Interior decorating has been a passion of mine as long as I can remember.  One of my fondest memories of my childhood was rearranging the furniture in my room (I know… weird thing for a kid to love), which I did at least once a year.  And the few times my parents gave me the green light to actually get new furniture pieces and decor? You would have thought I was a certified interior designer!  So when my younger sister came to me and asked if I wanted to be her interior decorator/designer for her new space, of course I didn’t even think twice about it.

A little back-story on my sister’s space.  My parents bought a cute rancher a little over 2 years ago, and the previous owners had the two-car garage converted to a living space initially for one of their children and more recently for their parents.  The space was on the opposite side of the house from the rest of the bedrooms, and had its own full bathroom, entrance, and HVAC system. They actually had a mini-fridge microwave combo in there too, but took that with them when they moved.  It was basically a studio apartment for them. This space became one of the selling points for my parents in buying this house, because they and my younger sister saw the potential for this to be a private separate space for my sister. While the addition was nice, it was very dated with the carpeting, wall color, and trim.  Here are a couple of pictures of the space before.

  • “Before” view from the entrance
  • “Before” close-up of old bay window

  • “Before” view from the bay window

As you can see, the green carpeting and dark tan/yellow walls were not cute.  They also had a room-within-a-room, which limited the space layout options and blocked most of the natural light from entering the room.

My parents used this room as a storage for a while, and then as a guest room, and after living there for about a year and a half, my sister was finally ready to tackle the task of transforming this space to something she would love with my dad and my help.

My personal style heirs on the side of modern farmhouse with clean lines, neutral colors, and natural elements (check out my family room at my house here <INSERT LINK>), but my sister’s style is slightly different.  She likes clean lines and natural elements, but also loves pops of rich color. She showed me this blue color that she wanted to use in the bathroom (we revamped her bathroom as well, but that will be for a later post :-)), and it instantly gave me a Moroccan vibe. Thus, the theme and inspiration for her space became what we called Moroccan Farmhouse (totally made that up).

The first thing that we (and by we, I mean my dad) did in this space was remove the walls for the room-within-a-room and made it one large space with the exception of the bathroom.  Then, we moved on to the floors. My sister wanted the look of wood, but also wanted something that could be water and mildew resistant given that the space was once a garage. We (again, my dad.  Do you see a theme?) ripped up the carpet and had laminate wood-look planks installed. As for the walls, the yellow HAD to go! My sister jokes that I want to paint everything gray, and she’s only half wrong.  We picked out <INSERT PAINT COLOR>, which is a purpleish gray. It gave the perfect hint of “not gray” but also allowed for a neutral backdrop for her rich Moroccan accent colors to really pop.

My sister’s other must-have was a barn door.  Of course, she didn’t have to twist my arm to fit that into the design.  We found this great door from Home Depot, which came with all of the necessary hardware and finished it with Varathane Classic Penetrating Wood Stain in Golden Pecan.

From there, it was time to furnish and decorate the space!  My sister wanted to incorporate a few of her existing pieces (her bed frame, desk and desk accessories, book shelf, and recliner).  Here are pictures of the final space.

  • View of the room from the entrance
  • Seating Area
  • Seating Area
  • Seating Area
  • Bedroom Area
  • Bedroom Area
  • Bedroom area
  • Where the wall use to be
  • View of the space from the alternate entrance
  • Bookshelf Styling
  • Office Area

In the interest of really making this space a retreat for my sister, I envisioned having 3 separate defined spaces within the room: sleeping space, a sitting area, and an office area. It was also important to not make the spaces feel cluttered.  I think we accomplished this in my sister’s space. What do you think? Did we nail the “Moroccan Farmhouse” theme?

Sources:
Loveseat: Ikea EKTORP
Throw blanket: Ikea INGABRITTA
Pillow inserts: Ikea FJADRAR
Pillow covers: Ikea VIGDIS
Decorative cushions: Ikea RODARV
Coffee table: Ikea FJALLBO
Dresser: Ikea HEMNES
Sitting are rug:
Clock: At Home Shanty2Chic Metal Plank Clock
Wall art above bed: Big Lots
Nightstands: Ikea HEMNES
Comforter: Ikea TILKORT
Decorative bed pillows: Target Lace Trim Velvet Oversized Lumbar Pillow Teal – Opalhouse and Coral Velvet Fringe Euro Pillow – Opalhouse
Nightstand lamps: Target Table Lamp Base Large – Made by Design
Under bed rug:
Fiddle leaf fig tree: Ikea FEJKA
Tree basket: HomeGoods
Curtains, rods, and finnials: Ikea MAJGULL, HUGAD, and BEFOGAD
Curtain rings: Joann Fabrics
Artwork over the desk: Ikea PJATTERYD
Mirror: Target Wood Ladder Standing Floor Mirror Walnut – Threshold

If I forgot something, let me know in the comments and I’ll tag it if I can 🙂