Since I came to the United States in 1995, I have been dreaming to creating a traditional Moroccan room and to fulfill part of my culture that I have been missing. In 2005, my husband and I decided to pursue my dream. I created the space’s vision and the rest was history. The Moroccan living room ended to be my very first custom designed project I have ever made, which gave me a glimpse of what an interior designer’s work would be like.
I created the room lay out, came out with specs , searched and acquired material, and finishes. My family and friends helped me bring the living room to life.I was playing a role of a designer and everyone else was sort of free workroom expert. My husband and I painted the mustard walls; my mother had custom sewn day beds upholstery fabric to my specifications; my brother built the beds’ frame and corner side tables; my Moroccan friend made the sheer draperies and helped me upholster the rest of the beds’s base.
Regardless of all the help I received, I still had to do lot on my own. I learned how tedious designer’s job can be. I did quite a bit of searching, shopping, purchasing, sewing, and upholstering. it made me respect the expertise of the trade and designers. Many elements were bought from different part of the world. I had bought the Belgium plum velvet fabric from my previous job (Lee Jofa at the Boston Design Center); I bought the wool rug from Stark with the help of an old friend; I purchased most of the antique accessories with the help of mom and my aunt in Morocco. I bought pillows’ trim from Dubai while visiting my sister. I also received several unique Moroccan decorative accents as gift from family and friends.
Even though this room is outdated since my design style got evolved to simple modern eclectic Moroccan/global, it is still standing in my house to these day. I have hard time changing it, due to many memories. Who knows, i may restyle it one day.