I have been asked so many times about the design process, especially if we talk about small projects like one room's makeover. So I decided to publish some of these projects of mine in a different way than in the PROJECTS, with before-after pictures and some step by step explanations. Here I present the makeover of a teenage boy's room.
1. The first step is always the DIAGNOSIS. We have to see clearly what is the current situation, and what are the problems with it and measure the space.
In this project the main problems were:
The owner of the room just simply grown out some of the furniture like the car shaped bed or the little writing desk. However a car bed is fun for a small kid, not anymore for a teenage boy.
The storage solutions were not well organized, so this caused the untidiness.
The decoration and the style of the room did not follow the taste of the owner
Lighting was not well designed, there were not enough lighting source
This flat is a rented apartment, and according to the contract if you paint, drill etc. the walls you have to restore them when the contract is over. So the aim was to avoid or at least minimize these type of works as much as possible.
2. The next step after the diagnosis is always talk about the PRACTICAL NEEDS and the STYLE DREAMS, favorite colors, motifs etc. For collecting inspirations Pinterest is the best place. I always create a folder to every projects. My client loves manga a lot, so it was an obvious choice as a decor element.
In terms of practical needs these were the principles:
To keep the budget in a normal level
Having furnitures which can be installed into another place if the family have to move. (This means for the key pieces we needed neutral and modular furniture)
Having a convertible bed to be able to have guests
Using what we had already as many pieces as possible (the solution was moving some of the furniture to the smaller brother's room)
At this point it always worths creating a mood board. Mood boards always work as a guidelines. Mood boards are more about presenting style visions than being realistic, workable plans, or furniture collections.
3. In the next step we have to harmonize the dreams and the reality which drives the project to find the actual SOLUTIONS. As I checked all pieces of furniture one by one, I could decide what was worth keeping and what would we remove if we wanted to follow the guidelines, which was already set during the first two phases.
The black shelf, the classic style red carpet and the black leather armchair were definitely pieces to keep. For these pieces we could give a new function and was easy to inlay into the manga theme and color scheme (which is red-black-grey-white). And this point a layout plan could be designed in parallel with a furniture board.
The furniture board is always much more specific than the mood board. And it shows the actual pieces which are seen on the layout plan, but it is not a photorealistic 3D plan. (If the client needs a 3D plan it can be done at this point)
4. The last step is the REALIZATION which stars with creating a shopping list and if it is necessary define the priorities. Sometimes clients can not do the whole makeover in one round, but they need to do it step by step. In this case it is very important having a priority list which makes the timing and logistic easier. Shopping list is an excel file with product pictures, links, prices and other practical information.
I am going to show the final result soon.....
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