Design Reveal: Family Home for Life to Happen

Well hello there! It is such a treat to get to share this home with you today - I got to work with the sweetest of friends and realized very quickly how kindred we are. After nearly a decade in their home, they came to the decision to stay put and continue investing in the roots they’ve sewn in their neighborhood and community. It’s a very similar story to what led Matt and I to add on to our home last year after 13 years in our house. Life is beautiful when we open ourselves up to the possibilities God has for us; I can think of no greater adventure!

My first reaction during the initial walk through was how heavy the home felt. The dark neutrals with very little contrast just made their main floor feel weighty. They desired something lighter, airier, and more conducive for their love of gathering friends and family.

Family Room

When all the elements in a home are of similar color and saturation, everything melds together and can look heavy. One of the biggest things we did was paint! Getting the walls a fresh, clean white allowed the colors we used throughout to really stand out!

Not the first fireplace I’ve re-imagined without a total overhaul. The ornate mantle was removed and replaced with gorgeous wood, and the ‘fluted’ sides were covered with a quarter strip of drywall and painted.

These clients gravitated toward a somewhat coastal color palette, specifically teal, coral, blush, mustard. To anchor this palette, the area rug makes for a vibrant element in the room that allows a lot of flexibility in branching off with surrounding textile colors.

I’ve really never gravitated to heavily filled mantles, but do enjoy using interesting pieces and balancing the visual weight!

While this family room really feels light and airy, using a variety of textures, materials and wood tones makes it feel so warm and inviting! Mixing pieces lends to such a casual vibe and I love the contrast among the main players in here.

Ready to see the pink dining room peeking around the corner?

Dining Room

The paint alone completely transformed this space. I mean, I feel that way with the entire home, but in here it’s incredible the difference! I chose the paint color first, fully recognizing what a massive risk it might be to recommend pink. But it totally works! It’s definitely unexpected and fun. We’re not taking ourselves too seriously here, which I just love.

Living Room

In this space I essentially wanted to swap the color on the wall for color in the furnishing! As you see this room right off the front entrance, using a stunning, but neutral wallpaper, with a vibrant teal velvet sofa and rich leather ottoman couldn’t be a better mix to draw you deeper into this home!

That’s a wrap! I always feel sentimental when a project is completely finished, but my motto over the years has become ‘a finished room is a new beginning’. My part is done, and now these rooms are ready for life to happen in all its wild and beautiful forms. Thank you so very much for coming by to check this project out! I’m grateful for you.

SMH in NYC: eDesign Project Update

Today’s the day for more PROGRESS!! I told you friends last week I wanted to start sharing and celebrating design project progress with you more often on here, so here we go again!

This apartment is in NYC right by Prospect Park. I can’t tell you how much I adore these clients, (and their sweet pup, who you’ll see with her friend in some of the pics)! When they gave me the initial walk through via video chat, it was love at first sight. Those arches, those windows, that molding, the floor! It’s different architecture than I’ve ever had the privilege of designing within before, so I was excited about that from the get-go. Take a look at these ‘befores’, (all photos in this post were taken by the client)!

BEFORE

This is actually a 4-room project: Entryway, Living Room/Dining Room, Office and Master Bedroom. This fun couple has traveled quite a bit and accumulated a collection of artifacts and pieces from around the globe. They expressed interest in doing some unique things in their home which I was really excited about! It’s always fun to work with others who have a vision and enjoy wandering off the beaten path a bit, stylistically. The trim was one of the first elements we discussed as an opportunity to do something a little different! I chose Swiss Coffee for the walls, (a StyleMutt Home favorite), and Clay Beige for the trim, (both by Benjamin Moore).

I am going to wait to detail out here the pieces we’ve selected, but it’s getting there! Now the space is ready for the next phase of it’s makeover - built-ins! I’ve been in touch with their contractor working on a built-in shelving design that will work with the structure of these walls. The TV will sit in the middle of the shelves and we’ll have hidden storage cabinets under the shelves…I absolutely cannot wait, it’s going to look SO GOOD!

PROGRESS

Hi, Nala and pal! Those faces…

The hallway was papered by the previous owners, and while the idea was splendid, the paper was not making any particular statement, (it was white and had a grayish swirl pattern on it). We loved the idea of something really bold that you’d see beyond the living and dining area, and this navy geometric does not disappoint. In a home that does not have an open floor plan whatsoever, one way to expand the size of any room is to draw the eye beyond the walls of the space. The images below are a perfect example of this!

We are working on selecting art, various rugs for the hallway and office, final details for the bedroom, and then we’ll have some shelves to style! We are using a very large triptych the client found from a street vendor in India over the sofa - oh my gosh, it’s going to be amazing.

Here is the rendering we used to show them the vision - cool piece, huh!

It reminds me a bit of when we used Ali’s Cambodian photograph over her own living room sofa, and then when she moved, over her dining nook banquette! I just adore large-scale pieces - especially when they have deep meaning to the client!

So we still have a ways to go, but this is some progress, isn’t it! The paint on the walls and trim is making me so ridiculously excited. I’ve never done white walls with beige trim before, and truth be told, there wasn’t a ton of inspo I could find as an example, But it just felt so right for this home and now seeing these progress shots they sent is giving me so much encouraging confirmation. I’m in love! It’s sophisticated and subtly dramatic - the perfect canvas for a home to a couple of globe trotters.

We are in cahoots over here on the finishing details for this beautiful home, and I am busting to share everything with you here and now….but I’ll refrain. Gotta save some surprises! Just wanted to share this exciting project in the works now because it’s making me too giddy to keep to myself any longer! I can’t wait to visit NYC soon to hug these fabulous clients and take all the fun pictures to share the final reveal with you! It’s going to be a good one, friends.

As always, I’m so grateful to you for coming by today!

@chelsea_stylemutthome

eDesign Reveal: Jess and Keith's Soulful Row House

Well this is a very special reveal, indeed! Remember last March when we welcomed a much needed addition to the StyleMutt Home design team? Well since then our girl Joy has been representing the SMH brand well, tackling jobs across the world in Australia and right here on our home turf. As we have learned since branching out to include design services, getting to actually see a finished job is a BIG deal! StyleMutt Home has been beyond blessed to work with many clients who are as passionate about seeing their homes transformed as we are, and we’ve had just the opportunity with a particularly fun client over this past year.

Jessica and Keith are a SUPER sweet couple living in a quaint DC row house on a street oozing with charm. When they came to us they had only been living there for a few months but had come a long way putting their style on their home. While their living room was more or less finished, (just needed some of those final details), their dining room was only just beginning. Let’s take a look at the ‘before’ shots they sent us!

Joy and I decided to divide and conquer on this project; I took the entryway and living room, and she tackled the dining room. Having two designers working on one home can be tricky because you really want to make sure that there is a consistent point of view from one room to the next. Communication from all parties involved needs to be tight, and I can honestly say this crew made it happen without a hitch. Jessica and Keith were amazing to work with, and Joy’s design for the dining room left me in awe. It was just so much fun! So let’s look around the finished home!

In the entryway we wanted to get things off the floor and hugging the wall. We swapped the coat tree for a hanging rack, and got all the shoes in a narrow storage cabinet on the adjoining wall.

The living room was so close when Jess and Keith came to us - they just needed a bit of advice for styling accessories, lighting, art and a rug! It never ceases to amaze me how a space suddenly looks awake! with just a few additions and styling!

The dining room, on the other hand, was closer to the beginning of its makeover than the end! (This would be a good time to jump back up to the top and take a look at the ‘before’ picture!) The only element Jess and Keith wanted to keep was the freshly painted accent wall, SW ‘Citrine Dream’. And after Joy took the reigns in here, I don’t think I’ve ever loved an accent wall more!!!

To point out the obvious first, the use of warm woods in here mixed with stark white and black pieces makes this bright color take on a highly sophisticated personality. A punchy color works remarkably well when the remaining elements are strong and LOOK expensive, (even if they are not).

Less obvious touches of brass and marble speak volumes in this multi-functional area, and prove that small doses of these finer materials go a long way.

An intentionally selected statement art piece doesn’t cower against the statement wall - anything softer would have been absorbed by the citrine color, but this piece pops right out - exactly what it was intended for!

It has been such a treat to get to work with Joy on this amazing home with these incredible clients. Everyone put in the time and effort to see this home to the finish, and we wish Jess and Keith the very best life together here.

So ridiculously proud to get to share Joy’s hard work here! It is truly a pleasure to have her on our team and I’m still pinching myself that we are lucky enough to offer her talents to our design clients. You can see more of Joy’s work on her site, Joy Lewis Design.

Thank you all so much for stopping by!

SOURCE LIST

Entryway hooks, Urban Outfitters
Entryway mirror, Pottery Barn

Living room shelves, Room and Board
Living room sofa, Crate and Barrel
Living room coffee table, West Elm
Living room drink table, West Elm
Living room chair, West Elm
Living room rug, West Elm
Living room sconce, Lamps Plus
Living room art, Laura McGuigan
Living room accessories, primarily CB2 and what the client had on hand

Dining room table, Overstock
Dining room chairs, Poly and Bark
Dining room rug, Overstock
Dining room chandelier, West Elm
Dining room art, Minted
Dining room shelves, World Market
Dining room white storage, IKEA
Dining room vintage storage cabinet, Craigslist