Spacesha: Making a house a home

Here's my latest ongoing decorating project. I collaborated with some good friends on their new home. It has been the most fun I've had so far in my decorating career. It feels wonderful to be able to teach people about their spaces so they feel empowered to continue decorating or evolving their spaces even after I'm not involved. That's what it's all about.

My good friends bought a new home for their small family a few months ago. With this move they decided that it was time to leave all of their hand-me-down miss-matched furniture that they didn't select and didn't really like. That was a big risk and it meant that they'd have virtually no furniture for a little while. They asked me to come on board and help them furnish their new living room, kitchen, bedroom and patio.

Things to consider when working with this space:

The room has very high ceilings with incredible period deep relief crown molding, marble mantle pieces, wide plank wood floors, great light and a modern kitchen. With some of these elements came some challenges.

First, the bones of the main room are formal and my friends are very casual and have a toddler. So how can we honor the room, but make it livable for a family?

Second, the main room was originally two rooms each with a marble mantelpiece and chimney. How do we work with two mantle pieces (two focal points) in this now joined space? How do we work with this narrow rectangle that needs to be a living room, music room, dining room, office, and toddler play space?

Third, I couldn't be on-site every day so we'd need to work remotely. This meant that they would need to shop and research mostly on their own. When they were at stores or on Craigslist, they'd send me photos of chairs/art/shelves/rugs/tables – anything! And I'd weigh whether that style/color/function would work with our mission to blend the traditional Victorian bones and their contemporary casual lifestyle. I provided the direction and the second opinion. I helped them decide whether to splurge or pass.

Fourth, They had a budget of $10,000. This sounds like a lot, but we had a long list of things to find:

paint
couch
living room rug
2 side chairs
end tables
coffee table
book shelves
side lamps
media center
dining room table
dining room chairs
dining table linens
kitchen table
buffet and kitchen storage
patio furniture
art for walls and style two mantles
desk
king bed frame
king mattress
bed linens
bedroom rug
nightstands
bedside lamps

Here are a few of the before and during photos. They're all quick and dirty, stay tuned for some more official and less iPhone-y images shortly. I'll add actual product links and paint colors soon.