Hello, Friends! I apologize for the delay in this Dream Room post, but I recently changed jobs and life took over. Now, that I am settling into my new position, I hope to be posting more often! Well, I know some of you out there want to read up on my style, or maybe just skip to the bottom for links to pretty things. Either way, enjoy my dream living room!
My design style features a mix of traditional and modern pieces, geometric clean lines, different textures, metallic touches, and a lot of throw pillows. Steven doesn’t understand the need for throw pillows, but I think they are one of those small details that make a home feel lived in and comfortable. I also design with a lot of grays and blues, even though I claim that my favorite color is red. Go figure.
So, this dream room style board all started with a pretty simple sofa that I have loved for a long time and would love to have in my future house. Steven and I are waiting to purchase large forever furniture pieces until we purchase a house and know the exact space we need to fill. This sofa will hopefully be one of those pieces.
When I design a room I work in layers. I start with big furniture pieces, because they are most important and define the space. I then pick out the accessories such as lamps, pillows, and draperies. I finally add art and select the paint color. You may think picking a paint color last is out of order, but I have my reasons. Just keep reading.
Working in layers helps me dissect the room into smaller more manageable pieces. I would advise you to do the same when working on your space. Designing an entire room can be daunting and overwhelming, but when you break it down into layers it makes the task much easier.
So, once the sofa was picked out I went on to finding the other “big” pieces for the room. The chair, rug, coffee table, media cabinet, and end tables. These are the pieces that help define the room, and looking at these pieces separately you might be confused on what style of room I was trying to create. For instance, by itself, the chair is a more traditional piece, but paired with the modern gold drum end table it doesn’t come across like it would in your grandmother’s living room. Here the chair blends well into the whole mix of traditional and modern pieces.
Then mixing pieces of different styles, like traditional and modern, it is best to make sure there is balance in the room. It is better to have more than one modern pieces or that one gold drum table might look really out of place. Bringing in the hexagon end table and clean line coffee table, help balance out the more modern elements in the room. This was also achieved on the traditional side of the equation by using a more traditional looking media cabinet to balance out the wing back nail head trim accent chair.
I then went on to find my rug, which helps anchor the room and adds a plush texture to the room making it feel comfortable. Before the rug all the pieces were very hard (the tables) or flat clean lines (sofa and chair). Texture is your best friend when designing, because it is an easy way to create depth and add interest to the room. For example, if all of the tables were just metal pieces, the room would come across as a little harsh and uninviting. But when you add the wood tops to the tables and bring in the wood media console it softens the room and adds warmth and depth.
To bring in more texture, I add draperies and pillows. I don’t think there is a sofa in this entire world that looks comfortable and inviting that doesn’t have pillows. They are a necessity. Pillows are also an easy way to bring in color to the room, especially when you are working with more neutral large furniture pieces.
Another easy way to bring color into the room is through the art and accessories. I chose to bring color into the room with the teal fabric on the chair, the art, pillows, and blue glass lamp. The other accessories are more metallic. I think metallic accessories add a dose of sophistication and a little glamour to a room. Plus, who doesn’t love shiny things?!
The last thing I pick out for a room is the paint. I know you want to know why this is the last thing, especially when it is the element that is used most in the room. Walls are the biggest surface in the room. I pick the paint color last, because it is the one thing that has literally a million options. You may find one sofa you love, or a fantastic piece of art that you can’t live without. Then those things are the focal points of the room. The paint is just a background that you want to work with those can’t live without pieces. You can find a color that will work well with your art or sofa, but it doesn’t always work the other way around. Don’t limit your design to working with the paint on your walls. Pick a paint that works with your favorite pieces.
After, I finished this dream living room I showed it to Steven and said, “this actually looks a lot like an upscale version of our current living room.” He agreed, because we do have dark wood furniture, a teal accent chair, metallic accessories, and a plethora of throw pillows. Steven then mentioned that when we are ridiculously wealthy we can upgrade to the pieces I pulled for this board. Yes, please! For now, I guess I will have to live with a hand-me-down sofa and walls that I can’t paint.
Now for the sources! Well, at least the sources for the items I could find again, weren’t a random pin, or from a source that is “for the trade” only. Sorry, peeps. A perk of being an interior designer is the inside sources! Anyway, you can shop for any of your favorite pieces below! [no affiliate links here, just stuff I loved for my dream space]
Gray Sofa / Accent Chair / Gold Honeycomb Table / Faded Metallic Gold Pillow / Geometric Metallic Gold Pillow / Teal Geometric Pillow / Gray Pillow / Hexadomes / Coffee Table / Gold Hexagon Table with Wood Top / Pouf / Rug / Recycled Glass Lamp / Media Cabinet / Silver Filigree Jar / Mirrored Tray / Draperies
