It's packing day and everything must go! The client wants all new furnishings throughout the home with the exception of the large mirror over the sofa, the beautiful black grand piano, a sentimental grandfather clock, the Spanish Mediterranean carved dining table, chairs, and barstools - as for the master bedroom, I love the solid wood carved four-poster bed

To the left is a picture of what was the sitting room and will be converted into the piano room and on the left was the music/catch-all room and now it will be converted into a beautiful executive home office.

Indoor Mediterranean Courtyard -

Below shows the family room and the first home remodeling project to be installed was the stone wall - we removed the wood baseboards and cap and then installed the “Oceania” stone which will add some sparkle to the room and then top it off with a “Crema Marble” cap and accent it with a wood molding - This architectural detail will also be matched in the foyer’s pass-through. My interior design concept for the sunken family room was to create the feeling of a Mediterranean courtyard while relating to the stone fireplace.

Traditional Mediterranean Interior Design Elements -

To clean up the clutter of the existing two sofas and multiple end tables, I will be replacing it with a large custom “L” shape sofa 10.5’ x 10.5’ covered with a textured woven fabric that matches the living room sofa including the large rustic nickel nail-heads but in a more formal fabric.

The drapery fabric shown below has a more dominant aqua color on a distressed off-white background with the lime-green as the accent color - I love how the large diagonal aqua leaf pattern is interconnected with patterns that are inspired by the midwest Indian textiles. I believe the fabrics generous scale is in balance with the unique bolder fireplace, I find it reminiscent of the classic mountain ski lodges.

I find the selection of coffee tables and end tables to be very limited and challenging, however I love the bold size and weight of these Spanish - Mediterranean style tables with their architectural balustrades in an antiqued finish. To the left is the dining room rug with its antique patina and the right is the woven rug for the family room, both with our featured colors being aqua, royal blue, and lime-green.

During this home remodel we will be installing the new 71”x60” wrought iron Spanish Mediterranean style chandelier over the dining table and it’s matching 44”x43” chandelier in front of the fireplace as well as the two flanking 68” tall sconces in dining area as well as five 23” tall pendant light over the kitchen island.

Creating proper achitectral scale within a room -

Often the problem with purchasing a wall unit from a furniture store is the hight, especially when it's placed in a sunken room - Please enlarge my engineered drawing with the details for my carpenter to build a platform that matches my enlarged baseboards. It will lift the wall unit 10”-12”. You can also see my plans for the marble cap with its wood molding detail that will be painted to match crown and base.

Mediterranean Interior Design and Home Remodeling -

Another cost-effective trick to add architectural scale to a room is by adding molding to the top of the baseboard and below the crown molding so that once the moldings and the wall in-between are all painted the trim color it appears to be much larger and this is not only a beautiful detail but the molding will have add a much grander scale to the room.

Below left you can see where we removed the drywall drapery valance over the glass sliding doors - this valance cut the room in half, now it’s removal it will allow for the new drapes to hang from floor to the newly enlarged crown molding adding visual height to the room. The right photo shows the home office with its newly installed molding above the baseboard and below the crown.

In keeping with the architectural scale of the room, I also wanted to enlarge the molding around all of the doorways buy adding a three-piece header that includes a crown. Pictured below is the foyer and you can see the double door entrance into the new home office, the doors are set into a niche so we installed the header with its crown and side molding on the outside of the niche and painted everything the dark rich molding color to create a grand inset doorway.

Please also note the result of the added molding below the crown and above the baseboards. All of these architectural details give a feeling of not only scale but also of grandeur - I cant wait for the new metal front doors in faux wood with a chipped glass window and 30” sculpted door handles.

Mediterranean Style Architectural Details -

Here is the detailed drawing of the faux painted Mediterranean aches (10’x12’) with its custom mirror and frame (52"x 66"). The arch and mirror architectural detail will be featured on two opposite walls in the living room as well as in the foyer inorder to showcase the opulent shell scroll mirror. By doing this we are in keeping with the interior design rule of three matching elements in a room.

In keeping with the Mediterranean interior design style, I have incorporated this rustic driftwood like carved wood credenza with its con-caved corners - Please note that this concaved 1/4 circle is dupilcated in the Faux Mediterranean arched wall - I then flank it with these 30” tall wrought iron and acanthus leaf sconces with tortoiseshell globes.

Interior Design Elements for a Mediterranean Style Foyer -

As for the interior design elements for the foyer, I am very excited to use this magnificent shell encrusted scrolled mirror (36”x62”) - Tell me? how often do you see scrollwork with shells?? This is the same mirror I wanted to use in the Ocean Reef Club Foyer (click link to see)

I believe that in a large room it is best to duplicate like items - For instance, the tortoiseshell glass globes on the sconces, main chandelier, foyer light fixture, as well as on the base of the bronze tortoiseshell and heron lamps.

Mediterranean - Traditional Interior Design Elements -

The Mediterranean - Traditional style of the living room starts with the furnishings being the semi-custom sofa and two over-sized chairs covered in a fabric that is tightly woven with threads of off white, aqua, and brown with large rustic nickel nail-heads across the back. In keeping with the nickel as the accent metal, I have also included this eclectic coffee table and occasional table with its elegant inlaid driftwood finish top.

Color Scheme and Drapery Design -

This client came to me with a wall color that they liked from their other home and wanted to use it, I also have clients who think that the first thing we do is paint the walls and everything else come after - The truth is the wall color is the last thing I design. Every room needs inspiration and after my client, my inspiration is the fabrics, especially the drapery fabric, and then I can pull the colors from it. This fabric is the perfect example of that - I needed a fabric that would relate to the existing items in the room, for this room it was the Spanish Mediterranean Terracotta/Saltillo floor tiles - I love how the rust-red, sandy-putty, and dark brown all relate to the Terracotta flooring. The light sandy putty color is the perfect soft backdrop for the wall color. Also what is perfect about this fabric is the small accents of the aqua blue which I will use as the color for the faux architectural Mediterranean arches. The three aqua aches will be a lot of aqua in the room so the minimal aqua accent color in the fabric allows the color to be in balance with the room.

Remember, When we think of balance in a room it doesn't just relate to the architectural elements in the room but also the scale of the furnishings, the colors, and the textures.

Mediterranean Home Remodel -

Below you can see the some of the Mediterranean style coming together in this home remodel - The mirrors and frames have been installed as well as the accent color in the tray ceiling, and the matching Mediterranean arched walls are being laid out as well as the electrical boxes for the sconces.

I cant wait to see the silver matallic linen wallpaper be installed on the top of the tray ceiling - That will add a very rich yet graceful Bling-Bling - Ha! I think I have a new catchphrase "Graceful Bling-Bling"

Hanging below our Gracefull Bilng-Bling silver metalic wall paper we have our matching 58”x64” mediterrean wrought iron chandilier with its large custom painted ceiling medallion.

Interior Design of the Mediterranean Executive Home Office -

Below is a rough sketch of the interior design floor plan showing the two flanking file cabinets with the side curtain panels to match in width as well as the layout for the executive desk with it’s wrought iron chandelier and medallion - I love that this ceiling medallion has the look of Spainish Mediterranean wrought iron and it was painted to match the new off white crown molding with the inset painted as an accent with the aqua wall color - All of the designer colors for this home office are matched to the fabric, being a rich grayed down aqua for the walls, the off-white background color is being used for the woodwork and ceiling medallion, and the olive green is used on the ceiling (Remember, the ceiling is the fifth wall so use it as an accent when you can)

How to center a Rug to the Room -

The goal here is to center all of the interior design and architectural elements and it’s not always as easy as it seems - First of all to center the artwork and sconces while allowing for the sheer and side panel drapes - then I needed to relocate and reinforce the electrical box for the new grandious Mediterranean style wrought iron chandelier and finally center the rug/table and by using a little trick - If you don't have a plumb line you can use your measuring tape and level. but trust me, a plumbline is much easier.

Mediterranean / Caribbean with British Colonial and Bahamas Style Master Bedroom -

This master bedroom interior design and home remodeling project features many differant design elements from the Mediterranean and Caribbean with a British Colonial and Bahamas Style. Starting with the soild carved wood four-poster bed that I will be adding white gauze side panels and along the back

No more “Morgue” bedroom with the heavy Burgundy and Gold - Now the color scheme is in the Caribbean - Bahamas style with bright aqua and royal blue with an accent of lime-green all on a background of a crisp white as seen below in the bedding, drapery fabric and rugs. I believe that the pattern in the drapery fabric and beding has the feeling of Mediterranean wrought iron work.

As for the lighting, we added a ceiling box for the new chandelier in the sitting area and relocated two of the high-hats to be over the nightstands as well as an electrical box for sconces set into a custom mirror with a frame located over the nightstands - I think this large metal chandelier and matching sconces with their crystal flowers add some tropical whimsy to the room.

Throughout the interior design and home remodeling process, it is always a good idea to test your color choices. Below shows the drapery fabric with the new wall color next to the frame for the mirror and sconce. The green accent color is painted for the open ceiling medallion for the chandelier in the sitting area.

“Day in the life of an Interior Designer”

Thanks for visiting my blog “Mediterranean Design with a touch of Karma” and following my client's interior design and home remodeling project. 

If you haven't, please visit my previous blogs about this project (Blog #1 - Introduction) and (Blog #2 - Interior Design & Presentation) as well as the next blog (Blog #4 Before & After)

Thank you and please feel free to “Like” “Share” or “Comments” or “Pin”

Marcus Mars