The problems we identified are fourfold. Firstly, the fireplace is off center, so there is no focal point for a furniture plan to be grounded by. And there’s too much room for clutter! We clearly need to come up with a design for additional millwork for storage but also to ground the room. The clients hoped to include a bar in the apartment. We identified the perfect location as seen in the photo on the left.

We began to search for inspiration photos of interior elevations which we could reference, and demonstrate to the client how the space could be transformed to accommodate their needs. This one in particular caught our eye.

Storage is a priority for the couple who want to be able to put things away and have a feeling of light and airiness instead of using the space to display photos and other accessories. For this reason, we decided to make the bookcases deeper, and to add slide back doors to conceal the TV when no one is watching it.  We also wanted to find a way to shorten the wall where the shelves in the existing space are now.

Take a look at our elevations, and you can see how we took our inspiration elements and made aspects of them work for this specific space.  Below, you can also see the new furniture plan, anchored by a mantelpiece that is more of a central focal point of the room. Symmetry prevails!