Study

Now one of our favorites, the study was initially our least favorite room in the house because it presented us with a tremendous design challenge. With a ceiling height of 17 feet and a small footprint, the room felt more like an elevator shaft than a study.
Our first design decision was to cut the space vertically by installing molding around the walls two-thirds the way up and installing a textural grasscloth wall covering to the lower portion of the room. This created a warm and intimate environment, where the eye was no longer drawn straight to the ceiling, but rather to the beautiful wall covering.
Next, we selected a warm taupe for the portion of the room above the molding and painted the ceiling a dark “greige” to visually bring the ceiling height down. We furnished the room with a beautiful, geometric cowhide rug from Dallas Rugs, contemporary but warm fabrics and furniture, and custom artwork sourced especially for the room to enhance the color palette with golden yellows.
The Dining Room

The dining room was actually constructed as a flex room – meaning the room does not have a designated use and can be changed to suit a family’s needs. Often located near the heart of the home, flex rooms offer tremendous versatility and can serve as a formal dining room, child’s play area, craft room or any other specialty room a homeowner desires. To further the room’s function, we added frosted, sliding barn doors to separate or open the room to the kitchen.

For the dining room itself, we chose an elegant, but informal and colorful design. The mix of the patterned teal side chairs and the solid teal end chairs create layering in the space, especially coupled with the bold teal ceiling. The walls were painted beige to ground the space and artwork from La Montage brings all of the elements together.
Oh, and did we mention the custom dining table from the Armored Frog was built from reclaimed ancient heart pine timber beams and flooring recovered from the old 1920 Micolas Textile Mill, in Opp, Alabama? It’s one of our favorite pieces in the house!
The Kitchen

From the white walls and cabinets to the bamboo countertops and contemporary glass pendant lighting, the kitchen radiates light and spaciousness. Glass subway tiles serve as the backsplash with an accent of organic leaf shaped glass tile over the cooktop.

Adding to its function, the island is a two-part system with one stationary section and one movable section which can serve as a serving or prep area or a breakfast or craft table. The movable section can even be relocated to the flex room if desired.
The Living Room

Like the rest of the house, the living room was designed with countless natural elements. The hardwood floors throughout the entire home were crafted from standing dead oak trees, milled as needed, from Wisconsin. Cork wall covering lines the backs of the built-in shelves adjacent to the fireplace and wood beams reclaimed from barns in the northern United States were mounted into the ceiling alcove

Wood projection tiles from the Jamie Beckwith Collection were installed above the fireplace mantle, making the television virtually disappear due to their shared dark hues. And a spectacular rustic, botanical arrangement by The Botanical Mix adds yet another natural element to the space, sitting center stage on the custom upholstered ottoman.
Want to see more? Visit us at Houzz for pictures of all the rooms and details!

Source of Images: Michael Hunter Photography