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At designer Dee Murphy’s Los Angeles home, the 200-square-foot garage slowly morphed into a cluttered repository for... stuff. Originally built in 1920 as part of the eclectic French revival–style home, “It was a dark, black, dirty, drop-it-like-it’s-hot spot for anything and everything that my family couldn’t fit inside,” explains the founder of Murphy Design. Tired of a dreary, unorganized space, she decided it was high time to give it a total makeover.
Before
“I completely cleared out the space and painted the floor in a checkerboard pattern to get the ball rolling,” Murphy says. “I then worked with California Closets to come up with a design plan to build out a studio for my design samples, props, and materials, as well as a storage system on the flip side to hang and store sports equipment.”
Getting all of her family’s sports equipment off of the floor was an absolute must, along with incorporating multiple drawers and cubbies to store her samples. California Closets carved out every possible inch of space to make that a reality. Murphy put her own personal touch on the storage systems by mixing Nickey Kehoe slim towel rods (yes, towel rods!) with chunkier Mexican riveted pulls, which give the new units a slightly aged look.
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After
For the walls, Murphy knew she wanted to paint them a warm, mustard-like color and use blue wallpaper to give the formerly cave-like area a joyful air. She went with Farrow & Ball India Yellow and selected a wallcovering by Lake August called Matilika in Moonlight, which is what she calls “an ode to California hillsides in the summer, a theme I can always get down with."
A chandelier with a hot pink wicker shade from Kneeland Co. punches up the color in the room, perfectly contrasting with the black ceiling. Altogether, the storage space now exudes a cheerful, clean look with hints of travel-inspired motifs and old-world accents. “There is an actual space for everything, and it completely marries my ‘sport’ and family life with my design life,” Murphy says.
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