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Designer Natalie Papier of Home EC. remodeled her family’s beige living room in North Carolina, adding ceiling-high custom built-ins painted in Sherwin-Williams’ Hyper Blue, chevron hardwood floors, and personal decor. The project, featured by Apartment Therapy, also solved the room’s toy and game storage problems.
Designer Natalie Papier of Home EC. transformed a “beige everything” living room in her family’s new North Carolina home into a colorful family hangout anchored by ceiling-height built-in shelving painted electric blue, according to a Before & After feature published by Apartment Therapy. The renovation, which included replacing stained carpet with chevron-pattern hardwood and tearing out three closets, also solved the family’s storage needs while giving her children a dedicated space after their move from Chicago.
The room before the makeover, in Papier’s own description, “had badly stained carpet, beige EVERYTHING, and zero personality.” It also came with structural quirks: a double-doored entry to the laundry room and three separate closets on the opposite wall. Papier said the existing layout would not serve her goal of giving her kids their own space in the new home and city.
The renovation proceeded in stages. Professional builders — hired out by Papier, who designed the built-ins herself — first removed the old carpeting and the three closets, then installed hardwood flooring in a chevron pattern. The freed-up wall became the site of the room’s centerpiece: custom built-ins reaching to the ceiling, featuring an arched accent at the top, a rail for a sliding wood ladder, and a combination of open shelving and enclosed cabinets at the base.
The signature color choice, Sherwin-Williams’ “Hyper Blue,” was a late decision. “I changed my mind on it up until the very morning it was painted,” Papier told Apartment Therapy. The surrounding design layers in that blue: a green-and-white snake wallpaper on an adjacent wall, vintage furnishings in orange, gray, and cream, and a globe chandelier replacing the original ceiling fan.
Why This Makeover Resonates With Homeowners
The project illustrates a recurring tension in interior design: neutral palettes are safe and widely recommended for resale, but they can leave family living spaces feeling impersonal. Papier’s makeover shows how custom storage built around a bold color can address practical needs — toy and game organization — while making a shared family room feel personal rather than generic.
The renovation also demonstrates a common trade-off in such projects: the closet removal sacrificed enclosed storage on one wall but allowed a full-wall built-in system that Papier says the family “can grow into.” For readers weighing similar changes, the project models how decisions like flooring pattern, wallpaper, and a single saturated paint color can visually unify a multipurpose room. Apartment Therapy did not list a project cost or timeline for the makeover.
From Chicago to a North Carolina Fixer
: “According to the Apartment Therapy feature, written by home editor Megan Baker Detloff, Papier and her family relocated from Chicago to North Carolina and purchased the home housing the beige living room. Papier runs the design practice Home EC., which she describes as focused on colorful, eclectic interiors — a stark contrast to the neutral state of the room she inherited.
Detloff, who has covered home decor and renovations for more than a decade at outlets including HGTV Magazine and This Old House Magazine, frames the makeover within Apartment Therapy’s Before & After format, which documents single-room transformations by homeowners and designers. The feature’s stated project details list the makeover as rental-friendly in skill level, though the involvement of professional builders for construction and flooring indicates the structural work was not a DIY undertaking.
Details the Feature Leaves Out
Several practical details are not disclosed in the Apartment Therapy report. The feature lists the project cost as “N/A,” so readers cannot gauge the budget for comparable custom built-ins, professional labor, or chevron hardwood installation. No timeline is given for how long the renovation took from demolition to completion.
It is also unclear how the removal of the three closets affected the home’s overall storage capacity beyond the living room, and whether the laundry room’s double-door entry was altered. The report does not address paint durability, maintenance of the open shelving, or how the bold color choice might factor into any future resale of the home.
How the Room Serves a Growing Family
Papier says the design is intended to be one the family “can grow into,” with enclosed lower cabinets absorbing toys and games as her children get older and shelf styling evolving over time. Apartment Therapy’s feature includes a shopping roundup of similar products for readers who want to recreate elements of the look, such as ladder-accessible shelving and statement wallpaper.
For homeowners considering comparable work — built-in construction, closet removal, or hardwood installation — the project’s use of licensed professional builders for structural and flooring work is the model shown here; readers should expect to consult contractors and check local permit requirements before removing closets or modifying walls.
Key Questions
What color was used on the built-in shelving?
The built-ins were painted in Sherwin-Williams’ “Hyper Blue,” an electric blue that Papier said she was uncertain about until the morning it was applied.
Was this a DIY project?
No. While Papier designed the built-ins herself, she told Apartment Therapy she hired professional builders for the construction, carpet removal, closet demolition, and chevron hardwood installation.
How much did the makeover cost?
The cost is not disclosed. Apartment Therapy’s project details list the cost as “N/A.”
Why were the closets removed?
According to the feature, the three closets on one wall were torn out so the wall could be used for a full run of ceiling-height built-in shelving, which now provides both open display space and enclosed cabinet storage.
Where is this house located?
The home is in North Carolina. Papier and her family moved there from Chicago before buying the house and renovating the living room.
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