I've got some almost-finished pictures of a recent client's project. (I was too excited about some preliminary shots to wait until were completely finished to post!!) The client's name is Susannah and she is a bargain shopper!!!! She's amazing, and although we started out with a very reasonable budget, Susannah has cut that baby into pieces. She's an Ebay huntress!! Anyway, we're still on the lookout for the perfect coffee table and we're looking for something in brass & glass. I love this one (below) that belongs to Cassandra Lavalle of coco + kelly:
When I first arrived at Susannah's home, (below) she hadn't really done anything to her living room/ dining room yet. The other areas of her custom home are done very well, but she called me in because she wanted some help on getting these spaces pefect. She wanted a mix of vintage and new pieces, a warm palette, and a fun and aged, pretty-yet-comfortable feel. She loves a bit of old-fasioned but didn't want it to feel like grandma's house. We met & spoke at length about what Susannah was looking for. She gave me a nice big packet of inspiration photos. I went to work created a plan for the space that I thought she would love. Susannah would be handling all painting & installations, and most of the fabrications & ordering of the items specified in the plan (other than trade items). We started here:
...And pretending we have that lovely brass coffee in the first image ;) ;)..
Here it is now:
Although Susannah was open to purchasing a new sofa -as her kitty had gotten to it years ago when she first purchased it- I loved it as she did (it's my green sofa's red twin) and thought we could lessen/ fix the issues by clipping the pulls and removing the arm covers. (Saving money and leaving room for possible splurges in the plan.)
Here's another view of before:
And here it is now:
{The hooked rug was Susannah's dream rug and she found it on ebay for around $200!} we made it work for the room by layering a seagrass rug beneath it, adding size and creating another layer. Susannah painted the 8" stripes on the walls.
Below, check out Jonathan Adler's Kiki de Montparnasse vase, given to Susannah's husband by Jonathan's sister. If you look very closely you'll see what a lively conversation starter it is. (Check out a close-up here.) The floral Ralph Lauren fabric was a splurge for one pillow, but it was worth it- and worked in the budget because we'd saved so much by keeping the original sofa. --Gotta love self-justifications! ;)
We did a table skirt out of an olive green paisley linen and added pieces from her growing McCoy Pottery collection. (below) Susannah finds them on ebay and was only too happy to hunt for new pieces for the room. (I would say something like "We need a piece about this size {hand motions} to go here" and the next time I would come over, she'd gotten it!) The gourd lamps are topped with burlap drum shades.
{Ignore unironed tablecloth- I snapped this pic right after we'd put it on ;)}
Here's a close-up of one of Susannah's favorite family pieces- a little Boston terrier door stop that she remembers from childhood:
{I love him!!}
And I also love "odd chairs.": Chairs with character that just get squeezed into a room somewhere and make a place feel less perfect. This one was Susannah's mother's:
And now onto the dining room. Here's a before shot:
And here is is now:
The dining room is filled with newly-made Shaker pieces and has a bit more of a farmhouse feel to it. We're still working on adding some more layers to get it to where we want it to be. Susannah's mother made all of the curtains and pillows for the 2 rooms. (how awesome is that??) I think the subdued golden floral we selected for the windows really helped make this new house feel older:
There was leftover fabric from the Ralph Lauren pillow (an insane amount because of a sight flaw) so Susannah's mother was able to make slipcovers for a pair of chairs in the dining room:
How beautiful are these julep cups (below)?
Susannah's been working on filling up this custom made hutch with whiteware. It's mixed with antiques, thrift store finds and retails purchases:
When we're completely finished with all of the final details & layers, I'm having the rooms photographed professionally, so I'll be sure to repost then. Susannah's talented husband, Keith, was kind enough to take some pics of the rooms for me. (As you could see, mine were really grainy and I don't have a wide-angle lense.) They show how the rooms adjoin:
... Here's one last photo of Susannah & Keith's almost-finished living room:
Hope you enjoyed the tour... and thanks so much to Susannah for being such a Wonder Woman to work with!
xoxo,
Lauren
ps- Thank you so much to Michelle Morelan of A Schematic Life for the beautiful rendering she did of my living room!! (It looks even better in her drawing :) I am so touched that she thought to draw my living room.
