Design Happens

Two years ago, I bought my first house just a few months after re-designing my downtown loft. Kinda stupid, huh? Especially considering all the effort and money that goes into fully executing a design properly. Whatever…at least I avoided the shoemaker’s-kids-have-no shoes cliche, not to mention what it did to my confidence for pulling off high-end looks without high-end price tags.

Of all my design projects, my loft is probably at the top of the list; it was so personal, so outside-the-box and done on an extremely tight budget. It also landed a spread in the very last issue of O at Home. My objective was to mix up my favorite design styles: space age, pop and 1970’s masculine. One magazine editor labeled it “Loft in Space” which I kinda love.

To make a bold entrance, I had a $30 Craigslist credenza professionally sprayed with urethane paint in a color called “Red Gumball” by Pittsburgh Paints. The wall was hit with the ugly stick (as in awful faux painting) so I updated it with luan painted with flat “Bitter Chocolate” paint from Behr, then hid the seams with 1X3 MDF painted the same color but in a high-gloss finish.

Mi Casa Es Tu Casa