SoMoToHo Library Transformation Part 2

There’s that bit of wallpaper wrapping the light switch plate that we briefly considered leaving as a reminder of just how ghastly this room was when we started. That kind of kitsch can work sometimes. Not this time. We decided to go decidedly decorative with Legrand adorne. The wiring in the SoMoToHo is bizarre, as I’ve found is often the case in our transformations, particularly where dimmers are involved. (A pet peeve of mine – designers are mad about rheostats. I hate them.) As you can see by the round dimmer switch in the picture above, that was the case here. So, it took a lot of this:

And some of this:

But, finally, after only one broken switch and two trips to Lowe’s, we ended up with this:

Mega cool, as compared to the original, don’t you think?

In the original planning, we thought about building in floor to ceiling bookcases. While that’s absolutely appropriate – maybe even necessary – for a permanent library, we kept in mind the fact that we’re going to be putting this house on the market. New owners might want a little more flexibility in this space. Besides, Debra found a very cool piece of furniture that seemed to cry out that it had been made for this room. So we bought it, instead.

We had chosen the color for the room before she found the bookcase, I swear. Some things are just meant to be.

The next step was lighting. Primary illumination for the room is provided by pot lights. In the center of the ceiling, there was a small focused spotlight, probably used to highlight flower arrangements when the space was used as a dining room. Debra found a chandelier with just the right amount of funk to it and snapped a pic of me installing it.

The shades rotate. Since there was plenty of light from the recessed fixtures, we decided to point them up at the ceiling for reflected light.