Thanks for visiting the Lake County YMCA Dream House. We hope you got lots of ideas for your own home! If you’d like to incorporate some of the ideas from the laundry room and/or foyer into your décor, here’s how we did it:

The Laundry Room

What a fun room to have created and designed! I loved taking the concept of “the new traditional” which was the theme for the Dream House and showcasing my interpretation of the theme. You’ll see lots of “old” things used in new and fun ways in this room.

To get this look in your own laundry room, think outside the box. This laundry room is the “anti-laundry room” in many respects. Forget the boring white cabinets and bland countertops. When creating your version of this room, select finishes that you’d see in a more upscale room in your house like the kitchen or dining room.

Another thing that makes this laundry room different is that I didn’t do the traditional gardening theme or cute wallpaper border with hanging clothes. Been there, done that! My goal with this area was to make it a mom’s room with style & personality. Let’s face it; did we really need two walls of cabinets with doors? Having the open selves gave us the opportunity to display items you’d see in a laundry room in pretty bottles and baskets. We still have plenty of room for the plastic bottles of detergent in other cabinets.

Displaying usual items like clothes pins in unusual containers adds the unexpected to the room. The “Mom’s Taxi” chalk board is a perfect piece to tuck on the wall as you enter. Instead of using boring utility room hooks, I selected beautiful antique hooks from Ballard Designs.

The apron playfully displayed on the dress form is from www.sassychefaprons.com in San Diego, California. A talented designer I worked with when I lived in San Diego creates these limited edition aprons that are works of art. Again, we have the twist on the traditional – these aren’t your grandmother’s aprons – they are fun, sassy and sophisticated.

Shopping Guide

The Foyer

Many of the choices in this area – wall color, trim color, flooring and lighting - were all pre-determined when I was given this space to decorate. The lead designer selected these items because they run throughout the house. In many ways, this is similar to what happens when I come to a client’s house. They usually have things like flooring that can’t be changed. This presents a fun challenge when it comes to design.

Because we have tens of thousands of people coming through the house, we can’t decorate it the way you might do your entry way at home (for example, you might notice there are no area rugs or runners in the foyer hall. This is because they are too hard to keep clean with so many feet walking on them). Safety is always an issue and concern. So, I had to get creative!

Please note that the wall color has a pink undertone to it. If you are considering this color for your own home, make sure to check it against your flooring. You don’t want it to clash with your carpet!

In keeping with our theme, I opted to use a bench ottoman in the foyer as opposed to a traditional table with lamp and flowers – that would just not have reflected our “new” traditional. You would expect an ottoman in a living room. I liked using it in the foyer because it’s very functional, which today’s families need. The bench ottoman is the perfect place to sit down while putting on your shoes – the space underneath is also a practical area for the kids to put their shoes when coming in through the front door.

I loved using the “Established” graffiti in the foyer. We’ve seen such plaques on historic homes around Lake County. What a neat way to commemorate the 2007 Dream House and to again reflect our theme of the new traditional.

Lastly, the wrought iron pieces add great line, distinct contrast and definition as well as a wonderful graphic quality to the foyer stairway wall. They are simple and give us the clean line that makes this house the new traditional.

When selecting pieces for your own stairway walls, I think it’s best if you can stay away from the straight lines of the typical picture frame. It creates an awkward line against the angled wall of the stairs. In this case, we used the palm leaf sculptures which were hung to reflect the line of the stairs. Good design always keeps “a clean line”.

Foyer Shopping Guide