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Writer's pictureSamia Verbist

One Room Challenge Spring 2020 - Weeks 5 & 6 - Custom Home Office -

Updated: Sep 14, 2022


One room challenge with French interior designer Samia Verbist

Welcome to my week 5 & 6! Last week, Linda and all the ORC team decided to cancel week 5 in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests. The ORC is a celebration of creativity, inspiration, and original ideas. But it is more than that, it is a large community of professionals with different backgrounds, cultures, and influences who share one passion: creating interiors that reflect who we are! So, every Wednesday, all the participants document their process while sharing sources and professional advices. I am honored to participate for the second time as a guest participant! My challenge, this spring, is to show you the make over process of a custom built home office in eight weeks!


So, ready for another update on my One Room Challenge's project?


As of now, we are only two weeks away from the big reveal! My clients hired me to do their home office in Palo Alto, California. They both work occasionally from home and they need an organized and beautiful space. My clients also want to be able to transform the home office into a guest bedroom. Here are some photos of the project if you missed the first weeks:


So, what happened during weeks 5 & 6? This step of the project was a major stage. It was dedicated to the custom manufacturing of all the furniture: desks, cabinets, bookshelves, and a Murphy bed. I decided to choose a beautiful essence of wood: maple.


Maple has a long history of use for furniture production in the United States. Maple is strong, dense, durable, and pretty when properly finished. In fact, some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain. It is an attractive hardwood and I love the natural color of this wood, a light brown with a reddish cast. Maple is difficult to work with hand tools and is usually expensive. That is the reason I opted to work with a professional like François Langin, a talented craftsman. I am sure that everything will be perfect for my clients!

Maple is also considered a tonewood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in numerous musical instruments (violins, guitars, drums etc.). Interesting!


Here is one piece of the maple used for this project:

Corner of maple wood for furniture manufacturing in home office remodel

The finish promises to be stunning!

Corners of crown molding in office renovation in Palo Alto

As you can see, most of the furniture are custom built, even the Murphy bed's structure .

Next week will be dedicated to the installation but right now, the furniture are at the painting workshop. The painter will apply 7 coats of white lacquer for a long lasting finish. This stage will take almost four days but everything will be ready for the installation day!


See you next Wednesday for an exciting step: the installation!!


Your Dedicated French Interior Designer

Samia

French interior designer Samia Verbist with yellow and pink patterned dress

Benjamin Moore





And don't forget to look at the featured designers:

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