MARCH 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 59
INSIDE JOB
DREAM ROOMS MAKING THEM REALITY
BY ARLENE GROSS
If you’ve always dreamed of a special
room designated just for you or your
family, dream no more. Creating a room
that can serve as a sacred space for hobbies,
passions, and favored pastimes is
easily attained.
The first step in approaching any
room design is to consider the room’s
function, says interior designer
Dawn Totevski of Sayville-based Design
Inspiration. Once you know the
functionality, you can determine the
need for seating and storage. Secondly,
decide on a style and a vibe, advises
Totevski.
“Is it Bohemian? Is it modern? Is it farmhouse?”
she asks.
To grasp the style her client’s going for,
Totevski saves images to Pinterest that
capture an array of styles.
Next, Totevski prepares a couple of
fl oor plans from which the client can
choose.
A MUSIC ROOM
For a client in East Islip with two elementary
school-aged children, Totevski
designed a music room where the kids
take lessons and practice their guitar
and drums.
“She wanted a designated place for them
to practice and for them to learn, so that
everything they needed was there and
accessible,” Totevski explains.
To tackle the challenge of guitars which
were taking up lots of floor space,
Totevski commissioned Barricelli
Custom Woodworks to create a custom
wall-hanging piece of stained, rustic,
reclaimed wood planks, to which they
added guitar hooks. If, one day, they
redesign the room for another purpose,
the piece can easily be removed from
the wall.
“We did a Bohemian look,” says Totevski.
“We have some leather and a rawedged
coff ee table, a fun black-and-white
geometric rug and some really bright,
bold colors on the paintings that we had
custom painted by a local artist.”
The room also has a casual, slipcovered
loveseat and leather pouf for both seating
and decor, and a drum kit and music
stands.
Designing the room to grow with the
kids, Totetvski says, “Everything in
there currently would be cool for a
teenager, too. It was really funky and
fun.”
Totevski endeavored to make the space
inspirational, so that the kids can have
fun, even when they’re practicing.
“The colors are vibrant and motivating,”
she says. “It’s just like a fun, really
cool lounge.”
SPACE FOR SCRAPBOOKING
Scrapbooking enthusiast Leane Paul
decided to create a room over the twocar
garage of her Coram home dedicated
exclusively to her hobby.
With a framed-out room, Paul enlisted
her husband and his friends to insulate,
install sheetrock, and paint the walls.
Aft erwards, they added carpet and an
air conditioning/heating unit.
“And he built the cabinets that are on
the one wall,” says Paul. “And just over
time, we kept adding pieces to it.”
Along one wall, there’s a series of wooden
cubes where she can place diff erent
scrapbooking items.
“I have a scrap rack sitting on top of a
table that has lots of supplies in it,” notes
Paul. “We also put a television and a
couch up there, so in case he wants to
come up and hang out with me while I’m
scrapbooking, he can sit on the couch
and chill out, or if the girls are here, we
can have the TV on in the background.
With eight additional 4-foot-long folding
tables, the room can accommodate
an octet of her scrapbooking pals, and
also houses the scrapbooking albums
she’s created, tool kits, magnet boards
and a mini-refrigerator.
Scrapbooking Room photo caption/
credit: A scrapbooking room is where
memories are made. Courtesy of Leane
Paul.
Bright geometric
rug goeswell with
musical sounds.
A customwood
piece holds guitars
and clears flflflflflfloor
space.
Music room seating.Courtesy of Design Inspiration.
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