We are so excited about the newest addition to our family of guest bloggers! Daniel Keeley, owner of Fayetteville’s DK Design, has purchased a new home and has very interesting plans for it! Daniel will be guiding us through the renovation and decoration of his new home each month, and you’ll be shocked at the “twist” Daniel plans to incorporate into his home’s redesign. Take a look at the home’s “before” photos today, and check back each month to see the progress!
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Outside the Box
At my company, DK Design, our motto is “Live Outside the Box.” As the play on words suggests, we not only encourage clients to enjoy living in the spaces outside their homes but also to make those spaces personal, unique and extraordinary. I am constantly encouraging clients to spend as much time and effort creating and decorating their outdoor rooms as they do the rooms inside their home. With the quality and variety of outdoor furnishings on the market today, it really is possible to have exterior spaces that rival indoor rooms for comfort, sophistication and style. Still, it is hard to convince some people to give up that old patio set or adirondack chair. It surprises me how often I see homes that are beautifully decorated with high-quality furnishings on the inside, yet when it comes to the outside, the owners settle for a low-quality (and low-style) set of furniture from the discount outlet. There’s no reason why our outdoor living spaces should not exude the same sense of customized design and personalized style as our indoor decor!
To help prove my assertion that outdoor furnishings are every bit as stylish and sophisticated as indoor furniture, and to play around with how we relate to our indoor and outdoor spaces in general, I decided to use my own house as a sort of laboratory. For the biggest part of my experiment, I actually have to turn my company’s motto a little bit on its head…but, hey, breaking the rules is fun, right? My plan is to decorate the inside of my house exclusively with outdoor furnishings. From sofas and chairs to rugs and drapery, everything will be tough enough to weather the outside elements but elegant enough to welcome inside without hesitation. Since my house will undergo a full remodel, I also plan to incorporate some fun design ideas, to help blur the lines between indoors and out, and to improve the house’s efficiency and make it more eco-friendly.
So, I invite you to join me over the next few months, as my house undergoes its transformation and eventually gets filled with its unconventional contents. My hope is that, along the way, we will all learn a little more about how to Live Outside the Box!
The house was built in 1948, so it is not exactly new…but new to me. I was drawn to its simple, symmetrical design and relatively level, corner lot, which will give me plenty of opportunities for gardening and outdoor living. I have plans to remove the old vinyl siding but am happy with the standing-seam metal roof, which is both stylish and a great value, since it will likely outlive me. I am also excited about the potential of the carport structure which includes a small room that served the previous owner as a workshop. I am not totally sure what I am going to do with this space, yet, but you can bet it will become some sort of garden-inspired retreat!
Inside, it seems hardly anything has been done since the house was built, except to lay down a layer of shag carpeting (I’m guessing sometime in the 60’s) which, fortunately for me, has kept the original oak hardwood flooring underneath in great shape over the years. The combination living/dining room forms an ‘L’ shape and is small but workable. In fact, at 1004 square feet, the whole house is small! But, one of my favorite mantras is ‘quality over quantity’, and I am going to do my best to put it into action with this project.
The kitchen, with few and outdated cabinets and no appliances…What can I say about the kitchen? Well, the wall color is cheerful…perhaps a little too cheerful for my morning coffee routine, as I am not a morning person. Expect some significant changes here in the future!
The first of two bedrooms sits on the front of the house and shares a wall with the main living space (hmmm, wheels turning…possible potential here). It also has two decently sized closets which, no doubt, will come in handy in such a small house.
The second bedroom, at the back of the house, only has one closet but already sports an indoor/outdoor theme with green walls and a decorative applique of white lattice. I guess I can leave this room as is…just kidding. Guess again!
In the hallway leading to the bedrooms, there is another closet and the home’s only bathroom. Did I mention the house is small? This is perhaps most evident in this tiny bathroom. This is bound to be a formidable challenge in making a room appear larger than it really is! Stay tuned next month for “The Plan” and the beginnings of demolition! Sincerely, Daniel Keeley
