LIBRARY // THE PLAN

original artwork by Gee Gee Collins // sconce // velvet pillows // antelope pillow // ikat pillow // table // ottomans // area rug

The Library is quickly coming together, and a few of you guessed right!! I choose table number four.  I loved the idea of the modern shape mixed with the traditional moulding and builtins that are already in the space.  I also loved the idea of this being able to function for us pre and post renovation.  As we are in the early phases, we know full and well that this change isn’t happening tomorrow!  So, during this planning phase, this space will be a multiuse space, as many of ours are already!

The multi function for this space will be as a functioning guest room as well as a library.  WHAT?!!?!  I know y’all think I am crazy.  But here is the deal… there is a space in-between the builtin shelves that will eventually be the entrance to our new addition.  For the time being, it just so happens to be the exact width of a twin bed (the long side).  So since we need a guest bed every so often I have decided to place a daybed in this space and have the table push up to it banquette style.  Not wanting just any daybed, and only having the space for a bed frame and a mattress, I opted against a standard mattress and bedding and opted rather for a French Upholstered Mattress instead.  This would give the bed a more upholstered feel in the space verses looking like a legit bed.  I had found a few I loved over at Anthropologie and some other fun ones at Urban Outfitters of all places, but none of them were the exact size of a standard twin.  Just when I was about to consider custom, I found this mattress at Pottery Barn.  It was perfect, and the price was right too.

I am still playing around with ideas on how to cover the bed frame as I am not really feeling a bedskirt and there isn’t another inch to spare.

Filling the “banquette” meant pillows, which lets be honest, has never been something I have shied away from in the past!  The more the merrier I think.  So I jumped over to one of my favorite pillow sources Little Design Company and picked out a few patterns and velvets to round out the design.  As I have stated before, I consider animal prints to be a neutral and after installing the antelope wallpaper in our bedroom a few years back, it has surpassed my love for leopard and stolen my heart.  So having the opportunity to include that pattern again in this space in the form of a pillow has my design heart racing!

Another fun find was the area rug.  I have been on the hunt for an offset striped rug for years!  What do you mean?!  They are everywhere you might say?!!  Yes, they are, but 99.9% of them are flat woven rugs.  We cannot make flat woven rugs work for our family.  Someone always ends up tripping and getting hurt.  For real.  So when I came across this Offset Striped rug in a woven version I got really excited.  The other reason I got really excited was this thing is so affordable!    After looking for so long, I feel like I would have paid just about anything, but at less than $200 for a room sized rug, I jumped!  We have lived with it for a few weeks now and I can say yes it is a thin rug and not an heirloom piece, but it is easy to clean, it does not shed and it has stayed flat on the floor and in place.  So far so good.

I am also focusing on Art in this space.  And I finally get to incorporate the amazing original abstract nude by the oh so talented Gee Gee Collins.  The colors are everything in this piece. I picked up on some of the blues and fleshy undertones in the space and want to allow the other colors to really stand on their own in the artwork.  There will be a few other pieces added in along the way, but this was the inspiration, one hundred percent.  If you haven’t checked out Gee Gee yet, please do (& check out her IG page too!!)

With deliveries happening be sure to check out my IG Stories for sneak peeks along the way.  This one looks like it will come together at a rapid pace!

xo – Kristin