girls’ room
A working mom with 3 very loud (but fun) children wanted some help with unstructured space and homeless stuff.
before
Opposite a bunkbed in this light-flooded space was what you see above. A cluttered bookshelf, cluttered corner and a glider. Mom was not in the Breastfeeding For Life club so the first thing I suggested was tossing the chair. The books were getting double-deep because the shelving unit was meant for displaying decorative objects. The girls needed shelves and a work surface.
The project looked easy until my client flatly refused to heed my hurricane-strength recommendation to create a full wall of shelving above a floating desk. She had her mind set, instead, on a 36” wide bookshelf behind the 36” wide bedroom door — exactly like the one she already had. She also had an adamantine idea that without “sides” the books would “fall off” the floating shelves.
There was no convincing her that the books would not jump off the shelves and attack the girls in the middle of the night. I explained that I would create…”sides” with bookends and other heavy objects as I do for many happy clients with…erect…books. After 8 drawings and 42 emails, I capitulated.
We moved her bookshelf to the baby’s room to house big plastic toys, bought a new, shallower bookshelf to take its place, and installed my design in the remainder of the space.
after
The collaboration worked out well. After the install the little one reported to her mom as follows: “Mommy, I love my room!”
When I was a set designer no one ever shouted: “Rachel, I love how I’ll never look anything like that 6’ 3” Dutch model lying in a pile of peonies at MY wedding! Thanks for the unattainable fantasy!!!!!” I prefer the impact my work has now by a country mile.
Last thing: this client’s powerful attention to detail also later revealed a flaw in my billing: after crosschecking a 97 inchlong IKEA receipt, she saw that I accidentally charged her for a Flükkavork, and a Skankspäag (a towel and a flowerpot, respectively). I double-check those receipts now, of course. $1.79 Skankspäags add up fast.