A Designer Transformed This Narrow Room Into a Venetian-Inspired Study (It Looks *So* Much Bigger Now!)

A few autumns ago, our interior design studio, CASA Angulo, was honored to take on the task of decorating a space for the Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse. Ours was a small, narrow room (just over seven-and-a-half-feet wide) located on the very top floor of a historic Brooklyn townhome; it was, at the time, serving as a child’s room. 

My vision for the space decidedly did not include bunk beds, though. Right off the bat, I envisioned the room as a dramatic, Venetian-inspired study. From that inspiration point, I quickly got to work on the plans. 

Despite its narrow footprint, the study’s ceilings are quite high at over 10 feet tall. They felt almost disproportionate to the rest of the room, though. Plus, the semi-decent natural light from the single window wasn’t really doing much to help the issue. Somehow the room still felt dark and restricted. 

When it comes to small spaces, I always focus on accentuating their more flattering characteristics. In this case, I knew it was essential to somehow emphasize the room’s height. And to do that, we decided to go bold. 

I took inspiration from Renzo Mongiardino, an architect of illusion who had mastered the art of transforming rooms on a decorative level. He could make a space feel larger and more grand without ever needing to open up a wall! That was a challenge I couldn’t wait to take on in this small space, and so I began using decorative decisions to my advantage to do just that. 

For such a tall ceiling, the crown molding was very short. So we started by adding an additional half round bead six inches below the crown to fake a larger molding. This helps draw the eye up.

But the drama didn’t stop there. We then got to work painting the ceiling and crown molding in a high-gloss chocolate brown: Benjamin Moore’s Classic Brown (2109-10). When wet, it looked like melted chocolate! But it proved to be just the right dose of decadence once dry. 

The cocoa color juxtaposed with the creamy white walls, coated in Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee (OC-45), provided strong contrast in the space. The high-gloss paint also added a reflective quality that helped make the room feel larger and airier. 

After seeing the effect this molding trick and paint job had on the space, I got another idea to make the room look a little wider, too. We worked with a local custom glass company in Brooklyn to fabricate nine mirrored panels that ran three-quarters of the length of the left wall. 

The mirrors reflect and amplify the light — and actually make it look like there’s a second window in the space, too! Suddenly, the room felt flooded with daylight. For a glam finishing touch, we added vintage bronzed daisy rosettes to the mirrors similar to the Venetian glass floral rosettes found at Palazzo Gritti. 

I’m so proud of how the study turned out. You can hardly tell it’s the same room — but aside from adding extra molding, it was really all in the decor! Light, off-white drapes mounted at the ceiling help further “extend” the height and add to the airiness of the space. A beautiful shearling sofa softens up the lower half, and an antique secretary desk makes it really feel like a study. Finally, we added a beautiful wall-hanging tapestry and vintage rug to tie it all together. 

The decorator’s “tricks” I used are classic tools that people (from Venice and beyond!) have been using for centuries. I return to these principles time and time again, and would encourage you to try one or more of them the next time you’re faced with the task of making a small space feel spectacular.