When I first went to see this late 70′ condo, I was surprised and excited by the fact that the client owned nothing more than a mattress, an area rug and two lawn chairs.

I love doing places from scratch. Creating something from nothing.  Nothing to draw inspiration from. A completely blank slate.

Places like that present a huge challenge which is always exciting.

The owner had recently done renovations in both the kitchen and bathroom but I was responsible for everything else from paint and wallpaper to furniture, lighting and window treatments.

She needed a bed and headboard, storage solutions, a sleeper sofa, some occasional chairs and stools, tables and a back splash in the kitchen.

The condo needed two things to come alive; a focal point and a feature wall. I recommended wallpaper for the feature wall and once that selection had been made, the colour scheme and everything else fell into place. Our colour scheme became grays and creams.

For a focal point, the owner mentioned that in a previous home she had bought a reclaimed fireplace surround and mounted her TV inside and wondered if that would work here. A fireplace is always a great option for a focal point but the wall we planned on using was covered in HVAC vents, electrical and cable outlets and a thermostat. There was no way of finding something that would fit around all that “stuff” so I decided to custom make one.

The bedroom needed a few things, mainly furniture and storage solutions. I installed a new closet organizer based on her needs and bought a bed frame. We needed a dresser and a headboard. The challenge was that the bed is a 3/4 bed (48″ wide) so finding an “off the shelf” headboard was tricky and the wall where the dresser would go was only 16″ deep and most dressers are 19-24″.

So when you can’t find what you want, make it! I made both a headboards and a dresser.

For the dresser, I bought 4 two drawer closet units, anchored them together, wall mounted them and added a top. Done. Custom 8 drawer dresser.

For the headboard, I bought a piece of plywood cut to 36″ X 48″, wrapped it it batting, cut and added a memory foam mattress topper (you can buy foam, but it’s become very expensive and comes in sizes that result in a ton of waste….a twin size topper was cheaper with not too much waste) and then wrapped the whole thing in a beautiful floral fabric that related to the living room wallpaper. I wanted tufting so I bought six buttons and using picture wire fed through 6 pre-drilled holes to secure them, I had a beautiful custom made tufted headboard.

Next came the kitchen backsplash in a traditional subway tile but laid in a stacked pattern for a more contemporary look. I went with a dark gray tile with a band of cream that tied in perfectly with the wallpaper. The tricky part was where to stop the tile and since the owner wanted a backsplash over on the island by the sink, I ended up tiling most of the wall.

For furniture, I found pieces in grays and creams to tie in with the wallpaper and kitchen tile; a nice modern sleeper sofa for occasional overnight guests, a couple of interesting accent tables, a modern coffee table and two accent chairs, one with arms for reading in and another armless one that could be turned and used as a desk chair for the ladder wall unit/desk (mulit-use furniture is critical in a small space).

Wall lamps are a fantastic option as well in space challenged rooms as there often isn’t space for floor lamps and side tables.

New mirrored closet doors, a pair of bedroom doors and simple sunscreen roller blinds with (again) custom made valances (the living room ceiling was two different heights over the windows so I had no choice but to build something) completed the project.

Very happy with how this cold, empty 35 year old condo was transformed into a cozy, warm and inviting space where everything ties in and performs very valuable functions.

Great use of a VERY limited space.