How a Single Painting Unlocked an Entire Home Renovation: The Laurel Street Project

New Orleans Full-Service Interior Design | Before & After

Sometimes a project starts with a floor plan. Sometimes it starts with a mood board. And sometimes — the best times — it starts with a painting a client has loved for years and never quite known what to do with.

That's exactly where the Laurel Street project began.

The Starting Point

Our client is a mom raising two boys in a beautiful older New Orleans home. The bones were there — the high ceilings, the original wood floors, the character that only comes with age. But the rooms felt stuck. Beige walls, mismatched furniture, no sense of intention. The house didn't feel like her yet.

She wasn't asking for a dramatic overhaul. She wanted something specific: a home that felt happy. Comfortable. A place where her boys could live and she could breathe. Fun, but not chaotic. Cheerful, but still elegant.

She pulled out a painting she'd always loved and pointed to the colors in it. That was our starting point.

The Design Challenge: Color Without Overwhelm

Here's the thing about working with bold color in older New Orleans homes — the rooms are often smaller than they look. The charm of the architecture can make a space feel grand, but the square footage tells a different story.

We loved the colors from her painting. Navy. Forest green. Warm terracotta. Chartreuse. Rich, saturated, joyful. But dropping those colors onto four walls in a small room would have felt oppressive — like wearing a statement coat indoors and never taking it off.

So we made a decision that changed everything: we put the color on the ceiling.

The Ceiling Strategy

In both the living room and the dining room, we used the existing crown molding as a natural stopping point — a built-in frame that separates the ceiling from the walls. The ceiling got the drama. The walls stayed soft and quiet. The result is a room that feels layered and intentional without closing in on you.

In the dining room, a deep navy ceiling paired with picture-rail molding painted to match the walls transformed what was a pleasant but forgettable room into something that makes you stop at the doorway. We kept the client's original burl wood dining table — a beautiful piece that deserved to stay — and surrounded it with a mix of reupholstered chairs in varied fabrics and colors. No two chairs are exactly the same. All of them belong together.

In the living room, the existing white fireplace became a navy lacquered mantel — same color family as the ceiling, grounding the whole room. Rust-colored swivel chairs pull in the warmth. A gilded antique mirror adds the New Orleans glamour that a room like this earns.

Photo: Anna Addison Davis

Where the Fun Came In

The breakfast nook was our chance to really play.

This small room off the kitchen had gray tile floors, bamboo blinds, and the kind of cheerful-but-forgettable quality of a space that never quite got designed. We painted the millwork hunter green — doors, trim, ceiling, all of it — and added a bold chartreuse cactus-print wallpaper on one accent wall. The existing banquette got reupholstered in navy velvet. Rattan chairs came in for texture and lightness. The marble tulip table that was already there? Stayed. It was exactly right.

Photo: Anna Addison Davis

The room went from an afterthought to the most talked-about spot in the house.

The hallway got its own moment too — floor-to-ceiling wallpaper in a New Orleans cityscape print, navy and gold, wrapping around the original doorframes like the city itself was part of the architecture. Because in this house, it is.

Photo: Anna Addison Davis

What We Learned

Bold color doesn't have to mean bold walls. Some of the most impactful color decisions we make are overhead — on ceilings, inside doorframes, on the undersides of shelves. When you use existing architectural details as natural boundaries, color becomes a layer rather than a statement. It adds depth without demanding attention.

This house is proof that you don't have to choose between personality and livability. You just have to know where to put each one.

Val Spaces is a full-service interior design studio based in New Orleans. We work with homeowners who want their homes to feel like themselves — layered, intentional, and full of life. If your home has good bones but hasn't found its personality yet, let's talk.