Hills Project: Omar’s Reading Room

This room off of the entryway in Omar’s home had a great existing layout in terms of furnishings, but needed a bit of an update and some cozy feels.

It’s a small space and flow is a major issue here. As you can see below, the room has an opening to the kitchen on one end, a doorway to the entryway on the other, a set of closet doors to a small laundry room in the middle, and windows that take up an entire wall on the other side. This very same room was planned out as a home office and breakfast nook in the Safaniya Drive project, but Omar was looking for something different – a space to drop off his things after coming home from work, to sit and chill/read, as well as a spot to feature his piano.

To achieve a moody feel, the walls were painted Gravel Gray by Benjamin Moore, a black color with strong cool undertones. All of the existing furnishings (mostly old IKEA) were replaced with “forever” furniture that matched the traditional homey style of the rest of the house. I also thought it would be fantastic to make the piano a feature, so it was centered on the largest wall with darker furniture around it to help make it stand out. Here’s how it all turned out…

| AFTER |

An entryway table (next to the passageway to the entry) is now a drop zone for keys, accessories, small items to be stored in the drawers and even shoes. Above this table is a beautiful Silman Mansour painting depicting the olive harvest in Palestine.

For functionality, the side table on one side of the sofa can fold out for laptop use if need be, and the task floor lamp on the other side makes it a great spot for reading.

Since the goal was to create a calming feeling in this room, I decided to go with a low contrast color palette with mostly darker furniture to complement the color on the walls. A lighter colored sofa was brought in to highlight a sense of overall coziness. Layered lighting, such as a small table lamp, a task floor lamp and a rattan pendant fixture all contribute to the moody vibes of this space as well.

The darker paint color was sandwiched between a white ceiling and a lighter tiled floor so that it didn’t feel too dark in the space. This way you get a sense of moodiness and a light and bright feel at the same time.