At the end of May the general manager of Grand Hill, Kristy, called me because she needed me asap. I was like uhm, I don’t know if I can make it right now. She was like ‘Please make the time. I’m going bonkers’. Okay, so those weren’t the exact words, but there was a rush behind it.
I’ve known Kristy now for 2 years. She got a referral about me from an acquaintance and we got in contact. I got introduced to a young woman that was running an elderly day care center. I was impressed, because you don’t see that often. She really has a great love for the work she does and from that moment I knew her, she wanted the elders to feel at home at her place. At that moment we talked more about her company and what she wanted to change for the interior and I also learned that she did wall murals. So after our first meeting I also hired her for three of my projects to do murals. Fast forward to 2019 and we finally get a chance to work on her project. And I have to say it was worth the wait. From a daycare center for the elderly, to now a assisted living resort for the elderly.
Back to the call from a few weeks ago, they needed me to give them color advice for the exterior of the houses. The group was a bit divided with all colorful houses or just all sleek white with touches of pop up color. I had to come put an end to their color crisis…ahahahhaha.
First concept was that all the houses were like a super light grey and that the porches will get a pastel color.
Well, that didn’t go well the first round. Back to the drawing board. And I had just a day to figure it all out. I was walking in my living room, going outside, get some fresh air and got back behind my laptop to come up with a second version asap.
Their inspiration was our colorful Pietermaai District. Which of course is a great place to walk around and absorb the colorfulness. But for this place I didn’t want to go overboard with the colors. I didn’t want that every block would have another color. It would feel like a playground for little kids instead of a home resort for the elderly. So, I decided that the pastel colors that I used previously for the first concept will be used again, expect the colors would be more vivid and the colors would repeat themselves. That would be more relaxing to see when you are walking around.
I got an email from Kristy the next morning that everyone loved it. I was soooo happy. It’s always nerve-wrecking when you send out a concept idea and to get the first impression wasn’t the one you hoped for.
Two weeks later one of the partners contacted me for something else. They wanted to stage two of the homes for their first open day in two weeks. EEEKKKK! That sound I make (inner scream voice, cause no one will hear it. Maybe just see it from my facial expression.) when I’m excited and have a anxiety attack at the same moment.
I basically had freehand to do it how ever I wanted, but with some pointers to remember that it’s for the elders but their children should also be impressed when entering the homes. They partnered up with Building Depot (which is a home depot here on the island of Curacao). With some delayment from the contractors I had some serious pressure. I planned my week out and went shopping in Building Depot. The contact person at Building Depot was Karl Felida, the sales account manager. This was the sweetest man to work with. He saw me bit to much these past two weeks…hahahhahaa.
I wanted to keep the base calm. They already added a warm, light cream color to the walls and the color of the floor tiles was a perfect match. Color would be added by decor and furniture.
ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT
When I saw this piece of furniture I just knew how I wanted to make a color scheme for the homes. That piece of furniture was the soft green-blueish chair. At that moment I knew that the pop of color in this home was going to be green, in all shades possible. This matched perfectly with the exterior color, as here the color is a blue-greenish color. I wanted that color to flow into the home without going overboard with colors. That’s why I also didn’t want to add colors to the wall in this space.
Where I decided to add color, was in the walk in closet. I had the opportunity to add some extra touches to the show homes. I designed the floating shelves in the walk in closet. The contractor finished it off nicely in the end. I didn’t want the shelving to stand out, so I told them to paint them the same color as the wall. Making the space look even bigger. On the other side there’s the clothing rack.
The color in the walk in closet is Serendipity PPG 1230-2 from PPG Paint.
I opted to hang roller blinds instead of long curtains. The reason was because the space is quite small and has several windows and a sliding door. By adding a neutral cream color that was hanged inside the window frame, it make the rooms look brighter and more tranquil.
Little touches like the bathrobe, plants and baskets made the house a home.
TWO BEDROOM APARTMENT
For this home I wanted to add just one wall with a light peach color to the space, because there were more walls here. The exterior color of this house is orange, so I wanted to bring that color back into the interior but of course in a more light way. The material and color combination here, is: wood, black steel, pastel peach, grey and elements of copper and gold.
It took me a while to find the right color curtains. I found first the roller blind that I put in the kitchen and that matched perfectly with the color on the wall, but I didn’t want to bring that color roller blinds in the bedrooms. So I went searching for some other colors to combine with the color scheme in the living room.
The color on the wall is Shrimp Toast PPG 1197-4 from PPG Paint.
In the second bedroom I wanted to add an extra color that goes well with orange. And that of course is my favorite color: YELLOW!! The curtains are a darker yellow (in real life they’re a bit like brown yellow or mustard yellow) and adding some extra pieces with color to brighten up the room. Not going overboard once again, yet keeping it colorful and relaxed.
In the bathroom I added touches of gold and bronze. Once again goes great with the orange and gives it an extra touch of elegance.
Seriously, I’m very grateful for every opportunity I get to share my creativity and expertise of interior design. I’m so happy that everything worked out the way I wanted it to and that the client and the guests coming to the open day were happy and impressed with the outcome.
It’s awesome to hear one daughter tell her mother that the mother needs to sell all her furniture so they can buy all the furniture exactly how it’s presented. Was funny to hear but at the same time I knew then that my job was done right.
How do you like the end result? Do share with me in the comment section below.
