Having dismantled the guest bedroom in the basement for a pandemic-era home gym, Michelle Freibaum created a more appealing place to put up friends and family: under the eaves of her Newton Colonial. A serial reuser and crafter, the Embellish Design principal chose a favorite color palette — pink, yellow, and black — then gathered items she had previously cast aside. The new aerie is adored by all, especially her 10-year-old daughter. “She and her girlfriends love having sleepovers up there,” the designer says. “I make a big deal out of it so it feels special.”
1 Before she relocated the nightstands from the basement guest room, Freibaum painted the drawer fronts black. After searching far and wide for 1980s-style lamps, she found these online.
2 Freibaum painted the walls, eaves, and brick chimney Benjamin Moore Tippy Toes, a dreamy shade of light pink. She used a darker shade of pink, Benjamin Moore Tara, for the trim.
3 The headboard, upholstered in mustard-colored velvet, is a hand-me-down from the designer’s in-laws. “The headboard draws the eye back and then up, making the room feel spacious,” Freibaum says.
4 Freibaum trimmed the ceiling fixture shade with ribbon, found in her art studio, that she spray-painted black. “I don’t believe in waste,” she says. “I give everything a second life.”
5 The optic designs on the Schumacher pillows and West Elm duvet cover play off the lines of the headboard. The lumbar pillow’s abstract animal print and the Calhoun & Co. banana blanket are playful counterpoints.
6 When the designer found storage ottomans in a corner on the third floor, she quickly reappropriated them. “I planned to re-cover them at some point,” she says, “but the color and pattern mesh perfectly here.”
Marni Elyse Katz is a regular contributor to the Globe Magazine. Send comments to [email protected].
