Katie Phillips
Fun Fact: over the summer I decided to give our 2 bedroom condo a long overdue living room refresh with my friends over at Apt2B (hey Arlyn!). This was the one area of our apartment we weren’t allowed to paint, so rather than take my own advice and design for where I was, I did close to nothing… just some light styling. A few months ago — long before the house we just bought was on my radar — I talked all about how I had a change of heart to ultimately design around the paint colors. So to make sure this happened, I partnered with one of my fav e-tailers to bring my design ideas to life, finalize the details, and proceeded to wait. — and I was warned about production and delivery delays, especially for the sofa, so I’d mentally prepared to get my pieces in November. I was able to easily update my shipping address — about as easy as it was to shop for the living room in the first place — and when it was time to schedule delivery, everything was already set.
While the catalyst for the refresh was to work with our apartment’s paint colors, it wasn’t the only deciding factor. The sofa fabric — Cloud Velvet — is one that I knew will work in nearly any space, almost like a neutral… just a little bit more fun.
After weeks of it hanging on the living room wall of the apartment, it was my Goldilocks color; and it even stood up to my coffee, water, wine, and juice spill tests. So all that being said, in an effort to make our pre-move purchases work, here is how the living room in our new home turned out: Sofa | Magazine Holder | Coffee Table | Black Tray | Wall Mirror The peripheral pieces were chosen for their utilitarian purposes, as well as for their beauty — the accent seating featuring an upholstered cushion and metal & wood frame would make for the perfect quiet corner, the leather & metal magazine holder perfect for firewood logs in the winter and maybe actual magazines the rest of the year.
Then a bench & mirror combination together would create a faux entryway situation since we didn’t (and still don’t) have a foyer. from Lulu & Georgia for the perfect rug on rug…on carpet throuple (don’t worry…we’ll be talking about that later in another post!
Coffee Table | Faux Cow Hide | Black and White Striped Rug
It allows you to play with color, pattern, and texture in a way that can tell a visually compelling story. — the entire vibe would be different & I’d likely rethink layering in the hide rug; but the combination also positions the sofa to really stand out as the only “colorful” piece in the space without competing with the wood tones threaded throughout the design details. There are some more finishing touches I plan to implement over time, not to mention some more substantial changes like removing the carpet, dealing with the popcorn ceiling, updating the window treatments, adding lighting, and painting…of course!
Being able to prioritize and discern the pace of the living room is rejecting “project pressure” at it’s finest, especially since we had very ambitious plans to paint and have the carpet ripped out prior to moving in. Seeing the space now, from what the owner’s had, to being unfurnished for nearly a month, to what I was able to pull off in 24 hours — legit, we photographed the day after delivery — makes me appreciate these humble beginnings even more.
