Dawn and Erich Broksas purchased their custom-built Arlington bungalow more than three years ago but until they hired Whittington Design Studio to remodel the main level, the first room you saw upon entering remained mostly empty. Unsure of what to do with this extra room, interior designer Christen Sullivan decided to make a statement. “It’s an extra little entry room that wasn’t really being used for anything at all,” Sullivan said. “So we took it as an opportunity to make it a place she would use simply because she wanted to be in there. She would just walk in and fall in love with it. We made it a statement room.” Broksas loves the room so much that she admits to sometimes standing at the top of the stairs just gazing at it. “Our first goal was just looking for a non-empty room,” Dawn Broksas said. “We just wanted a space where there was no TV, a space where if we had all the time in the world we would curl up here and read a book.”

“The color palette already was there. She just wanted to bring in interesting elements that would make her fall in love with it,” Sullivan said.