When I was called into the job my clients had a huge basement space with gold carpet from the previous owners, a fancy oak built in bar, a massive dark (almost black) brown leather sectional and large wall mounted TV. They had just painted the walls a color close to the carpet color. The bar featured three pendant lights with orange glass shades. I was told they wanted the room to look more pulled together and better accommodate large informal get togethers. I was also told that there were plans to add a pool table. We talked for at least two hours on the first visit about how the room would be used and possible ways to make the space look and feel more inviting. I suggested that the room didn't seem to have a real visual focus or theme. I suggested that since the wall color and carpet were to stay the same the best way to improve the room was with fabric. Since there was also no need for window treatments, and the large pieces of furniture were already purchased; I had to come up with some creative ways to use fabric to create focus and theme. Another issue was that they wanted to bring aqua into the color pallet.

Unable to find the theme fabric in the needed colors in my fabric samples I went on line. After many hours of looking online and printing off pictures of fabrics and ordering memo samples I located two fabrics that we all agreed would do the job. One was a paisley, but the most important one was the stripe, because it incorporated the colors we wanted but also had the colors we needed. The stripe had adequate amounts of the carpet and wall gold. To make this recreation room tough for hard wear two 100,000 double rub velvets were included. A more contemporary large 'DOT' pattern added an unexpected kink to the design.

With the biggest hurdle behind us, we could focus on using the materials to achieve the results we wanted. When the location of the pool table was decided I suggested an idea I had come up with several years earlier in a much smaller pool room.

In that room space was at a premium and seating was needed. There was absolutely no space for conventional seating. I solved the problem by using an ottoman/bench for seating and making a hanging pad much like a wrestling mat hung on the wall above the ottoman to provide a soft place to lean back and also to protect the wall.

For practical purposes the hard wearing velvet
was used for the top of the bench with the stripe that brought in the gold color we needed, used for the sides. My clients wanted something more substantial looking than a hanging mat arrangement.

We decided to make the back for the bench seat a much bigger element in the room. By doing this we also gave the room more color focus and began to develop a theme.

The huge soft throw pillows which are miniatures of the wall hanging were included at my insistence.
They take our theme to the huge dark brown sectional.

A large fringed throw was made for the sectional as well.

My client has done well finding accessories that feature the color they want to play up.

Is it a perfect job? No Is it a big improvement? Yes. Is everyone happy with it? Yes!

When I deliver the last element of this room to my clients I will have one more suggestion. When it is time to repaint the room, considering what we have added, let me help pick a new wall color that will help blend everything more.
To me this is what interior decorating in the real world is all about. Assessing need, use, suggesting options and compromise.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know your thoughts.

Bill Gantt