Now that my home tour is live on The Everygirl, I am hoping to walk you through the design process of our house! Show you how we went from move-in to what it looks like today. First up the living room.

I walked you through the design plan for the living room here. But this will give you a better sense of the timeline and thought process behind it all!

BEFORE

This room was gorgeous to begin with and needed very little work. I recognized the layout as being similar to a traditional Brooklyn Brownstone and knew exactly how I wanted to lay it out the moment I saw it.

Things I wanted to change? The light fixture, the paint color. That’s pretty much it!

JANUARY

ONE DAY POST MOVE-IN

The landlord hired someone to paint the walls before we moved in – I got to choose the paint color and went with Ultra Bright White by Behr for every room in the house. Yes, that was my desk being used as a temporary dining table.

I realize the room already looks pretty good to go, and that’s because I designed our last living room around Ali Cayne’s living room, which has this kind of layout. So I already had most of the key pieces: a gold mirror, an English roll arm sofa, large art. We technically could have left it as this. If only I didn’t have biiiig plans for the space. Muhaha.

2 DAYS POST MOVE-IN: HANG ART

Art gets hung. I remember walking down the stairs in the morning, looking into the living room, and not believing we lived here because it reminded me SO much of Jenna Lyons’ home (even though hers is all updated and a bit nicer). I had a good sense I wanted the large modern art piece from Minted hanging to the right of the fireplace like in Lyons’ home but we tested it on the other side of the room, as well. And it was easy to hang the gallery wall to the left like in Ali Cayne’s home because it was exactly how we had it in our last apartment.

FEBRUARY

ONE MONTH IN: PAINT THE SHUTTERS

Had to happen. Made such a big difference! Just a Saturday DIY w/ Dan.

 

WOOD-BURNING FIRES ALL WINTER LONG

This is how we lived through March. We lit fires almost every night. We’d tilt the TV toward the couch to watch movies and shows. It was very cozy. (Note: the ceiling fixture was edited out of this photo.)

 

MARCH

NEW MIRROR ARRIVES

After living in the space for a month or so, it became apparent to me that the gild mirror we had was not working in the room. Don’t get me wrong – I love our Wisteria mirror – it now resides in our office – but I knew I wanted something larger and with a less saturated gold frame. But mainly larger. Anthropologie’s Primrose mirror was perfect–and can you believe this is the size SMALL of the Primrose mirror?! Look at the size difference. The new mirror is hands down the most complimented piece we own.

NEW LIGHTING

Hah speaking of that damn ceiling fixture. I hated it so much I would edit it out of photos like I mentioned above… it had to go.

Enter the chandelier. The cherry on top. The showpiece of the room and the item I knew the room needed before we even moved in. I was searching everywhere from various websites to thrift stores, eBay and Craigslist looking for a new or vintage chandelier to hang in here. It was so so tough to find one the right size and price. Fortunately, I was able to partner with the amazing team at Candelabra and they had the perfect piece.

NEW CHAIRS
or as I like to call it: a lesson in measuring

Needed to rearrange.

The sofa is the Rose English roll arm and is part of The Everygirl collection with Interior Define (yes–Danielle and I designed both these pieces! Makes it extra special to have in the room!). I knew I really wanted to incorporate our other collaboration design – the Caitlin collection – into the room as well so I ordered two Caitlin chairs to sit across from the sofa. I surprisingly went with a brown velvet (quartz) because I wanted a warmer hue for the room and a darker color I didn’t have to worry about.

What I didn’t think about what the size. I didn’t realize what a large scale chair the Caitlin is, so when both chairs arrived, they didn’t exactly fit where they were meant to go. You see, that half of the room is actually a bit more narrow due to duct work that was added and takes away about a foot of space. So the news chairs meant some rearranging. I moved the TV stand over by the sofa which worked and offered enough space for the Caitlin chairs. Voila!

Keep in mind anyone who sits in these chairs falls in love immediately – you can lounge sideways in them, or take off the side pillows and even fit two people for game night! They’re a fan favorite.

APRIL

NEW, LARGER COFFEE TABLE

Even though the new chairs fit in the space, the scale of them still felt large. I wanted to maximize the area of the room but that meant both the sofa and chairs were too far back from the coffee table for it to function properly (setting a drink on, eating off of, resting feet on, what have you). The solution was that we needed a larger coffee table – something to scale in the space.

I fell in love with this oversized coffee table from Candelabra–no coasters needed!–measured it and knew it would work perfectly.

HANG CURTAINS

The last thing I decided to do – and it was entirely based on this photo – was to hang curtains. The windows are so tall and lovely and there’s a lot going on in the space, I wasn’t sure it needed it. But when I found 120″ silk curtains on clearance at RH Baby, I bit the bullet. I already had the brass curtain rods from 4 years ago. Dan grabbed the ladder and up they went.

AUGUST

AND IT’S DONE

photography by Aimee Mazzenga

BEFORE/AFTER

 

SHOP OUR LIVING ROOM