A fun project was presented to me recently in the form of a home office. The original space was overwhelmed with a desk and chair in the center of the room, allowing for no other activities in the limited space. To maximize the space, the client wanted to make the closet into an office, allowing the rest of the room to be a cozy relaxing place to hang out.

Before: Desk is literally in the center of the space.

Closet before

To start, all of the previously stored items in the closet were removed. The client, a young, design savvy, professional woman shared some pictures she had found on Houzz of built in desk areas.  She had some great pictures with some clever design solutions.  My challenge was how to give her something different from what she had already seen but not make it so "designed" that it was more about form than function!  I knew I wanted to do something interesting with the wall because this is what the client would be looking at as she sat at her desk. My brilliant assistant and I started brainstorming ways of making the small space interesting. We discussed some standard solutions for office closets, and came up with unique paint applications, wallpaper, and creative shelving solutions or cork boards, but what really inspired us, and caught our clients attention, was the idea of a mural. 

Mural after installation

My client came to me with an established color scheme of gray and pink, which I loved. The gray walls led me to settle on a black and white mural on the closet wall. Now to find the perfect photograph. I had it in my head that I wanted a Parisian street scene and after surfing the web, we found what I think is the perfect picture. The mural is what makes this space interesting and unique while not sacrificing any function. The other inspired purchase was a reproduction ghost chair.  I give credit to my client (I told you she was design savvy) for suggesting it. The chair's classic french shape subtly ties into the Parisian mural. A desktop and shelving were installed next. Pink accents and accessories really pop against the gray and white background.

This room is still a work in progress, but in the weeks to come we will add a sofa, draperies, and fun accents to bring this room to a spectacular finish. What had been a functional but uninspired office, has now become a fun and stylish workspace for this young client. 

After 

Those who know me best, know that there are two activities that I am passionate about ---- decorating and singing.  Now, I'm no Carrie Underwood, but I have a little talent and a lot of enthusiasm.  The (public) place I get to exercise my passion for singing is in church.  This past Sunday was Palm Sunday which is a Sunday of celebration before the solemnity of Good Friday and the joy of Easter.  We have a new choir director this year and for her first Easter season in our church she chose some beautiful and difficult classical pieces that we performed on Palm Sunday.  These along with some readings by the pastor told the story of Easter.  Now, I don't know why but composers of Easter music always throw in a lot of high notes.  Hmmm, maybe they want us to end the Easter service on a high note, literally. Anyway, as a first soprano, it is up to me to try and sing those high notes.  Let me tell you, they don't get any easier as I get older!  I did my best but I am sure I didn't do the music justice.

One of the fun things about sitting in the choir loft is being able to look out at the congregation.  Of course, the bad thing about sitting in the choir loft is we are always looking at the back of the preacher's head during the sermon and every one can see you so you always have to be on your best behavior. But I digress.  It is the tradition in many churches, including mine, that on Palm Sunday, whilst carrying palm fronds, the children of the church progress down the center aisle from the back of the church to the front, right toward the choir loft.  It is always entertaining to see the kids marching in with their palm fronds waving. This past Sunday they were singing as they came and lined up in the front of the church to finish their song and wave their branches.  It seems that child singers either have talent or enthusiasm, but rarely both! Regardless, I always enjoy the joyful noise.  I was really entertained by one boy with a palm frond in each hand.  His energetic waving made me wonder if he was trying to land some imaginary jet liner.  He was certainly more interested in waving than in singing which is often the way with young boys.  God bless him!

Happy Easter to you all!  Wishing you and yours an Easter basket filled with gooey Peeps, colorful jelly beans and chocolate bunnies!!

Hello, again! Wow, so far this year has been a busy one for Gail Barley Interiors. In addition to many decorating projects with some great clients and interesting spaces, here’s a quick update to let you know what we've been doing.

Gail Barley Interiors was a featured designer on Wayfair.com in their Inspiration Gallery. I was asked all kinds of questions about my design process. I was honored to be featured on this nation-wide site.  If you would like to see the article, here is the link: www.wayfair.com.

Another exciting moment for me was when Houzz, a popular decorating and home website, gave me the Best of Houzz 2014 Award in Customer Satisfaction. Here’s a little bit about what that means as described by Houzz: “Chosen by the more than 16 million monthly users that comprise the Houzz community,” Gail Barley Interiors was awarded, The Best Of Houzz. “Customer Satisfaction honors are determined by a variety of factors, including the number and quality of client reviews a professional received in 2013."  If you would like to check it out, feel free to click the link: www.houzz.com.

Late in March was the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers Annual Meeting. The meeting was attended by 1400 people and, as the AFPM website describes, it is "the world's premier refining meeting, assembling key executives, decision-makers, and technical experts from refining businesses, technology providers, contracting and consulting firms, and equipment manufacturers around the world". I know this doesn’t sound like it has anything to do with decorating but I was chosen as a speaker for the Spousal Event on the first day of the three day convention. I spoke to this group about how to use color in your home instead of falling back on "safe", neutral colors. In my seminar titled, “Beyond Beige” we discussed how to decorate with color to give your home personality and to make a home a personal reflection of the people who live there. After the powerpoint presentation, there was a Q & A time followed by a hands on session where participants used fabric swatches, wallpaper samples and paint chips to create an inspiration page for their own homes. Each participant left with a custom journal, created and designed by Gail Barley Interiors, to help her on her way to designing her own home, hopefully, without defaulting to beige! It was a wonderful time and I met some amazing women.

Suffice it to say it’s been a busy winter, not that I’m complaining!