It’s natural to think of home and garden as two separate entities with a strict boundary in between. But linking indoor and outdoor spaces, even if it’s only a tiny garden or terrace, makes an interior feel larger. With the exterior connected to the house your eye sees further and a garden-facing room appears larger.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am an outdoor person, and I love spending time in my backyard. When the weather is warm outside, my living room doors leading to the terrace stay always open, so it was about the time to start thinking of setting up a sitting area next to my living room.

I furnished this exterior space as I would do an indoor one. I started by adding two comfy lounging outdoor chairs, then used indoor poufs which were slipcovered with an outdoor fabric, added a lot of cushions for extra seating and grouped them around a large coffee table. To tie the space together I added an existing outdoor sisal rug, and also used small side table as extra space to keep drinks to hand.


With the living room doors left open to the terrace, the home felt bigger and brighter, and we got to enjoy both places throughout summer.



Are you an outdoor person? Do you spend a lot of time in your backyard, deck or terrace during the summer? Do you decorate your outdoors as you would indoor spaces?



Love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you for reading this post.

Besa

My niece is a busy bee. She is an university student, soon to graduate on two majors Accounting and Finance, so if she is not in a class or at the library studying for her exams, she will be either at the gym lifting weights, boxing, running on treadmill, or taking a class on advanced flute lessons. When at home she will be in the kitchen preparing her vegan recipes, and sometimes even developing some delicious ones to suit her very sophisticated taste for vegan food!

Being busy took its toll on her room! Even though with the help of her mom (my sister) she changed the look of her room several times, she was never quite happy with its overall look; but she new that one day I will be visiting her so I will give her room a quick makeover (…chuckles…).

So that day finally came this spring when I visited my sister and her family.

During this visit we undertook several projects: kitchen project; living room styling project, termostat cover project and the project of repurposing the dinning room into a multifunctional room.

The niece’s bedroom makeover was the last project in line and, judging from my niece’s reaction after the makeover was completed, I must say that it was the most successful project of all.

I suggested to start with changing the layout by rearranging the bedroom furniture.

Since the bed is the most important part of the bedroom, it is a good idea to get it in place first. Generally, you’ll want to put the bed against the wall opposite the door or the largest wall with no windows. So this is an interior design guideline that you may want to follow when designing a bedroom, and this is what my niece did previously!

Well, as you may see it did not work, especially not in her small bedroom!

While planning for the layout, I found a perfect spot for the bed that made the most sense to me. After making sure that the wardrobe doors (which we planned to place against the wall where the bed was previously) can be smoothly opened and closed, I suggested that the bed should be placed under the window, and I was so happy that my niece liked the idea.

The two existing shoe cabinets, for those extra shoes that we all have were placed, opposite the bed and above them we framed my nieces favourite pieces of art, one being the her caricature made by (if I can recall correctly) her friend.



For her books, reading material for her studies, make up items and other bits and pieces I DIY-ed this shelving cabinet which had been sitting in their basement and they were planning to give it away. I painted horizontal dark grey stripes all the way dow at the backing of the shelving cabinet and added some more shelving boards. After the makeover, they were happy that they didn’t give it away.


The little desk area was painted with a dark grey colour and I placed a picture shelf where my niece would put pictures that meant a lot to her as well as an interesting and lovely poem that was written on spot especially for her.



Her bed had no bed frame so to dress the bed up a little bit, I custom made a bed skirt which I attached it on a mattress box.

Lastly and most importantly, according to my niece’s specific requests I custom made her the drapes for the bedroom window. We found this pretty yellow patterned fabric designed by Nate BERKUS, which is my niece’s favourite designer.


She requested that the drapes should be black-out lined; a very important feature for her sleep. Having the black out drapes you have to open and close them depending on the needs, so this wouldn’t work with her bed placed under the window. So instead lining the drapes with a black out lining I mounted the black out roller shade under the drapes so this way the drapes will remain untouched while she will operate the shade to accommodate her sleep.

To make the window look taller we installed the shade just a few inches below the ceiling and right at the same level we installed the curtain rod. This small detail changed the whole look of the room. After being dressed up with drapes and the shades this rather small window looks much taller now, and it really makes a statement in the room.


So as a conclusion this was a very fun and low cost weekend project where I got to spend a lot of time with both my sister and my niece. We worked perfectly together as a team; my sister painting the desk area wall and helping to install the shade and the curtain rod, my niece rearranging the furniture, decluttering and freeing up the closet space by giving away almost all of her clothing, shoes and so many other items that she was no longer using but she couldn’t make that decision to let those things go; all this while I was working on the bed skirt, sewing the drapes and DIY-ing the shelf, and of course making those important design decisions (…chuckles…)

I am so happy that after all the work we did together and after I styled the room at the end, it looked so perfectly put together and it seemed and felt much larger than it really is.




My niece loved it, and she is loving it every day more and more, so I couldn’t be happier too. I love my beautiful, smart, hardworking, dedicated, responsible niece so much, so I love to see her happy because she deserves it so much.

Thank you for visiting this blog and checking this post.

Besa

Working in the field of home styling for a few years now, I am constantly approached by clients who are faced with decorating dilemmas as the time to move into their new empty place, be it a house or an apartment, approaches.

That’s because decorating a room or the whole place completely from scratch is intimidating! You have no where to start and yet so many choices to make.

When I design a room for a client, I sometimes have the same dilemma. I have a completely blank canvas with endless possibilities.

So, how you can get started? More often than not, I personally start by using a piece of artwork as a starting point. For this styling project I DIY-ed this Brushstroke artwork, and this is one of many which i did so far my styling projects. If you look closely to this painting you will see there is a dark grey and beige colour brushstroke. I wanted to emphasise those colors in the painting, so I used them for the upholstery and the neutral colour rug.

Choosing a rug at the beginning of the styling process is a good idea, and then proceed with choosing the upholstery which creates contrast or mixes well with the rug.

In this rom I used the neutral sisal rug which mixes well with everything, is easy to maintain and, the best part, came with at a very affordable price.

As this place was a rental, I couldn’t change the paint color, but when choosing a paint color while decorating from scratch, you may want choosing it at the end.

You may think that the best time to pick a paint color is at the beginning, but I prefer choosing it at the end. Why? It’s easier to pick a tone to complement your entire furniture collection than the other way around. Pick paint samples and look at them against the furniture you’ve chosen until you find the perfect match. Examine them against fabric or material samples to make sure that everything works together. If you can, get sample pots and paint a small square on your wall to look at under different lights throughout the day. Each paint will look radically different under natural light than it does on a paint chip.

Next step is to start shopping for pieces you love, starting with the biggest ones first. It’s easier to place smaller items in afterward than the other way around. In this small living room the biggest piece was the couch.

Lastly, add in accessories in your space as you create layers that will make it feel lived in.

The styling project for this rental property was done on a very tight budget, however it turned out nice and the renter loved it.

Are you planing to soon move in into a new apartment or house but when you think about decorating it from scratch, you get overwhelmed with options and decision? Are the following questions such which paint color should I choose; should I get a sectional or three-seater sofa; what size rug do I need constantly bugging you? You are not alone, and that is OK! There are plenty of others like you who are intimidated by the process of decorating a place from scratch! Many, gain confidence and get through the process but the others who don’t, they consider engaging professional styling services. We at BESA GM Interiors specialise in such services and, we would be happy to help you decorate your space. Contact us via e mail besagmblog@gmail.com or social media Instagram @besagm and Facebok BESA GM Interiors and we would be happy to help.

So here it is the look of the empty room:

And this is how it looks after being styled on a budget:

Thank you for checking this blog and reading this post, check back again for more interesting topics and interesting before and afters.
Besa

It is no news that people live more casually today than they did when formal dining rooms were put into homes.

If you like the idea of inhabiting every room in your home rather than setting aside a formal space that is only used a handful of times a year, than this post is for you.

This space used to be a formal dinning room which was used during the holidays, and on other rare family occasions.

However, the family needed more storage space as well as an extra guest bedroom, and a reading corner so this former dinning room was an excellent solution to fulfills all those needs .

With all these needs in mind, I designed a space that altogether provides an extra multipurpose storage space for the family, a stylish day bed suitable for an afternoon or weekend readings, shelves for displaying artwork, memorable souvenirs and books, and a space which, at the same time, serves as an extra bedroom for those out of country guests.

To enhance the storage space we purchased and assembled the IKEA PAX wardrobe frames (35 cmm wide) and used FORSAND doors which luckily were on sale for $50 including the soft closing hinges.


For the stylish daybed I used the existing single bed frame, and added a long board at the back frame to create a backing support for multiple custom made pillows, which are now also part of @besahomeaccessories summer collection 2019.



To provide a space for storing books and souvenirs within this small room I added a set of shelving which the family already owned and they were sitting unused in the basement. In front of these shelves I placed two existing stools which I “topped” them with stylish tassel pillows from @besahomeaccessories. Beside providing extra seating space, these stools also added a ton of style, and make this room such a neat looking space.

I also aded a rug, which is highly resistant on stains and dirt and can also be easily cleaned up.

To add a splash of colour I purchased 6 meters of quality drapery fabric in turquoise colour, and custom made two panels which now grace this beautiful window against the daybed.

To address the privacy issues, in case the space is used as a bedroom, there is a cotton curtain which covers the opening of the dinning area that leads to the hallway. When not in use, the curtain is tucked away at the side of the wall opening and it even

This multi purpose space now, which was originally dedicated as a formal dinning room, has been transformed and adapted to how this family really lives, and they are now able to use all the square footage they have.

I really love how this space turned out, but happier than me is the whole family who gets to enjoy this fun, modern and fresh looking space.



Is your square footage used according to your needs and lifestyle? Is there any space in your home that is not being used at its full potential, and you would like to change that but you don’t now how, or you do not have time to tackle such a project? Well, you are not alone! There are so many people just like you that let valuable square footage get “waisted” by sitting unused or getting that space piled up with unused stuff, thus making the space looking messy. If this is a case than consider hiring professional services that can repurpose your unused spaces. We at BESA GM Interiors provide such services, including decluttering, organising, accessorising and styling. You can contact us via e mail besagmblog@gmail.com or via social media accounts Instagram @besagm and FB fun page BESAGM Interiors.


Thank you for checking this post, and visit again for more interesting topics and new Before and Afters.

My sister’s living room is not a spacious space. Moreover, in one of the living room walls there is a door that leads to the basement as well as a small corridor leading to the powder bathroom and the mud room, so it really gets complicated to come up with a good furniture layout.

Her existing furniture was purchased based on the current needs of her family and, at this time, she did not consider changing the furniture or the layout, so this made the small room styling process even more difficult.

However, her living room needed some styling and I was prepared to take this challenge. In fact, my sister was saying that, her living room was begging for something to be done. She admitted that the lack of style in her living space was having a terrible effect on her mood.

This is an open concept space divided by an open wall, and it is adjacent to the kitchen which underwent a successful facelifting process just few days beforeI I started to do the styling of this room.

The first thing I considered before I started the styling of this room was to address the curve shaped design on the upper parts of the built in shelving around the fireplace, as these made the space feel a bit dated.

As an efficient fixing route I suggested that we should find a very thin wood board, paint it in the colour of the shelving and glue it on top of the area we wanted to cover up. This worked perfectly fine and the shelving instantly changed for better. It is all in small little details after all.


I used various existing decorative items and some books to style the shelves around the fireplace. Also, we purchased two huge clear glass vases in which I placed some branch clippings from a tree in my sister’s garden. This added texture and interest around the TV area. After I left, the branches were blooming fresh leaves throughout and my sister said the whole scene above the fireplace looked even better.

The next thing that I suggested was purchasing an area rug.

Because of the busy lifestyle of this family of five, which until recently they also had a beautiful and big lovely dog, and in order to make the house errands more manageable and efficient they went bare floors for quite some time.

However, in order to create style, add some texture to the space as well as to make the room feel larger, I suggested that the room will definitely need a large area rug so we got one Costco, and it instantly brightened up the room.

USEFUL TIP: While rugs are a must for a stylish living room, they should still match the size and style of the space.
Small rugs imbalance the room, so when purchasing a rug you should consider a rug that’s so big that the front feet of all your lounge room furniture are placed on it.
This provides balance and creates zones for your room, and will also make it feel larger too.

Luckily, there was an existing glass-topped coffee table in the living, something that I would suggest for a small living space

USEFUL TIP: Pairing a glass-topped coffee table with a patterned rug will create the illusion of space, while allowing the rug to shine in all of its glory.

And lastly fresh flowers always make the space feel crisp, stylish and happy, just like this living room looks and feels now.


Does your living space looks dull or outdated and you cannot afford a major renovation? Styling it differently, changing the layout of the furniture, a new fresh coat of interesting paint colour may do the difference without spending a lot of money on renovation. You can do this yourself or you may consider also consultation with a designer or stylist regarding the colour scheme, furniture placement, shelf styling and other tricks that may be used to bring an outdated and dull looking living room from drab to fab! BESA GM Interiors offers such consultation services so write us at besagmblog@gmail.com and we will take it from there!

BEFORE & AFTER PHOTOS

Thank you for reading this post, and check back again for more interesting postings and space makeovers.

Besa

No matter how comfortable the rest of a house might be, everyone loves to meet in the kitchen be it for a tasty meal one just made, or just for grabbing a cup of coffee and catching up with the other members of the family. So, no wonder that everyone likes to have an organised and a pretty looking kitchen where a family can enjoy meals and time together.

However, as the time goes by, once pretty looking kitchen becomes dated and not so fresh looking anymore. Renovation of any kitchen, be it the smallest one, costs a lot so DIY updating it in some way is an easy and non costly option.

My sister’s kitchen is an old builder grade kitchen of a good quality. Originally, it was an oak kitchen or a wood stained in oak finish which 10 or 15 years ago everyone who had one of those kitchens started hating its colour, my sister being among the first ones.

She started hating its colour so much at the point that she couldn’t live with it anymore. Of course, renovating the kitchen wasn’t an option for her so I suggested her to take a paint route.

At first she thought that painting a kitchen was a huge and tedious job, so she wasn’t sure whether she could do it herself. After some words of encouragement by me and her strong will to make things happen, I convinced her that she could do it herself and suggested the paint colour, DARK BROWN.

This was almost 10 years ago, when dark brown kitchens were trending. Her kitchen turned great in that colour then, it looked so updated and modern at that time, but sory, not anymore in 2019.

Sooo it was that right time now for another paint job and for some refreshing colours in her dark brown kitchen; therefore, here is now my sister’s facelifted kitchen with colours that have brought such a positive feeling and happiness to the family members and who can’t wait now to wake up and enjoy a morning coffee together before they all leave for work or school.

It all started as soon as I arrived at her home, for a lengthy visit this time! We immediately started talking about the kitchen makeover project, and came up with a colour pallete, as well as things that have to go, what stays in the kitchen and what should we get new for this project. We also allocated the budget of 200$, and luckily we were only a few bucks over the budget!

We got rid of the old kitchen table and chairs and bought an IKEA round table and slightly used set of six quality chairs which I DIY the seats to fit our colour scheme.

Getting rid of the kithchen light fixture which was really an eyesore in this kitchen was the first thing on my sister’s list, so this new spider shaped fixture that we purchased at the Home Depot, at a very affordable price, brought the whole new look to the space.

Navy blue seat covers really complement the kitchen island, which frankly was one of the kitchen parts that was kind of begging for a makeover, and I had the pleasure in painting the kitchen island.

I applied one coat of primer and two coats of paint throughout the surfaces that needed to be painted, and the island was transformed completely and turned gorgeous after installing modern hardware which we scored at a price $2 each! The rich navy paint and modern brushed steel handles made this island the star of the kitchen.

My sister did the painting of the kitchen cabinets. My brother in law and nephew helped with unscrewing the hinges from the cabinet doors, and this step really helped for an even application of one coat of primer and two coats of paint. At the time we did the painting, the weather outside was most of the time cold so most of the paint job was done in the kitchen.

In addition to changing the colour of the kitchen cabinets to light grey with blu undertones, we also changed the handles on the upper parts of the cabinet doors, which were purchased at IKEA, and we sanded the existing ones to achieve the brushed steel effect.


So in this kitchen now there are mixed and matched handles throughout, and the end result is great; the kitchen doesn’t look boring and old, instead it feels fresh, clean and so much fun.

For the kitchen window I also designed and sewed a curtain panel which I attached it to the existing roman shade and it functions perfectly and looks so crisp and stylish. The white fabric used for this project is high quality cotton with black out backing. The middle yellow stripe is a fabric that is sewn on top of the white one and it really makes this roman shade so special and unique.

So here are some more pictures which are not high quality ones; they were taken with my I phone 8 Plus as I did not have my camera with me.




Does your kitchen looks outdated and you cannot afford a major kitchen renovation? Consider a kitchen facelift with paint and new hardware. They will do the trick and you will fall in love with your kitchen again! Consider also consultation with a designer or stylist regarding the colour scheme, hardware and other tricks that may be used to bring an outdated kitchen from drab to fab! BESA GM Interiors offers such consultation services so write to us at besagmblog@gmail.com and we would be happy to help!

Thank you for reading this post, and check again for new interesting postings!

Besa

Thermostats!!!!! These eyesores which we find in almost every home! Due to the nature of this device it is recommended to be mounted in a plain sight, in a common room, at eye level. This makes it pretty easy to notice this unsightly device and make you yearn to have it gone: but, getting rid of this incredibly functional device is not an option, so the best solution is to, depending on the situation, find a smart and attractive way to cover it up.

Since moving to her house years ago, my sister was always bothered with a small wall in her hallway which was full of switches , thermostat and other devices. These few last years she kept saying that she hated that wall, and tasked me to come up with a solution for this awkward device situation on her hallway wall.

For the time being, my sister and I live in different parts of the world so this spring I flew over the Atlantic to spend some time with her and her family. Despite having a super fun time together we also engaged ourselves in numerous projects in order to make some of her spaces more functional, and updated.

In today’s post I will be sharing the DIY thermostat cover which we did together and which turned out beautiful. This made my sister supper happy and her hallway now looks supper cute and appealing.

To make this device cover we started with a large piece of canvas print which my niece had in her room for a while and which she wanted to get rid off after reorganising her room. I thought that we could use this canvas in one of our projects, so I prevented my niece of donating this item (and many others) to the second hand store.

After deciding that we will be using this canvas print for covering the devices on the hallway wall, I gave the canvas five coats of white paint to cover the previous print and then, together with my sister, we proceeded to built a wide frame around the existing stretched canvas print frame.

We used plain MDF base board to build the frame. My sister did the cutting with the mitre saw and I attached the cut pieces with screws along the existing canvas frame and added a string wire for hanging.

After this was done, the next day I painted an abstract art using the brush stroke technique which I am fond of. My sister and her family loved the way the painting turned out, and I liked it too. I did several similar paintings in some of my styling projects and they all turned very nice so far.

So after hanging the painting, AKA the Thermostat Cover, this is how my sister’s little hallway looks.

The DIY built frame and DIY painting made to cover the eyesores on the hallway wall transformed this boring little hallway into a very elegant space. This space is ready now to greet and bring a smile to everyone’s face who enters that front door.

Do you have similar eyesore that is bothering you and you do not have time to deal with it? Contact us via e mail besagmblog@gmail.com or via FB fun page BESAGM Interiors for consultation. We would be happy to find a suitable solution for you.

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER pics which we all love checking:

Thank you for visiting this blog!

Besa

No room is completed without decorative pillows on a sofa or a chair, and everyone knows that pillows are a great decorative element by which you may inject style and colour to a space.

I love using pillows, by the way a lot of them, in my styling projects, and I am sure that I am not alone. Homeowners and designers alike often face difficulties finding the right mix of pillows which can make their projects look perfect and stylish. Sometimes you need patterned ones, sometimes the project calls for some textured ones, or the right mix of colour and pattern, and the combinations may be endless.

Having difficulties to find, right away, the envisioned mix of pillows for my ongoing styling projects I started to design and make my own pillow covers so this is how besagmhomeaccessories line of products was created.

This line is still in its baby steps, but I am working hard lately to hopefully bring this line on its feet soon. I am frequently adding different designs to the collection and they are being featured in my Instagram page @besagmhomeaccessories, so I kindly invite you to follow this account to check new interesting designs which are handcrafted with love in our workroom.

One of the latest designs is this rectangular pillow, the front of which is decorated with black chenille yarn.


It is unique design which adds texture to a sofa or a chair and it pairs beautifully with other textured and patterned pillows in my living room sofa.

Thank you for visiting this page.

Besa