Today we’re walking you through how we brought our Gray Oak Gives Back project from start to finish. We’re so proud of this one for all the feel good reasons we’ve been talking about from Day 1. And, because it came out so beautifully.

Gray Oak Studio - Gray Oak Gives Back Project Reveal

But let’s back up to where we started.

Transforming the Function

Whenever we start a project, we have 3 lists of goals. The first list (that guides the other 2 lists) contains our function goals. How are we going to transform the room so it works for the family who lives there? Every space in a house should have a purpose. Sometimes that purpose will be to just look pretty. But more often than not, a room is used for a specific reason and all the design choices should cater to that reason.

When you have a room in your home that no one even enters, much less hangs out in and enjoys, it’s usually because the purpose of the room is undefined or the needs of your family have changed and the originally intended purpose doesn’t make sense anymore. Start with the questions: What will we do in this room? Why would we want to hang out here? When will we want to hang out here?

For our Gray Oak Gives Back project, we transformed a living room. The primary function of this particular living room was to gather with family and friends, watch TV and enjoy a fire. We also had some specific function requests from our Client. For example, she didn’t want a traditional coffee table - she wanted something soft to put her feet on.

With all the above in mind, here was the list of our plans to make functional transformations.

FIRST, we had several updates we wanted to tackle with the help of contractors:

1) The walls - Remove the 30-year-old wallpaper and repaint with a wall color that would both brighten and update the room.

2) The lighting - Remove sconces from wall behind sofa, relocate sconces above fireplace, and add recessed lights to the ceiling.

3) Fireplace Update - Update the fireplace from 1950 to 2020.

SECOND, we had a layout dilemma: Where to put the television. The angled, corner console wasn’t working, the fireplace mantel was too high to squeeze a TV above it (never our favorite choice even if it’s at a reasonable height), and all other walls were covered with doors or windows.

THIRD, we needed all new furniture and decor that created a better flow.

Transforming the Style

The second list contains our aesthetic goals. How do we want the room to look? This includes color palette, patterns, textures, furniture shapes and styles, etc. This list is a marriage between our Client’s vision for their room and Gray Oak Studio’s unique design perspective.

The specifics of the list are based on lots of conversations with our Client - the simple stuff, like color preferences (blue or red?), and the more complex stuff, like how should the room make them feel (calm or energized?). We also ask our clients to give us specific feedback on inspirational images and we share a Pinterest Board. For our Gray Oak Gives Back project, some of our aesthetic goals included transitional style furnishings, light/neutral palette with blue accents, nickel metal finishes and modern farmhouse touches.

Here are the mood boards we created, based on our aesthetic goals.

Gray Oak Gives Back - Mood Board - Transitional Living Room

You’ll notice that a few details changed from the mood board to the completed room…but more on that later.

Making it Unique and Personal

The last list is our unique and personal touches list. These are our ideas to add unique touches and create personal moments within the room that speak directly to the passions/history/hobbies of our client. We a bit of a broken record this point, but we feel strongly that there is a special difference between a beautiful room and your beautiful room. When our clients walk into a room, we want it to feel like theirs. The tiny, personal details we speckle throughout a room are key to this element. And our ideas for these touches begin from our very first client meeting.

For our Gray Oak Gives Back project, we knew we wanted to include frames for family photos and we were even able to surprise our client by secretly getting our hands on a family photo, printing it, framing it and hanging it on Install Day. Along the journey, we learned about a favorite trip to Italy she had taken and her husband’s passion for vintage cars. We brought in tiny nods to these loves through art and a coffee table book.

a coffee table book about vintage jaguars

And now for the fun part - all the (shoppable) details on the choices we made.

When you first walked in the room, we updated an existing console table to a modern farmhouse-esque piece that is more proportional to the space (longer and narrower) and more functional (2 hidden drawers). We styled it with vintage books (our favorite), plants (also our favorite), some decor and a table lamp.

Table lamps are great for function. They provide soft, targeted light, the opportunity for color, texture, interest, and height. People tend to think of the horizontal space in a room and forget about the vertical space. Adding tall items draws the eye upward and either highlights existing high ceilings or gives the illusion of high ceilings.

In the before and after photos below, we had already moved an existing table.

Gray Oak Studio - Gives Back 2019 - Living Room Entry — BEFORE

Gray%2BOak%2BStudio%2B-%2BGives%2BBack%2B2019%2B-%2BTransformed%2BLiving%2BRoom — AFTER

Fresh paint and new furnishings play a huge part in this updated view, but also note the small change of removing the sheer covering over the French door. This is one of our favorite recommendations when we’re on a Designer for a Day. In most cases, this sort of “window treatment” doesn’t serve a function and also dates a room (big time).

And now let’s talk console table decor.

Gray Oak Studio - Gives Back 2019 - Living Room Transformation

In terms of function, we’re obsessed with the hidden drawers on this console table. Both sides have a long, narrow drawer. We also love the bottom shelf that’s perfect for storage baskets. And, in this case, adding some decor to the bottom shelf is a great way to distract from/hide the older radiator.

In terms of styling - here is a list of tried and true decor to consider: vases, frames, plants, books, lanterns/candle holders. And here are a couple quick tips. First, height on the sides of the table (i.e. a lamp, a tall vase with stems, etc.). Second, mix large and small objects. Here we placed one large basket on the lower right and a cluster of smaller objects on the lower left.

Gray Oak Studio - Gives Back 2019 - Console Vignetter

Gray Oak Studio - Gives Back 2019 - Console Table

Console Table / Lamp / Similar Storage Basket / Square Ottoman / Similar Wall Basket Decor / Similar Woven Stool / Lantern / White Vase

Next stop, the fireside reading chair. The scene might be our favorite. It’s just oozing cozy. And at the moment, in our freezing Massachusetts temperatures, cozy is everything!

This gorgeous armchair is an updated take on a classic wingback. The high back makes it a great chair for a stand alone moment in a room. If you’re placing a chair by itself (not next to another chair or sofa or other larger piece of furniture), it needs to have the size/proportional to hold it’s own. We had fun stacking some lidded baskets instead of a traditional side table and, of course, added a pouf for a footrest option (or another seating option if there’s a crowd).

Gray Oak Studio - Gives Back 2019 - Reading Nook

Armchair / Knit Pouf / Rug / Similar Stacked Baskets / Throw Pillow / Similar Throw Blanket

If you’ve made it this far into the post, you can understand why we’re going to stop here and come back next week with the second half of this room transformation. We’ll cover the media center, the coffee table and the sofa. And we’ll recap the fireplace transformation in case you missed it!