Room service: Transforming a troublesome space

From Living Spaces Magazine - Fall 2010

My husband and I purchased our first home - a blue contemporary with an inviting front porch and ample back deck overlooking two woodsy acres - in the spring of 2006. We moved in four weeks before our first son was born and quickly dressed nearly every room on the main floor with the furniture, art and collectibles we'd accumulated over the years living in various apartments on both coasts.

There was, however, one lonely spot - a room without a purpose, an empty canvas. Our home does not have a distinct foyer; you walk right through the front door into the living room - an open 12-by-18 foot space with three tall windows overlooking the porch and our shady front yard. For the first year, this room was furnished with a white Foster & Co. piano we inherited from the previous owners, a Tibetan chest we'd received as a wedding gift, and a few neglected houseplants. Eventually we added a green velvet love seat, with an antique wooden frame, that we'd found at a local yard sale. But it wasn't until we sought the help of Keith Woodruff, owner of KW Home in Easthampton, that our entry room finally became both the foyer and living room our home had initially been lacking.

We purchased a few pieces of furniture from KW Home in the past - our fist bed frame, made of refurbished staircase railing, and a large five-level shelving unit with distressed wood surfaces and a dark metal frame that helped warm up our high-ceilinged family room. "I try to bring a more contemporary feel of furnishes to people in the [Pioneer] Valley," says Woodruff, who is originally from Westfield, but spent his early career in New York City where he earned a degree in design from the Fashion Institute of Technology int he 1980s.

Woodruff is more abut high-quality furnishings than high-end furnishings. "I don't have any one specific style that I'm trying to sell to people," Woodruff explains. The pieces on his showroom floor - everything from an Arts and Crafts influenced area rug to a modern sectional sofa - are investment pieces, he says, built to last a lifetime. In addition to the eclectic collection of furniture, accent pieces, rugs and lighting that Woodruff has in his store, there is a workroom complete with catalogs from six furniture companies; he also works with outside contractors, like a local seamstress who makes custom window treatments. Woodruff offers clients that personal touch - something you can't find in a large furniture outlet or big box store. "I'll work with you in your home, if that's what you're interested in," he says, "or you can bring in images or swatches of what you have and I'll work with you in the store to help bring a designer's perspective to your decision making; or I'll just offer that outside second opinion that clients are often needing."

My husband, Chris, and I loved the creative aesthetic of Woodruff's store, which is located in the charming old Majestic Theater space on Cottage Street, so much that I gave Chris a gift certificate from there for Christmas in 2008. I figured he could pick out a lamp or small table that he liked, but he - or shall I say, we - ended up having Woodruff come to our house for an interior design consult in early 2009. "I enjoy the challenge of working with individual clients in their environment," says Woodruff. "I like to ask them [about the pieces] they've inherited; what are the things they've picked up in their travels or brought with them from other living experiences? I try to incorporate these items into a new, finished environment."

This is exactly what Woodruff ended up doing for us. When he first came to our home, he offered advice on a variety of potential projects, like ways to re-do our bathrooms and upgrade our kitchen. We also discussed opening the wall between our kitchen and family room to create a better flow between these spaces. But the majority of our conversation focused on the entry room. Armed with architectural plans of our house and photographs he took of the existing Middle Eastern carpet, the wall color and the limited furnishings, Woodruff went back to his office to devise a plan for us. Within a couple of weeks, we sat down with him in his work room to further discuss his ideas. He showed us a sample layout for furniture in the front room, including specific pieces he thought would fit well with the existing piano. He selected three fabrics - one for the couch, one for the arm chairs, and one for the two throw pillows. It was just the start we needed.

I'd like to say we took the fabric swatches home, visualized the new space - one that created the illusion of a hallway using the back o the couch as a divider, and offered and intimate gathering spot with a decidedly more grown-up feel than the rest of our house, which was being overrun by toddler toys - and made a decision. Alas, we took months to come to a consensus. Woodruff, however, was patient. Very patient. "The reality of these projects is that they don't happen overnight," he says, remarking on how programs like "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" create the illusion that you can rebuild and redecorate your home during the time it takes to exhaust your family at Disney World. "I want my customers to be happy with the end result. Some people want to make a decision immediately; others take their time. It's al part of the process," Woodruff said.

Although Chris and I fell into the "take their time" camp, we did finally make some decisions. After going back to Woodruff's workroom and looking at more swatches, as well as doing some of our own research on the Internet and in other furniture stores, we settled on something that would make us both very happy. How does our entry room look now? A lot different than it did two years ago. When you walk in the front door you no longer enter a vacant space. Your eye is immediately drawn to the piano on the opposite wall. We eliminated the clutter on the top, leaving only one plant, a mirror and a large framed print of our favorite vacation spot. Three collectible eggs and a ceramic bowl are nestled on one end.

The Tibetan chest has been moved to the family room, where we can see it every time we walk through the house, and the green loveseat has found a perfect home below the window in the corner of our sunny master bedroom. Two low-backed Monet chairs with chestnut turned legs on casters by Robin Bruce are on the far side of the new living room. They are upholstered in a bold navy and off-white floral print that plays off the colors in the the existing rug. A small circular table with a limed oak finish on tripod-style legs sits between them. Hanging above the chair is the signature piece of the space - a 34-inch diameter mirror with a woven frame of rustic vine-like branches resembling driftwood. The accent pillows on the neutral gray linen Brooke sofa, also by Robin Bruce, match the fabric of the chairs. Uniting the furniture are two Asian-inspired bunching tables with cherry veneer and latticed detail on the sides with storage shelves below, conveniently set on caster wheels. Although the fabrics are different and the furniture pieces are slightly altered, the layout is exactly as Woodruff suggested in his initial design. "I enjoy the challenge of working with individual clients and bring together the look that works best for them in their environment." Mission accomplished.

Story Sarah J. Heim.