IKEA Challenge
When the room makeover team needs professional help: Bringing in a guestdesigner
Home stager Valerie Splaine orchestrates the moving of the furniture with StevenThomson providing the power.Photo by Carolina Astrain
Steven Thomson, from left, Valerie Splaine and Caroline GallayPhoto by Carolina Astrain
Caroline Gallay and Steven Thomson debate another issue of where to placefurniture.Photo by Carolina Astrain
When we originally drew up blueprints for our room makeover CultureLounge, we included such amenities as wet bars, a kissing booth and gigantic bust of Shelby Hodge. Since then, the plans have changed, and although we hand-picked some prime pieces of IKEA furniture, we'd yet to determine where in our oddly-shaped lounge it would all go.
To put it lightly, assembling the hoard of furniture supplied by IKEA was enough of an ordeal. So when it came time for actually deciding where to place our sparkling new furniture in the CultureLounge, we called upon a special guest star — Valerie Splaine, founder of Home Staging and Redesign of Houston.
A former realtor, she found her calling staging both vacant and occupied homes to entice buyers.
We're not home buyers, but we were already convinced that Val would know exactly where to place our diverse set of furnishings, which ranged from a dining set, to a collection of couches to a slightly ungainly bar table. She was full of ideas, though, and we soon found ourselves summoning all of our remaining energy, carrying the pieces from here to there following vibrant brainstorming sessions (we refrained from whistling while we worked).
Under Splaine's suggestion, we tucked away our sleek dining room table in the far end of the room, which will provide some peace and quiet when it's used as a convening spot for top secret meetings. Fittingly, the centerpiece of the room is for lounging.
We set up our two espresso-brown couches along a traditional "L" shape, with the two white armchairs completing a "U" shape. Side tables connect the dots (and will provide the necessary resting spots for anticipated cocktails).
Not everyone was convinced of the symmetrical styling at first, but once it was all in place, Val's brilliance was perfectly apparent.
Now, CultureMappers can whisk through the room and access the dining table (and the water closet) without being too tempted by the cushy leather couches. And when guests waltz into our office, they're greeted by the lounging ensemble, but are still provided with ample room to carry on into the newsroom.
Next up on Friday: The voting on CutureMap readers' artwork ideas for the lounge begins (the deadline to submit an entry is Friday morning).
Other articles in the IKEA Challenge series:
Creating a lounge in 30 days without killing each other
Sizing up the room specs, spots for the Shelby Hodge statue & kissing booth
The meddling begins: Our room makeover designers face opposition in the office
The room makeover duo hits the store and encounters a velvet divide
Paisley, accents & corkboard — design ideals from a flower child sorority girl hit the CultureLounge
Mastering the "Steven Aesthetic": Clean lines and objets trouvés for the CultureLounge
How long does it take two healthy, young adults to assemble IKEA furniture?
Is that IKEA furniture or a Rubik's Cube?
The mystery of the S-wrench and Swedish directions: Assembling our IKEA furniture
Office bribes, competitive jive & the mysterious James mark the IKEA assembly
We need YOU: To do a piece of artwork for us — Calling all artists
Late August is one of Esquire's best new restaurants.
Photo by Leonid Furmansky