Settling In: Living Room

We are finally getting around to decorating our new home.  We painted some rooms shortly after moving in, but that's about it.  I'm pretty sure exhaustion took over with all the unpacking and settling going on.

Here's a little reminder of what the room looks like....



We originally thought we'd buy six Ribba frames from Ikea so we did a mock up over the couch to see what it would look like.

Then we talked about what we'd put in the six frames, but we couldn't pinpoint something that we both liked.  I was leaning more towards something like this to focus on textures and patterns.  My husband, Casey, had the idea of breaking up a large portrait into a series (something like this).  We both agreed that we liked the overall size of hanging the six frames, but would be okay with one solid piece too.  We knew this wall needed a lot of impact as it was the main focus when people walked into our home.  We found this great mirror at Ikea ages ago, and I swore it would never go here, but in the end, I had to admit to the fact that it works.  (I worry that people will be caught off guard seeing their reflection first when walking into our home).  It works here though because of the thick frame and it makes this small living room appear so much larger.





Luckily when we moved into this home, I loved the window treatments and since they match very well with our style and color palette.  We are still working on the styling of the space, but here's a glimpse what else we've added to the room.



These are frames that we had on hand and felt they anchored the chair to the ground. We'll switch out the pictures eventually (we've had these same pictures in the frames for over 5 years so we're ready for a change).



I wouldn't say this space is completed by any means, but I think we're off to a good start.  If you need styling tips for bookshelves (I know I do!), Jenny with Little Green Notebook has some great inspiration and tips.

|Sources: Bench- Pier 1; Bookshelf- Crate & Barrel; Black Leather Chair- Slumberland; Lamps- Target; Mirror- Ikea; Picture above Bench- Home Goods|

Painted Ceilings

I ran across this room and fell in love.  The wonderful crisp white trim sets off the color of the ceiling wonderfully!



Photo from Ani-Bee.

What do you think?  Would you paint your ceiling a fun color like this or would you stick with a neutral?  I think I'd definitely be willing to try a color on that often neglected 5th wall after seeing this space!

Monday Redesign: Winter is Here

With today's redesign I wanted to incorporate the colors that remind me of winter, blue and gray.  This is a very soothing color combination and can be warmed up with hints of natural materials.  I've incorporated some dark wood tones and marble to bring this room together and livened it up with some geometric prints.



1. Keys Carpet from Kravet.

2. Kivik sofa from IKEA.

3. Button chair from Target.

4. Marble table lamp from Overstock.com.

5. Handcut wood end table from Etsy seller terrengomez.

6. Accent pillows from here and here.

7. Capiz shell wall decor from CSN.

Monday Redesign: Danielle's Living Room

Happy Monday everyone!  Danielle contacted us about her living room and needed help designing the space.  I asked Danielle a few questions, and in her own words, this is what she had in mind for her new space:

"A modern, chic & calming space design.  And the main things I want accomplished are to have a painted {or wallpapered} accent wall.  I'd like to get rid of the chaise and love seat and replace them with 2 arm chairs - If there's space for another chair in the living room, I'd love to see a third chair for additional seating. So, a new seating arrangement will be necessary. We'll be installing hard wood flooring in the living room in the near future, so a color suggestion would be very helpful.The fireplace has this 70's rock material happening that I'd like to update in some way.  If you have any ideas to share I would love to hear em'!"

So to work I went on a space design.  Just so you have an idea, here are a few pictures of Danielle's space currently.

The first thing I worked on was the floorplan.  Danielle wanted a more open layout with three chairs in addition to the sofa, if possible.  Here are the changes I made with the new floorplan pictured below.

1. Mount the television above the fireplace to give her more room to work with.


2. Place a bookshelf on each side of the fireplace to balance out that wall.


3. Place two chairs across from the sofa to make it more conversational as well as the best use of the space.  This will give Danielle ample access to her sliding door, and great traffic flow through the room.  And if she needs to turn those chairs around, say during movie night so everyone can see the tv, it should be easy enough to do.


4. For additional seating, a bench would be great centered on the wall with the opening to the dining room.


5. I kept Danielle's end tables and coffee table as requested.

After planning the layout, I did a little shopping for the space.  Here is a mood board for a visual of the new space.

And now for a breakdown of the goodies:

1. The color palette actually derived from the pillow sitting on the orange chair {#3}.  It has a neutral base, but color pops using contrast throughout the room {with mainly the orange and whites}.  The bottom color of this palette is Danielle's existing wall color and the color on top of that is the color suggested using for the accent wall.  The color is Behr Pepper Spice.


2. I love the modern and sleek look of this couch.  It's the Silhouette Sofa from Crate & Barrel in Maya: Taupe.  I would put three of these pillows and one of these on the sofa to bring in the orange color.  I loved the idea of hanging the three mirrors Danielle already has on hand from Ikea above the sofa.  It will make a great statement and mimic what I think she should do for the fireplace.  I also think this Nash floor lamp is great to put either behind her end tables for additional lighting, or next to the bench.  A pair of them in the room would be nice.


3. I saw this orange chair, and immediately fell in love with it.  It has such clean lines and fits Danielle's room so perfectly.  It's the parlour tangerine chair from CB2.  I would recommend a pair of these placed across the sofa each with a bull's eye silk pillow in berry from west elm.


4. To dress up the sliding glass door, I would recommend putting up some drapes, and Pottery Barn has great drapes at an affordable price.  I would get the Cameron Cotton Drape- two of them in the 50 x 96 length in white {hang the rod about a foot above the door frame, and let the drapes pool slightly on the floor}.  This will make the window seem bigger and more expansive.


5. I went with a darker wood floor to give a little contrast to the neutrals in the room.  I found a great wood floor at Lowe's made by Natural Floors by US.


6. I placed an 8x10 rug underneath the sofa and chairs to tie everything together, and so it didn't feel like the chairs were floating in the middle of nowhere.  I love the flexibility of FLOR and recommend the Sophistikat in Barley.   30 tiles to make an 8x10 rug.


7. Danielle has a couple options when it comes to the fireplace.  She can either paint over the rocks {in this case, I'd paint it all white}, or remove the rock and start over.  I went for removing the rock and starting over.  I would recommend something like this fireplace {scroll to photo 4 of 10} as it puts a little more chic into this modern room. I found this tutorial online too that seems like a pretty good step by step.


8. To provide additional seating in the room, I would get the Besta bench from Ikea.  I would recommend placing it just about centered on that wall.


9. To balance the room, I put two bookcases in the room, one on each side of the fireplace.  I would recommend the six shelf in the 36" width in white.  The bookshelves should be place nearly centered between the wall and the fireplace on each side.

So what do you think?  Is there anything you would add?



If you need help redesigning your space, check out our services here.

Living Room Color Palette

Many of you know I'm a huge fan of color, which is why I hang out at COLOURlovers more often than I should.  Something about putting together color palettes just makes me happy!  Even more happy is when I'm putting together a color palette for an actual project!  I've unpacked all my boxes from my move and now I'm ready to start the decorating!  My living room currently has the first three colors already in place.  I wanted to utilize what I already had and add a little something extra so I added in the chartreuse green and poppy red.  Wait until you see the projects I've got planned for these colors!

This color palette reminds me of the fields of poppies we saw in Germany so I'm going to use poppies as a motif throughout the room as well!

Wait until you see the projects I've got planned for these colors!  I promise I'll share the results as they come together!

Living Room Redesign: After

Remember Celia's living room from Friday?  Here is her new layout: 

I wanted her to have a distinct entry way, while still allowing space for the living room.  She needed storage for shoes and outdoor items so the bench/storage option will give her some much needed storage.  By placing it where I did, I've given her a distinct entry way.  To the right of the entry way is a practice area for her piano students while the upright piano stays where it is so that another student can be practicing there as well.  (The practice piano has headphones so two students can be practicing at the same time.)  By pulling the Sofa and Chair 1/2 into a tighter arrangement we made room for the entry and practice area, while still making room for an actual living area, all within the same room!  The best thing about this design is that most of the furniture in the room she already has.  She'll be buying a small computer desk from IKEA for the computer station and will be making the storage bench herself.  Her new color palette I gave her to work with looks something like this:



She already has the dark sage green and will be adding the blues as accent colors.  The warm, neutral will be painted on all the walls to help bring the space together even more!  Can't wait to see the finished product!

Living Room Redesign: Before

This living room was challenging and fun to work on.  Celia teaches piano lessons out of her home and uses her living room as her studio.  She's got a growing family and still needs her living room to be a living room, as well as accommodate her piano, practice piano, and a space for her students to work on theory games, etc.  Was it doable?  It sure was!  Here are the before pictures:







You'll just have to wait until Monday to see her new room layout!  Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Monday Redesign: Susan's Living Room

Recently, I helped Susan makeover her space.  In Susan's words she described how the space is used:

The family makes heavy use of the desks/computers. Incorporating at least one of them is important. This room is used for watching TV, some video gaming, computer usage. This is the room our family uses most frequently.

Here are a couple pictures of Susan's space before.

In designing the space, I kept with the neutral decor of Susan's home and added a little bit of color using apple green.  I completely understand the need for computers in the home so I kept one of the desks in the room, but moved it to the wall where the television sits currently.  This will make it more of a work area, when needed, and then the rest of the room for more of a lounge/television watching area.  Where the two desks were currently placed, it took over the focus of the room.  I placed the two chairs and ottoman from JCaroline Home against the windows so if extra light is needed for reading, it is available.  I moved the television and stand against the wall across from the windows.  Since Susan said that the curtains are normally drawn when watching television, I figured the glare wouldn't be much of an issue.  I added an 8x10 FLOR rug that will cover a large portion of the room and will bring everything together.  Behind the chairs, I changed the window treatments to white.  This will provide a slight contrast in the room, but still keeping everything neutral.

Here is a the new floorplan proposed for Susan:

A breakdown of the goodies:

1. I used the Tullsta chairs from IKEA covered in the Earth Beads fabric from JCaroline Home.


2. The Ottoman is a large 18″ square one from JCaroline Home covered in the solid Apple Green fabric.


3. Accent pillows from JCaroline Home covered in solid Apple Green and Earth Stacks.


4. I wanted to keep the window treatments simple in the space so I went with these white window panels from Target.


5. Accent rug from FLOR.  This is the Pop Tartan pattern in brown.


6. To tie the space together, I recommend getting this painting to place above the fireplace with some of these green footed hurricanes from West Elm.


7. Lastly, I added some plants on both sides of the fireplace as I think a little natural greenery in a room can go a long way.  These can be any plants that are 2'-3' tall.

This redesign was done in partnership with Glamour magazine, JCaroline Home and FLOR.  If you're interested in hiring us to help you redesign your space, check out our services here.

Monday Redesign: Living Room

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.  I spent the weekend getting ready for some upcoming travels and hanging out with the fathers in my life-- my husband and my dad.  It was a great weekend and it's hard to believe Monday is already here.

I'm starting the week off here on Fresh Nest with a Living Room redesign.  I was in the mood for some yellow and blues and this is what I came up with. 

And now for a breakdown of the goodies:

1. I like the look of this sofa.  I love its simple and clean lines. 


2. I accented the sofa with pillows found here, here and here.   


3. This rug gives a great foundation to the room and incorporates some blues.  I also love the pattern.  Again, simple, but lovely.


4. I decided to place only one end table in this room.  I was afraid having two of these end tables in the room would be a little overpowering.  This piece can also work as a smaller coffee table too. 


5. I wanted a mirrored-style lamp that played off the subtle geometric theme going on in the room.


6. I love all the wall art options that inhabit offers.  I thought this piece would be perfect above the sofa. 

So what do you think?  Do you like this new living room?  Is there anything you would add or change?



Check out some of our other redesigns here and if you need a little help with your space, our services are listed here.

Stephanie's Living Room Progress

I love hearing about the progress of redesigns. It is so fun to see the design on paper come into action. Remember Stephanie's Living Room redesign?

JCaroline has been busy finishing Stephanie's upholstery and posted a picture of the chair set with the ottoman and pillows. 

And I fell in love.  Don't you just love Jessica Jones fabric designs paired with JCaroline's mad upholstery skills?  I think this color combination is so wonderful and I'm so glad Stephanie was brave and let me have my way with her transformation.  I can't wait to see the pieces in her home. 

JCaroline Homeis now offering many more solids in her fabric choices so go on over and check out her work.  She makes ikea chairs fit you and your style.

Monday Redesign: Stephanie's Living Room

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend.  We were met with a little hail and threats of tornadoes this weekend.... which is always fun.  My husband automatically goes into storm chaser mode when bad weather arises.

Well, today I have a fun living room/dining room redesign for you!  Stephanie is a photographer and has impeccable taste.  She wanted to keep her living/dining room colorful and fun, but simple and functional too.  She is an avid dwell reader, and loves to shop on Etsy.  I just knew the minute I saw her space, that this was going to be a fun redesign... we have very similar taste and I love her artistic flare.

I first worked up a new floor plan arrangement.  Stephanie had a great couch already in the space as well as a dining room table.  Keeping the space simple and functional was a must-- as the space is used for both a lounge area for the family as well as an eating area.

And now for a breakdown of the new goodies in Stephanie's space:

1. Stephanie already had this great piece of art that I based the entire redesign from.  Isn't it great?


2. I used the Tullsta chairs from IKEA covered in the Green Sprig fabric from JCaroline Home.   The accent pillows are also from JCaroline Home covered in solid Orange Bdwalk and Apple Green.


3. The Ottoman is a large 18″ square one from JCaroline Home covered in the Orange Bdwalk fabric.


4. Accent rug from FLOR.  This is the All Square pattern in lime.


5. A floor pillow in Tangelo from JCaroline Home.

I had such a great time working on this redesign and I hope Stephanie enjoys her new space!

If you need help redesigning your space, check out our services here.

Room Redesign: Virginia's Living Room

I recently worked with Virginia and her family to redesign their living room.  They wanted a space that's relaxing and a nice comfortable place to enjoy time spent as a family.  I've kept things fairly neutral and tied in the rust/red window treatments they have now.  By replacing their large sectional with a sofa and chaise I've kept plenty of seating to relax and read while not taking up the entire room with a sectional.  I've also added in a small seating area in the corner.  This room is fairly big, and by dividing up the seating areas I've kept it easy for some of the family to be able to enjoy the TV while others in the room can still be there, but a little more secluded in the reading nook.  By painting the room a warm neutral color they'll really help the space feel more inviting and comfortable.  (Try Sherwin Williams color SW6102 Portabello.)

1. Poang chair from IKEA covered in a new chair cover from JCaroline Home with Earth Calliope.

2. One large Ottoman from JCaroline Home covered in Earth Beads.

3. Flagger lamp from Target.

4. Accent pillows in Cider and Chocolate from JCaroline Home and one floor pillow covered in Earth Calliope, also from JCaroline Home.

5. Cameron Place sofa and chaise from JCPenney.

6. Feelin' Groovy accent rug from FLOR in Brick.

7. Collage Frame from Target.

Room Redesign: Mary's Dining Room After

Did you catch Mary's room from Friday?  Here's her room layout and redesign!  She wanted a more fun, warm, and inviting space for her dining room/entry way.  They have friends over for dinner, games, and chatting and want this space to feel comfortable for everyone.  Their new furniture layout will look like this:




I've turned the table so that it uses only half the room instead of floating in the middle of the room.  If you look at this before picture you can see that the chandelier will be very easy to move and be centered over the new table position.



By placing an area rug underneath the table it will keep it grounded and your eyes focused on this area.  For the other half of the room I've added a small seating area filled with some comfortable, yet fun chairs and an ottoman that can be used for extra seating, an end table, or just to put your feet up on.  I'd also love to see the wall space behind the gorgeous built in area covered with a fun paper to add a little bit of contrast and pattern to the space.  Especially since all the items currently on the shelf are very neutral.  Having a pattern behind those will just make them pop!  This is a very easy DIY project that I think Mary and her husband could handle no problem.



1.  I used the Tullsta chairs from IKEA covered in the solid chocolate fabric from JCaroline Home.

2. The Ottoman is the large 18" round one from JCaroline Home covered in Earth Fireworks fabric.

3. Accent pillows from JCaroline Home covered in Citron and Earth Fireworks.

4. Make simple panels from the Foliage Sand fabric from Fabric.com.  Use the panels for all windows in the space, it will help to pull the space together and let it feel more cohesive to the eye.

5.  Accent rug from FLOR.  This is the All Square pattern in lime.

6. Recycled Glass hurricanes from West Elm.  Fill them with natural green objects like branches, leaves, simple flowers.

7. The Italian Chocolate paper from Paper-Source would be a great addition to the alcove space behind the shelves.



8. Dress up the mirror.  Etch a quote or flourish along the bottom of the mirror to add a little decoration.  (Not willing to permanently etch the glass?  Cut out the shape or phrase with clear contact paper.  The matte finish of the contact paper will look exactly like etched glass and if you get tired of the design it's easy to take it down and switch it out!  It's also easy to switch it out for more seasonal quotes too!)

Monday Redesign: Living Room

Hello Monday and hello February! Where did January go? It flew by, right?  I have always loved these pendant lamps and wanted to work them into a Living Room redesign.  So here is your Monday's redesign.  I hope you enjoy!

Here's a breakdown of the goodies:

1.  You may recognize this sofa from Friday's post.  I really, really love it.  And it's a steal at $949.  So clean and sleek.  Love it!

2.  Aren't these chairs wonderful?  A great subtle pattern pairs them perfectly with the sofa, don't you think?  Plus gray, white and yellow look so yummy together.

3.  I have always loved this rug too-- you may also recognize it from Liz's home.  It's a great foundation to this Living Room redesign, and I love the pop of red.

4.  And these wonderful pendant lights.  Don't they add a great texture and formality to the room?

5.  A little bit of yellow and silver on the wall to polish this room with a final touch.

Hope you've enjoyed this Monday's redesign.  If you need help designing your space, click here to view our services.

Monday Redesign-Monochromatic Living Room

I wanted a living room for today, one that was fairly monochromatic with a pop of color.  I also wanted a few wood tones to warm up the space.  I think I achieved it!  It's cool, yet calm and filled with warmth!

1. Lotus Rug from Ballard Designs.  This was the starting point for my design.  I wanted a large pattern on the floor and then to keep it simple for the rest of the space.

2. Gus Modern Jane Sofa from CSN Stores.  This sofa is great!  It has got clean lines, yet is very stuffed for a super comfy feel to it!  Great for curling up and reading a book!

3. EKBY shelving from IKEA.  Simple and clean lined, the color almost melts into the wall and lets the accents placed on it be the spotlight.

4. Textured white vases from West Elm.  Love how the texture plays up the shapes of the vases.  When choosing a more monochromatic scheme, be sure that there are different textures to keep things visually appealing.

5. Bellona Ceramic Lamp from Wal-Mart.  Love this simple lamp!  It helps to pull in more color while keeping things simple!

6. Colors from Sherwin Williams:  Main Paint Color: SW 7648 Big Chill and Accent Paint Color: SW 6703 Frolic (LOVE that name!)

7. Maple Flooring from Anderson Flooring.  By adding this beautiful warm floor into the space, you warm it up and allow for a gorgeous natural feeling to ground the cool greys and accent greens.