A Gracious Living Room in Toano

When moving from California to Williamsburg several years ago, our client did an excellent job of decluttering their home in order to make room for peace! In the years since then, they invested in beautiful pieces of furniture that fit their home and style; however, they still found the design of their home to be lacking. We see this a lot when it comes to our interior styling clients; that while they may have a beautiful home, it doesn’t quite feel finished. Maybe they just moved in or maybe they moved in five years ago - our job is to come in and turn their “house” into a “home”.

This was the certainly the case with our Toano client, who asked us to help them style their kitchen nook, family room and living room. All of these spaces had great bones and lots of natural light; what was missing was the subtle layers that told the story of who they are, what they like, and what they value as a family. It is always such an honor to work on projects such as these, as they require actively listening to our client’s, using our intuition and trained eye to create spaces that will be enjoyed for years to come. Today, we’re walking you through the design of their gracious living room!

BEFORE:

• Before we styled this space, it was a beautiful room, with beautiful furniture HOWEVER there weren’t any of those “details” that made it feel like a home. I knew that we could quickly make it feel that way though with the addition of layering in some pillows, throws, artwork and greenery - all of those details that really flesh out interior design and turn a “house” into a “home”.

Something else I noticed - that I’m totally guilty of too! - is that there were a lot of rectangles/hard-lines in the room. NOTE: the ottoman, the fire place, the artwork above the fireplace, the artwork above the fireplace next to the bar. One thing that we would need to do would be to bring in some pieces to “soften” the room.

AFTER:

• I mean…this wall was just calling for a gallery wall. Especially since we already had a large piece of art (now moved to the wall behind the sofa) and a round mirror (now over the fireplace); we needed something a bit more graphic here. While we toyed around with doing a wall of family photographs, in the end the client leaned more towards creating a gallery wall filled with art. Though we brought in some new pieces - such as the painted winter scene and the butterfly shadowbox - the majority of pieces were ones that the couple already had. The two watercolor landscapes were picked up on their travels over seas in Asia, while the painting of the flowers in a vase were done by one of the children, when they were younger.

The piece that I’m holding below was actually a piece that was embroidered by one of the client’s parents long ago. Its the inclusion of pieces like these that add so much to a design, and that really help to share the client’s story.

While it was important to add in an eclectic element (i.e. the gallery wall), it was important not to loose the graciousness of the room. Being the more formal of the two rooms, we kept the furnishings and decor fairly tailored.

To add a little depth and texture, we brought in these two throw pillows from Pottery Barn. The Palna pillow does a wonderful job of carrying the blue from the mirror and area rug over, while Lorna pillow added that POP of color that we were looking for. We brought in a handful of vintage books as well as this sculpture to give the room some character.

One of the biggest differences to the design of the living room though, came in the styling of the ottoman. It was really important to add a little height and textural interest here. Using the client’s trays, we brought in some coffee table books, crystals and artisan vases, and placed them on there. The height came in the floral arangements which we crafted together using the most beautiful florals from Target and Terrain.

These faux florals REALLY elevated the space. We combined these tall, willowy faux florals with these dried, pink flowers, and placed them in an elegant, wicker vase; while we took these faux raspberry brambles and placed them in this hand-made vase. The combination of color, pattern, and texture are just everything.

The bar… probably (one of) the most important spots in the room! But in all seriousness, we chose to keep the styling of this prominent feature timeless, bringing in: silver bar-ware, wooden bowls and cutting boards, woven baskets to corral everything. While most of the liquor is stored away behind closed doors, we did bring some of the prettier bottles down to the counter for some interest. These tortoise glasses from Pier 1 helped to bring some pattern and interest, while the potted plants helped to add a softness and touch of color.

When it comes to styling a bar such as this, you want to keep in fun and interesting but also functional. One example of this, is making sure that there is enough counter space for people to work on - bringing down glasses, mixing drinks, etc.

You want it the bar to be beautiful but not take away from the rest of the room. We did this by choosing pieces that were fairly neutral, sticking to a color palette of: tan, brown, light gray, and silver, with some pops of green.

Interior Styling: Making Room for Peace | Photography: We Are Luke & Ashley