Blue & White Personalized Living Room Makeover--Before/After

It’s been a fun collaboration with Melina and Dave on the makeover of their living room. Melina can “run with the ball” on certain things, saving me time (and I think she enjoys it). Dave can do the tough work like precision picture and curtain hanging.

Where we started…

The curtain rod raises your eye up and the artwork embraces the room. Comfortable Lee Industries sofas were purchased in a tightly woven, oatmeal fabric. We are hoping that they are cat-proof…so far, so good.

Remember the fiasco with Noir coffee and end tables…splitting wood after they were delivered? Noir said they would exchange them but if it happened again they wouldn’t take them back! Ridiculous.

So, we sent them back. We replaced them with this classic black coffee table and pedestal end table, which I like just as well.

Melina’s brother is a photographer and they were going on a family trip to Hawaii… brainstorm idea for our personal, one of a kind artwork! We used custom bamboo frames with grass cloth mats and hung the art uniformly, two inches apart. Now they can relive their vacation everyday!

Some people don’t like a television in the living room…but it does make it more useful. They already had this media center from Pottery Barn. Say good by to the faux flowers on top–they lived a good life. I suggested pulling the arrangement apart and using the blooms to accessorize gift packages.

These baskets on top are good for storage and elevate the height of the media center.

The speakers are there but your eyes are drawn to the new, lighter accessories.

We bought blue and white china from Wisteria and a wholesale source. I suggested that Melina look for “slightly used” books from Amazon and she found good ones at substantial discount.

Removing some of the shiny book jackets softens the look.

The Hana Rug and curtains are from Restoration Hardware.

Liana made our indigo pillows. We used GP&J Baker Cottesmore, Ralph Lauren East Indies Stripe and Ralph Lauren Kintamani Geometric. This round rattan tray from West Elm adds texture.

The fun coasters are from Anthropologie.

The club chair is from Restoration Hardware and upholstered in Perennials fabric.
All finished…just add popcorn. Coming up next…changes to their family and son’s rooms.

I like a good joke.

So, when Tom asked me to perform with two other classmates to this song at our informal, college reunion…

I said yes

(plus, I was relieved he wasn’t asking me for something harder like a fundraising speech).

Late Saturday night, we wore black skirts, heels, red lips, looked bored and strummed fake guitars. EVERYone danced. Even though I was loaded with attitude (and acoupla beers), I noticed some people taking photos of us with their phones. Uh oh. “Might as well face it…”

ALSO fun…

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At the end of the week, Cindy Hattersley and I will select a winner…and the prize will be something fabulous (like what, Cindy?) a free pet-friendly resort vacation. But probably more like tasty dog treats from San Francisco/Monterey.