Design Advice: Designing Around Quirks

After leaving the nest of your parent's home, you no doubt will live in multiple temporary residences. These rentals may include dorm rooms, apartments, condos, townhouses, duplexes, single family homes and maybe even the occasional house boat! Knowing that you are merely passing through and living on an intern's budget, you might end up with a place that has any number of quirks --- a random column in the middle of the living room, a few bricked in windows, yellow shag carpeting, a second story kitchen, windows that look straight into the condo (namely the bathroom) across from you. The horror stories are endless!

The bedroom below is a great example of celebrating and disguising one particularly common addition. Between the intricate bedframe and gorgeous artwork and fun use of color, did you notice that there is an extra door behind the headboard? It nearly melts into the wall completely and the turquoise outline cleverly draws the eye to the headboard, which we are all in awe of, and you forget there is a door there at all! Brilliant!

If you are a renter, you might feel that there is always SOMETHING that seems to deter you from creating the perfect room. If you are looking to purchase your first home, you really never know what "custom" (read: HILARIOUS) design choices the former homeowners are going to throw at you. The key? Have a plan and be flexible.

It can be a pain for most, but as someone who feels the need to live in a new space every year, I have come to enjoy working around these fun little quirks. I have also found that when done right, they can really add an extra layer of personality to the space. Anyone can design a plain white box, but it takes real talent and imagination to figure out how to celebrate or hide those architectural elements that cannot be changed as a temporary tenant. 

What is the weirdest design element that you have designed around? How did you hide or celebrate this potential eyesore?  Leave me a comment below!