Are you a colorful person living in a boring beige house like the homeowners in this fabulous project?

It’s actually not uncommon for folks to have spaces that seem to directly oppose their personalities. Sometimes that happens because folks fear truly embracing what they want, or worry that they won’t like it after taking the leap. Other times it’s as simple as them not having the time or resources to figure out how to bring the recipe together.

Not having the time to figure it out was exactly the obstacle facing this client. She *knew* what she wanted – a pink couch! – but between raising the kids and working a full time job, she needed help creating a recipe to make the dream come true!

As soon as we heard she wanted that pink couch we got SO excited to help – that idea was SO “her!” and we knew we could figure out a way to meet her goals AND finally get that pink sofa of her dreams!

What were the key goals that our designer Shannon needed to meet for this project to be called a success?

• • Finally accomplish the client’s 2016 #LifeGoal: Get a pink couch! 💕 Better late than never, right?
  • Create a truly joyful space that’s colorful and bright!
  • Expand the flexible living and seating space in this petite living room
  • Tie in their *awesome* existing items:

• • • Her hubby’s cool vintage avocado green TV
    • The mid-century hutch that doubles as slim storage for their record player
    • Her vintage table lamps
    • Their newly purchased Ethan Allen dining set (deep wood with powder blue seats)
    • Their quarantine-purchase fig tree (who doesn’t love a new quarantine family member?!)

 

Before the makeover, the clients were living in a Very Brown Room.

Technically everything matched, and the room was impeccably tidy, but everything blended into everything else, and felt very flat:

 

After the makeover the room feels light, fresh, and airy!

Gone are the tan walls and brown curtains, replaced with pale blue paint and soft white drapes. Wallpaper on the ceiling adds surprise and whimsy, and both the thriving fig tree and the fabulous vintage TV show up as artful features in the room!

 

Before, the wood door and trim, brown fireplace tile, brown radiator cover, and tan sofa and walls were all one note, much too heavy for this bright, vivacious family.

It’s not that brown is a bad color – but when everything is the *same* color (and this would be true of *any* color) the whole room tends to feel flat, boring, and beige, even if it isn’t technically beige.

 

Repainting the walls and fireplace (notice how we updated the fireplace tile with a warm greige paint?) not only lightened up the whole room, but also turned the beautiful wood door and mahogany trim into a feature, instead of “just one more brown thing in the room.”

A couple pink accessories like the art on the fireplace and the candle on the mantle ties in the pretty pink couches and boosts that feeling of joy in the room!

 

Before, the tan sofa they’d had since 2003 was taking up too much real estate.

The chunky turned arms of the sofa minimized instead of maximized the seating in the room, and made the room feel more crowded than it was. They’d known they hated it for years, but were too busy raising the kids and working to make time to rethink the space on their own.

 

By choosing sofas and chairs with track arms instead of rolled arms Shannon helped maximize the amount of grown-up seating in the room, making room for *two* pretty pink sofas, and two comfy chairs! A joyful living room indeed!

Minimizing the scale of the sofa also left room behind it in the “entry” for a wonderful console table with drawers for each family member, reducing the chaos and clutter of coming home!

 

So did our designer Shannon nail all the key goals of the project?

✓ Finally accomplish the client’s 2016 #LifeGoal: Get a pink couch!

✓ Create a truly joyful space that’s colorful and bright!

✓ Expand the flexible living and seating space in this petite living room

✓ Tie in their *awesome* existing vintage TV, awesome hutch, beautiful vintage table lamps, and fig tree

All that was left was making sure the design tied in the deep, rich wood and powder blue upholstery of their newly purchased dining set and, again, I’d say Shannon #nailedit! 👏

The same powder blue walls echo the soft blue upholstery and offsets the rich deep wood in the dining just like it offsets the rich mahogany window trim in the living room. The same whimsical ceiling paper connects the two rooms, and encourages us to look up at the gorgeous original light fixture over the dining space. The tiny touch of pink in the dining fixture also ties the dining space into the living space, making the whole space not only feel more joy-filled, but also bigger, cohesive, and intentional. #goalsmet

If you feel like there is a mismatch between your environment and your sparkling personality, it’s not too late to make a change! Just bringing in a fresh paint color, or finally taking the leap to buy a boldly colored sofa can shake things up in your home and your life, and give you something to look forward coming home to – a space that truly feels like YOU!

Not sure where to start? We’re here to help! We can help you design a whole space through our Works projects, or just help you get some momentum through a Quick Action Session or virtual Design Helpline. We can’t wait to hear what would make you feel Seriously Happy at home!