In Part 2 of this blog series, we are going to share our interior design concept behind the entry way and formal living room for a home in The Woodlands.  This was honestly my favorite part of the whole project because it was a blank slate.  Well, of sorts; let me explain.

When you enter the front door, you are in one large area that is the entry, living, and dining room.  There are certain features the builder has used to delineate which space is which; however, it all blends into one large area for your eyes to take in.

Living Room and Entry

The living room is the room that had me most excited about this interior design project because it was a blank slate, for the most part.

Items that must stay:

• grandfather clock
• calacatta marble fireplace surround
• wood floors
• area rug (?)
• crystal chandelier in entry

Items that go:

• all furnishings
• art over fireplace
• musical instruments
• paint color
• oversized tree
• large ornate mirror in entry

Wish List:

• all new furnishings
• new paint color
• window treatments
• updated accessories
• update and refresh the traditional style with more transitional elements

The Design Challenge

The challenge in this space was two fold:

The first design challenge is that, yes,  the living room is technically a blank slate with all new everything basically, but due to the layout, it and the entry are also visually an extension of the dining room.  That meant that the Queen Anne style furniture that was staying in there would also be a driving factor in these spaces.  If you don’t know, or remember, what furniture  we are talking about, you can go back and read Part 1 to catch up.  🙂

The second interior design challenge was the area rug that already existed in the living room.  It was really where the gold paint color that was on the wall in all the living spaces came from. And it had a lot of green which made the red undertones in the wood floors more predominant, which we did not want.  Again, more about that in Part 1.   When we had our first design consultation, I was told that all the rugs in the home were staying because they had just purchased them a couple years ago.  So, I was prepared to keep it, but to be honest, not excited, because it did not allow for the softer, updated palette I had in my head.  But, I would make it work because it was mandated to stay, right???

The Plan: The New Rug

A little while after the first meeting, the clients contacted us to say that they had been giving second thoughts to the existing rug, and they had decided we could replace it.  Woohoo! We were in business, and we knew exactly what to look for in a new rug, a beautiful blue gray.  Our first design appointment was to decide on the area rug selection for that room.  I knew it would be the foundation of the whole design concept for the whole integrated space ; it would determine mood and color scheme.  The rug that was selected was the perfect shade of gray blue to blend with the existing rug in the dining room and transition into a cleaner, softer aesthetic that still had formal elements, but did not take itself so seriously.

The Plan: The Sofa

The next piece that needed to be selected was the perfect sofa to anchor the room, and I knew just the one.  The lines of the back of the sofa was the perfect nod to the top pediment design of the china cabinet and grandfather clock that were staying in the room.  But, with the casual cream linen fabric, nail head trim, and tailored skirt,  it was clean and fresh feeling.

The Plan: TheExisting Art

The other big decision made was to take the large, traditional floral art in the elaborate frame that was hanging in the dining room and move it to the living room.  We need each space to have the right balance of traditional with transitional.  The new furniture and casual fabrics in the living room have transitional lines with the grandfather clock and large floral art giving it the heavier traditional accents to balance with the dining room.

Design concept done, and it completely meets the criteria requested by the clients for their new space – to give their existing very traditional pieces they loved a new lease on life and bring them into the 21st century with a clean, fresh, and youthful approach.  To be honest, the sofa is my absolute favorite piece in the whole room.  With its beautiful arched back and casual cream linen fabric, I cannot wait for it come in!

More Plan Elements

Project Update

The rooms have been painted with Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray – and it is like a whole new house already.  It flows beautifully with the  calacatta marble around the fireplace and on the entry landing area look.

Be sure to read next week’s Part 3, where we will look at the interior design for the family room and bar.

Do y0u have rooms you need to update, but aren’t sure how to blend new pieces in with your existing pieces?  Do you know how to decide what pieces can stay and what pieces need to find new homes?  We know how to update your rooms and make your new pieces work together beautifully with the pieces you love.  Book a Complimentary Discovery call or Design Consultation today;  we would love to meet you and learn more about your interior design project.  We cannot wait to help you fall back in love with your home!