I'm Alia and this is Jamie.
We have been dating for
a year and a month.
and
I just moved to Simsbury, Connecticut a month ago.
A month ago?
Two months ago?
Three months ago.
So I wrapped up my whole studio apartment in new york
had it moved up here and
when you really break down what you own and
you see it all in like fifteen boxes
being wrapped up in one small truck you're like, "huh."
I wanted her to be comfortable, this is a big change.
I was more nervous about
how I could make her happy
than really whether or not she would fit in.
He challenges me
he makes me think about things really differently
but once I think about it
his ideas are really interesting and valid
and when we do it together, we are better together.
I think I'd like to
take the upstairs empty bedroom
and turn it into an office for you.
So it's a little bit of a fantastic catastrophe.
I think I can transition that closet
where you're keeping some of your miscellaneous clothes
to kind of a work station office area.
For an office, it's gonna be awesome.
I want her to feel like she's got a really special place.
Again, more nervous face.
I let you do the formal living room.
I am surprised
but sometimes it's a very different
type of surprised than I imagined.
I was thinking, we create a little bit more space.
but we could maybe put a desk
some shelves, maybe a really cool light.
But maybe it's more of like a nook.
We could do like a desk that comes out a little bit.
Would you be cool if we took the doors off?
I definitely want to take the doors off.
The rail, the shelf will obviously come out.
What if we do wallpaper?
We are definitely keeping the wall paper people
here in Simsbury, Connecticut in business.
In fashion and design we call that idea a Feature Focus.
That point in the room or that point in the outfit where
your eye goes first.
So I feel like if we do a really cool metallic wallpaper
your eye will be automatically drawn
to the office.
I'm excited about this, this is gonna be awesome.
Let's do it.
There we go.
That's impressive.
In order to take the last bolt out of the door
usually you need an extra hand.
I need you to hold this door for me.
Ooh, a little snug.
Are you kidding me?
Babe, this is my new look.
We've got a clean palette here.
I'm gonna have a guy, Joe
he's awesome, install the wallpaper and then
I have an awesome chandelier coming.
You're gonna love it.
Does that mean I get to get back to work?
You're dismissed.
Perfect.
So one of the most important parts of a modern office
today is inspiration
I really want to be able to look up
and see something creative that inspires me.
I call this project, your live mood board.
I took a queue from the wallpaper and I actually
got the same wallpaper but in a larger scale
to create
my mood board
which I am going to use clipboards for
and the plan is to wallpaper them
in the same wallpaper pattern
as what's going to be behind them so
in essence they become part of that wall
and you can clip things to them that really represent
what's inspiring you in the moment.
So what we're going to do is literally just trace
the clipboard.
Take your exacto knife and make that nice
clean line.
Then we actually need to cut out a little piece
to account for the top so we'll just
trace that.
When you clip it in, you'll see that it fits perfectly.
and we're just gonna glue it down
and use a little double stick tape.
Just like that.
and
a girls best friend in making sure that your
wallpapered clipboard stays
sticking to the clipboard is
a big book to put on top for about an hour.
Just let it sit.
And then we'll hang them.
Okay, let's check on the progress.
So it's been about an hour.
I love it, look how cute this looks.
This is gonna look great.
Wallpaper can be really tricky to install.
My strategy when thinking about
how I'm gonna put this closet together.
was to use what I call the investment strategy.
In fashion, it's sort of that same idea as
wearing a t-shirt and jeans
but really expensive shoes and
investing in a hand bag right?
Because that's where you eye goes, that's what you notice.
I gave the measurements of this closet
to Calico and they created
a custom piece of wall paper
for this entire closet.
So I'm putting into the hands of a professional.
This is my guy and I'm
really excited to see what this looks like.
I like to design every room with one dramatic element
that really draws you in.
in this case its calico wallpaper.
They're one of my favorite brands because they design
beautiful wallpaper to look like artwork
so it really defines the space.
I am going to put together a really cool storage solution.
A book spine basket
It's gonna look like a shelf of books when we're done.
I got this basket at home goods.
I think I spent $4.99.
The books, a set of 24 vintage
encyclopedias got on ebay
for fourteen dollars.
I'm gonna measure the basket
on the cardboard
and just mark it off.
I'm gonna cut the cardboard
and I'm gonna affix it to the basket
first and the easiest way to do that is
good old fashion zip ties.
Make a little hole and
put the zip tie through.
Make sure it's lines up
so once you have it zip tied
put that aside and we are going to cut the books.
So you take your exacto knife
and I'm just gonna cut the spine.
Keep one side on the left and one side on the right.
So from the side, it looks like their's still a book.
and in the middle, we're just going to keep these spines.
Good old fashioned fabric glue goes a very long way
and you could be generous with it.
Once you have all of your spines
You're literally just going to line them up.
Once you have all of your book spines lines up
you can turn it right side up like it did.
It needs about 20 minutes to dry
to make sure that the spines are actually
affixed to the cardboard.
when I think about creating
design solutions, I really
want them to look elevated.
That is number one for me.
If it looks like a hack, it is a hack.
If someone saw this and was surprised by it
I did my job.
Going out on the town today
I'm thinking maybe some coffee table books,
a few objects.
Just things that have some personality
i think really are going to bring that space to life.
I'm at Beehive Home
It's a really cool home decor store
and one of my favorite spots in town.
I'm here to get some ideas for the closet
and I'm already seeing some pretty
awesome inspiration
Wow, having a great
oversized chandelier really makes
a small space feel bigger. A lot of people think
you have to match the scale of the room
to the fixtures
but I love a bang fixture
or something that just jumps out at you and makes
the space pop.
It's not the office stuff that really makes the office
it's the untraditional pieces that you find
that surprise and delight that really make it come to life.
I think you're coming with me actually.
So this is a desk from CB2.
It is marble top, so it is quite heavy
and I've never actually seen it in person
I've just seen it online.
Let's get this box open.
I love it.
What we're gonna do is we're gonna
bring it upstair to the room because
we won't be able to fit it through the door.
This is gorg.
These tones surprisingly
just work really really well
together and it has this really amazing
textural, high gloss feeling.
It looks great.
I am obsessed.
Obsessed with this wallpaper.
So this is my favorite part.
I am going to decorate the shelves.
So what should we put on them?
Is it a stack of books?
Or is it a clever storage idea>
A little bit of both.
Where do you live?
This is so awesome.
I love it.
I might live here now
Let's put the books in the tray.
You're like the style boss babe.
Jamie, I'm impressed.
What is this?
The cherry on top.
Thank you for this.
It's awesome, I love it for you.
It's awesome.