I bought this mini-house a year ago, and have changed nothing in it. Last week I got up one morning and realized that the fake wood paneling on the walls (painted baby blue in some places) and strange off white linoleum floors look kinda…bad.
So I have decided I need to do some home improvement. The room that is giving me problems is small (only 75 square feet). I don’t know what to do with it. I am putting down wood laminate floors in a light ‘honey’ colour. Walls are being painted a bright yellow (I am not a yellow fan, but my sister was visiting, and she is sure yellow will be perfect for that room). I don’t know what else to do with it. Only other thing in the room is a built in dresser with a closet on either side (I didn’t include the closets and the dresser in the 75 square feet). One wall has two large windows, the opposite wall has a door.
What do I put in this room? I don’t need a computer room, I have a bedroom, any thoughts, any suggestions, any decorating ideas? Will the yellow look very bad with the floor (It isn’t too late, I have only done the priming coat of paint)?
You have a spare room and you don’t know what to do with it? I am so JEALOUS!
What direction does the room face? When does the sun come in?
I like yellow, but not with light wood floors, but obviously that’s up to you. If the room needs warmed up, and white is too stark, what about cream or vanilla? I have no idea of your taste in color, but personally with those floors I’d go for green, lavender blue or violet (all pale, unless you are really into color) with white woodwork. OK, I’ll shut up about colors now.
You should put up some nice bookshelves (because a bookcase will just take up more room), a tiny table with a cute lamp and a comfortable chair and make it a library. The table should be big enough to set a drink on, too.
I wouldn’t go for the yellow unless it was a very pale baby yellow color. Bright yellow with honey floors is just going to make the room one big yellow cube, IMHO.
I’d go for an off white and bring color in with the curtains. With white walls you could accessorize in any color you want. Since the room is really small I’d go for light colors as mentioned above.
I have 3 small “rooms” about this size in my new place. This is about 7 square meters for the metric among us
I know nothing about colours, they would be something that I would decide after function. This could easily be a library (including media library) line the walls with your books, cds etc and have a big old comfy chair in the midddle of the mini-room. You can go there to recline, listen to some tunes, read some books, and it is good storage for your media.
If you play any instruments it could be a music room, or perhaps a small home gym? If you have kids you could make it a hide-out, do the inside of it up like a tree-house. Does anyone in the household collect anything or do any hobbies? A room that doesn’t need to be tidied for hobbys is great as is a room for showcasign collections (So they dont spread all over the house).
Of our 3 mini-rooms, one is going to be my hobby-room where I can pull apart my computers and sew etc. It will also be the utility room (have the recycling boxes etc in there). The other will be the frog room, where mrsIteki keeps her frog-stuff collection and her real frog. The third is going to be a dressing room with mirrors and clothes rails etc.
What functions can you imagine the room having? What sort of stuff do you do?
**zephyrine [b/] The room faces north, it over looks my mini forest, lots of trees. I wanted to do the walls green, my sister poo-poo’d my taste (I think the exact words were worst taste in colours ever). SnoopyFan that’s a nice idea, I have a lot of books that are just jammed in different closets around the house, book shelfs would be nice, I am going to think about that. Iteki right now it is just me in the house, so my stuff is pretty much spead all over. The comfy chair idea and a media room does sound very nice.
I, too thought of the library/media room right away. A quick way to dress up a room is to buy a cheapie piece of molding at the hardware/home imporvement store, pencil in a level line around the room and put up a chair rail. Then you could do different colors above and below(just not too different from each other ot the room will look smaller than ever.) It’s also a great way to add inerest to the walls that don’t have windows and doors in them.
Blue is said to make walls seem to recede. That might make it seem less larger and roomier. Likewise, decorative mirrors are supposed to give the illusion of more space. Maybe mirrors opposite the windows, to catch glimpes of the miniature forest?
Subtract one “less” from my previous post to give an illusion of coherency. Anyway, as others have said, use the space as a reading room, a place to relax and shut out the world, with a comfy futon or sofabed that could fold out to accomodate overnight guests.
Knock the damn walls down and make whatever room is next to it even BIGGER!
Failing that, I agree with the reading room/library deal. But I cannot STAND white on walls. I’d go for the “baby yellow”. Never heard it called that before, but I know exactly what it is.
If you are going to have it as a place to chill out, DON’T go for yellow, which is an energizing color. Two windows looking out onto trees means you need to emphasise the relaxing aspects, without having it seem too chilly. Bookshelves etc., will help to warm it up. I’d advise you to go with a light, yellow-green: it’s warm and relaxing, and all other colors look really good with it (OK, I’ll admit to a personal bias here - my living-room is that color (I also hate white walls). When I tell people the living-room is green, they look horrified, but they like it when they see it).
But in the end, it’s your room, you’ll be spending time in it do it the color you want. The beauty of paint is that if you get it wrong, you can just paint over it.
I wasn’t seeing any walls in my vision they were all lined with bookshelves… only the ceiling, floor and door bare Ceiling maybe with a fake-ceiling hanging down 6 inches say where you have inserted fiber optic lights like stars and painted it midnight blue. Then you can lie back in your recliner and watch the lights sparkle in the ceiling while listening to your music.
Ceiling maybe with a fake-ceiling hanging down 6 inches say where you have inserted fiber optic lights like stars and painted it midnight blue. Then you can lie back in your recliner and watch the lights sparkle in the ceiling while listening to your music.