Novel ideas for a romantic makeover for a creative room

Teresa is a busy wife and mother, but at every available opportunity, she escapes into a fantasy world. You see, Teresa is a romance writer, and her active imagination is helping write her third book.

But Teresa had a real-life problem. She lacked an inspiring place where she could compose her novels. She spent most of her free time writing in a local coffee shop, but she wanted a space at home where she could write and gather with fellow romance authors to work out ideas, celebrate victories and commiserate over rejection letters.

She had an empty living/dining room in her large suburban home that suited the purpose perfectly, but the cold, blank slate of the room lacked passion – and furniture. So I decided to bring in my team and transform the space into a sophisticated and romantic writing retreat for Teresa.

The space had great bones – high ceilings, Palladian windows, crown moldings and hardwood floors – but lacked the “wow” factor. To help achieve this, I infused the room with a bit of color. I put up silvery floral-patterned wallpaper in most of the space, and then painted the rest in a serene shade of cream.

Then, because the space was originally fashioned as two rooms (living and dining) and had columns that separated the two areas, I decided to divide it into two functional spaces – a writer’s retreat and a meeting area.

In the writer’s retreat, I installed a new desk that blends function and fancy. The piece is a combination desk and bookcase done in a light cream with a beautiful dark-wood work surface. I also added a great writer’s chair in a soft green – the perfect spot for Teresa to create masterpiece after masterpiece.

I worked in a little seating area for Teresa and her friends, which includes an L-shaped sectional in subtle, silvery linen, and a gorgeous gas fireplace surrounded with stone and a stunning mirror above.

I hung soft and gauzy sheers with gold-satin trim that diffuse light softly through the large windows at the front of the room. I then put the same type of sheers up to separate the writing space from the meeting space.