Client Work Series – Linda’s Living Room

I told you yesterday that I was going to begin sharing some client work, so here it goes.

This project took almost a full year and was a whole house re-do.  The client got my name from our local Benjamin Moore store who has sent business my way from time to time.

One thing I have learned in meeting new clients (although I always forget!), is not to have any expectations because the job and the people are never what you expect.  Not necessarily in a bad way (with the exception of the time I had to leave a client’s master bath because I was feeling itchy and she indicated that was “the bug problem” they were having!), just always different from what you expect.

When I walked into Linda’s house I had the most physical response to a house that I have ever had.  The house was built in 1981 and everything was exactly as it had been from the beginning.  This house needed some love and light.  Where she was living was not matching who she was.

I thought I would start today with the changes to her living room.

Here are the before and afters:

Before

After

Here are some side to side comparisons:

We left the mirror on the wall for two reasons.  One it had sentimental value. Two, it did a great job of reflecting light into the room.

 

We took away the heavy and dated draperies and replaced them with a lovely shade of blue in dupioni silk which added a little bit of elegance to the room.

The upholstered furniture was old, tired and not laid out correctly in the room.  The new sofa and chairs are by Temple.  The coffee and side tables are actually what she had, they just look much nicer with the room pulled together.

On the long wall where we removed the couch, I placed a set of three prints from Ballard Designs.

Removing the heavy credenza and replacing it with two new chairs and the existing side table made the room much more inviting.

She had a keyboard and TV in the corner.  The TV was moved to the family room, but she wanted the keyboard to stay.  So, I just worked with it by placing a runner and some accessories on top.  A room still has to function for a client, even if it is not the prettiest thing.

  

It is a little difficult to see, but the tile in the entry was very dated.  We replaced it with a neutral tile in a mixture of sizes in a random pattern.

The biggest changes were to remove the wallpaper and the carpeting.  Hardwood floors were underneath, but unfortunately we still had to replace them because there was so much pet damage that had seeped through the carpet over the years.  The wallpaper was replaced with a soft neutral beige paint and a large area rug was used on the hardwood floors.

Here are some other images of the room:

I absolutely loved the mirrored tray on the coffee table.  It reflects so much light and adds just a little bit of “bling”.

Oh, and when you see my living room pictures, yes, that is my embroidered pillow.  At the time we had not yet found something to work there and it needed a little extra something for the pictures.

This table is in the corner behind the couch.  I struggled so much with this area because the budget was D-O-N-E.   One day when I was there working on stuff I went and “shopped” her basement.  Wouldn’t you know this table was buried under a bunch of stuff not being used.  She as so please for it to find a place in the room.

I will continue to share additional rooms from this completed house.

If you would like to learn any more information about how I started my business, you can read about it here.

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great day!

Laura