Living Room: Fireplace w/ yellow paint samples at left

Living Room

Living Room: Staircase & Front Entry

Dining Room

Front Porch

I worked with Sarah this spring on the redesign for her upstairs bathroom. Now that it is finished (I know, I still need to shoot the final photos), I am helping her with her downstairs.

Current Issues:

-The Living Room feels dark (partially because the front windows are adjacent to the screened in front porch). There are also no windows on the staircase wall.

-The Living Room couch is very dark (and well loved by Stanley, their cat).

-The narrow screened in front porch makes furniture placement difficult.

-The Dining Room is a little boring and could use a new light fixture and some accents to brighten it up.

-The current Dining Room color is almost exactly the same as the Living Room wall color.

Goals:

-Create a color palette for the first floor, including wall colors and accent colors.

-Brighten up the Living Room.

-Highlight Sarah’s beautiful and eclectic art collection.

-Find ways to use Sarah’s vintage accessories and furniture.

-Look for a new modern, comfy and affordable couch for the Living Room.

-Look for a mirror for the stair wall in the Living Room to help reflect light.

-Look at options for additional Living Room lighting.

-Look for new colorful accessories to complement the spaces.

-Find a new light fixture for the Dining Room.

-Rearrange the furniture on the porch. Possibly add an indoor/outdoor rug or paint a rug on the concrete floor.

Process:

We are still early in the process. We spent a good bit of time trying to decide on a wall color for the Living Room. We looked a series of yellows (both citrus and golden) to try and brighten up the room. None of the selections seems quite right. So Sarah asked me what I thought of using white. I usually reserve white for trim and accent, but I had to agree with her that white might just be the perfect choice! This way her artwork could be center stage and we could maximize the light in the space. We also decided to leave the Dining Room its current green which pairs nicely with the pinky/terracotta walls in the kitchen.

She has a lot of great antiques and vintage items that I think with a little bit of rearranging will look great. She also already has a lot of beautiful artwork, which I think helps make the decision of white walls the right one. The beautiful painting over the fireplace contrasted with the print over the couch is quite nice. She even has another modern print (in yellow) that we can add next to it.

Here is my first round of marked up photos and potential products:

Living Room Mark Up

Stay tuned for more details!