We first met designer Autumn Dawn at our “5 Minutes With” event at the Universal Furniture Designer’s Lounge at High Point Market in North Carolina. Designers were able to book an appointment with our Editorial Director, Kelli Lamb and pitch their work—whether it was a brand-new project or a summary of their portfolios. Autumn said she would be showing us a swanky lounge located on an award-winning golf course in Dublin, Ohio. Imagine our surprise when she said it used to be a “hot tub room”—complete with an indoor, in-ground hot tub. The transformation is, well, incredible. Autumn tells us more. 

The neighborhood boasts an eclectic mix of architectural homes curated to outdoor living—a gorgeous cape-style home located on the award-winning Arnold Palmer golf course in Dublin, Ohio. Our return clients are stylish and design-savvy with love for the color blue that reminds them of the ocean—dreaming of a room that feels like a swanky lounge vibe with a full bar to entertain after a round of golf—a jewel box drinking spot inspired by color. The jewel box had little wall space with doors on two walls and windows on the other. Setting up the room to be functional, scaled, and capture the views was the challenge. 

The 25×16 foot space had become a storage room that occupied one of the best views in the home, a prime view of the 4th hole. The “hot tub time machine room,” as we lovingly named it, due to an in-ground hot tub in the room, our vision and only dream was a space without a 5-foot deep in-ground hot tub!! 

Therefore, our jumping-off point was to utilize the angled walls that held two windows at 7 feet from the floor for the bar anchored with Calcutta gold inlay marble giving a luxurious focal point and art deco vibe. Building out the bar with custom cabinetry gave us the ability to not only create storage, a work area but also a standard serve bar for guests. Topping the bar with a leathered honed marble gives the perfect spot to create your favorite fashioned cocktail. The bar wall is lacquered in shimmering gold paint that adds visual interest and texture. A custom hand-painted blue ombre wall, marrying the color palette with a sleek ocean blue channel-tufted velvet sofa to the waterscape upholstered chairs and large-scale art. The ombre wall was our favorite piece of the project; creating it alongside the painter on sample boards first to ensure we loved the flow and color cascade was truly a beautiful process. Creating the wall gave us a backdrop for the TV that every bar needs. 

The overall timeline for this project was six weeks; who knew starting the project in June of 2020 would be delayed? We had delays on our cabinets for an additional three weeks. Our contractor Jovani Martinez did a great job getting us back on schedule. The swanky lounge bar took on a new life of design in ten weeks. Becoming what the client’s youngest son exclaimed when he first viewed as “dope,” we had a good laugh as he’s only ten years old. Our clients love their new bar hosting regular happy hours after a day of golf.