Rahul and Radhika have just bought their dream home – a funky warehouse space that was converted from an icehouse into a sign factory and then into a private residence.

The young, fashionable couple love the wide-open nature of their living room, which leads out to a beautiful private garden. However, the style trappings left behind by the previous owners, including a cast-iron stove and terracotta flooring, didn’t fit in with their modern design aesthetic.

They didn’t know how to make the stark, barren room work for them, so I gathered my crew together and geared up to transform this big, uninviting space into a welcoming, urban environment and change it from industrial-cold to ultra-cool.

The old room had great bones, but was not cohesive in its look, so my job was to dispose of the mish-mash of styles and make everything flow seamlessly.

To start, I painted the walls in a fresh coat of soft green. I painted the longest wall in the space a deep chocolate brown and turned it into a photography gallery to showcase the incredible photos taken by Rahul and Radhika, who are both accomplished amateur photographers.

I then put down new flooring directly over the dated terracotta – a prefinished, wide-planked wood floor done in a hickory finish.

To light up the space, I installed a mixture of recessed lights and hanging pendant fixtures, but the real feature is a modern halogen track system that drops down from the 10-foot ceiling to highlight the new photo gallery. In addition, I mounted a flat-screen television on the wall so the couple will have a place to display a constant loop of their photographic talents.

I then got started on the room’s big focus – an ultra-chic fireplace. I ripped out the old-fashioned wood stove, and moved the chimney to allow a new long, sleek gas-burning fireplace to be placed along one wall.

I surrounded the fireplace with porcelain tile and put in a stunning dark wood bench below, complete with recessed lighting. I also put up a new, industrial fan with two rotating heads to circulate the fireplace warmth throughout the room.

I chose an earthy color palette for this room to really bring it all together: dreamy greens, light linens and deep browns.

I also added an exotic feature fabric with a floral pattern that combines all of these colors and brings a little bit of the outdoors inside. To further give the space an indoor/outdoor feeling, I put up wooden blinds on the windows that are adjacent to the patio.

The space was long and narrow, so I broke it up with custom-designed furniture that mixes contemporary and comfortable: a rich, chocolate leather sofa; two upholstered button-back chairs in light linen; and two mid-century-inspired, avocado green sling back chairs.

I then added several accent pieces, including an area rug and some exotic pieces of art, and the space was complete.

• Candice Olson is the host of HGTV’s Divine Design. Her column appears in the Winston-Salem Journal on Saturdays.

source : www.journalnow.com