The She Shed

Striking Gold The Wilderness wallpaper by Ferm Living draws reflected light onto the back wall, and its repeating format supplies welcome texture and satisfies the homeowner’s request for gold. Photography by Emily Minton Redfield.

WHAT The transformation of an empty, barn-like, 800-square-foot space above the homeowner’s garage into a dedicated gal palace for sewing, yoga and hanging with friends.

WHY “I work four days a week,” says this Front Range homeowner. “I have no creative outlet whatsoever in my job. I needed a place to be alone and decompress at the end of the day. And my husband has this great paneled office. So I was like, ‘I want a big space; I want my own space; I want to make it girly and pink and gold and pretty.’”

Elbow Room “I like that everything is out,” the homeowner says. “In my old place, I had only a little room. So I would have to bring everything out and put everything away. And now, to be able to go from the ironing board to the cutting table to the machines and have it all out all the time is really nice.”

MISSION The homeowner tasked designer Susan Hall of Buttercup Home Custom Interiors with creating a haven that is simultaneously a personal office, sewing room and girls’ hangout spot. “[The homeowner] is a warm, bubbly, busy person with limited alone time, so she knits and sews to relax. She loves her girl time.”

HOW “Susan helped us do a lot of the other rooms in our house,” the homeowner says, “so she started to figure me out. I told her what I wanted, and it came together really fast.”

DESIGN CHALLENGES There were two tricky aspects to this project. “First, the door that leads up to the barn was especially narrow, so we couldn’t fit a full-sized sleeper sofa—or any sofa, for that matter—through the door,” Hall says. She found a solution in an Ikea modular sectional packed down to the right dimensions. It arrived in a flat box and was assembled inside the room. Second, the space is long and cavernous, with walls that start to bend around 5 feet up. “I knew it needed sections dictated by activity to break it up,” Hall says. “Her three sewing machines look great in a line atop Scandinavian-looking tables, with soft, pink chairs. And using two large rugs (in pink!) warmed up the room with texture and further allowed the two purposes to be separate in function but cohesive in look.”

Sweet Finds Ikea’s Kivik sectional is one of the few couches that could fit up the narrow staircase leading to the room. Above it is art from Boulder artist Abby Johnson, who is also a friend of the homeowner. The Kaira rug from Arhaus warms the floor.

SUCCESS “I spend all my time up there,” admits the homeowner, “including doing yoga there every morning.”

DESIGN DETAILS
INTERIOR DESIGNER Susan Hall, Buttercup Home Custom Interiors BUILDER Dave Garner Boulder Valley Builders