Before Photo
“After” photos by Ryan Garvin Photography
Living Room at a Glance
Location: Irvine, California
Size: About 150 square feet (14 square meters); 10 by 15 feet
Designer: Brittany Stiles of Brittany Stiles Design
BEFORE: The homeowners felt the previous furnishings were a bit lackluster and out of date. Meanwhile, wood shutters (pictured in a later photo) and a beige paint color on the walls brought down the energy of the room, which was meant for entertaining.
Living Room at a Glance
Location: Irvine, California
Size: About 150 square feet (14 square meters); 10 by 15 feet
Designer: Brittany Stiles of Brittany Stiles Design
BEFORE: The homeowners felt the previous furnishings were a bit lackluster and out of date. Meanwhile, wood shutters (pictured in a later photo) and a beige paint color on the walls brought down the energy of the room, which was meant for entertaining.
Brittany Stiles Design
AFTER: Stiles removed the shutters and installed custom window treatments to lighten the space literally and figuratively. “Let light into a space and it will change your mood and let you enjoy where you live so much more,” she says. A color palette of soft blues, grays and warm neutrals with accents of raspberry provide the updated transitional look the homeowners were after.
A mix of textures also adds interest. Chairs in leather and white wicker, a linen sofa, a Moroccan wool rug layered over a seagrass rug, linen drapes with woven wood shades behind them and metal nailheads on the ottoman give the room personality.
Stiles saved money by re-covering the sofa instead of buying a new one.
Paint color: SK10, Fine Paints of Europe; window treatments: Castec Window Coverings; leather chairs: Restoration Hardware; geometric art: Natural Curiosities; drapery and pillow fabrics: F. Schumacher and Fabricut; custom ottoman: Pete’s Upholstery, designed by Brittany Stiles
A mix of textures also adds interest. Chairs in leather and white wicker, a linen sofa, a Moroccan wool rug layered over a seagrass rug, linen drapes with woven wood shades behind them and metal nailheads on the ottoman give the room personality.
Stiles saved money by re-covering the sofa instead of buying a new one.
Paint color: SK10, Fine Paints of Europe; window treatments: Castec Window Coverings; leather chairs: Restoration Hardware; geometric art: Natural Curiosities; drapery and pillow fabrics: F. Schumacher and Fabricut; custom ottoman: Pete’s Upholstery, designed by Brittany Stiles
Before Photo
BEFORE: Stiles saw that the existing chairs were much too large for the space, and the arrangement made group conversations a bit awkward.
Brittany Stiles Design
AFTER: She kept relatively the same space plan but introduced the two new leather chairs, which are more to scale with the room and sofa. She saved some of the budget by buying the chairs from inexpensive big-box retailers. Those savings, along with what she saved on the sofa, allowed her to splurge for the homeowners on the custom ottoman and window treatments — “a must, in my opinion,” she says.
She added a third chair near the fireplace to gain more seating and create an arrangement more conducive to conversation. “They don’t watch TV much,” Stiles says of the owners.
She had originally bought a larger version of the white wicker chair, but when she brought it into the space she realized it wouldn’t work. “It engulfed the whole room,” she says. “Luckily they had a smaller version and I didn’t have to start completely from scratch.”
The size of the room continued to prove challenging for Stiles. “The octagon ottoman was custom made, and I think the upholstery shop almost fired me as their customer because I kept changing the dimensions before it was ever fully finished,” she says. “I would wake up in the morning and second-guess myself and analyze the dimensions to death. In the end, all my changes and stressing worked out for the best because it was the perfect size.”
Stiles fell in love with the Moroccan rug and thought about buying a much larger version, an upgrade that turned out to be much too expensive. The rug at its current size is already one of the most expensive pieces in the room, so going larger was out of the question. To compensate, she layered the rug over the less expensive seagrass rug. “In the end, I feel like these budgetary challenges end up adding to the interest and originality of the space,” she says.
White wicker chair: Crate and Barrel; Moroccan rug: Stark Carpet; seagrass rug: FloorCraft; metal side table: H.D. Buttercup
She added a third chair near the fireplace to gain more seating and create an arrangement more conducive to conversation. “They don’t watch TV much,” Stiles says of the owners.
She had originally bought a larger version of the white wicker chair, but when she brought it into the space she realized it wouldn’t work. “It engulfed the whole room,” she says. “Luckily they had a smaller version and I didn’t have to start completely from scratch.”
The size of the room continued to prove challenging for Stiles. “The octagon ottoman was custom made, and I think the upholstery shop almost fired me as their customer because I kept changing the dimensions before it was ever fully finished,” she says. “I would wake up in the morning and second-guess myself and analyze the dimensions to death. In the end, all my changes and stressing worked out for the best because it was the perfect size.”
Stiles fell in love with the Moroccan rug and thought about buying a much larger version, an upgrade that turned out to be much too expensive. The rug at its current size is already one of the most expensive pieces in the room, so going larger was out of the question. To compensate, she layered the rug over the less expensive seagrass rug. “In the end, I feel like these budgetary challenges end up adding to the interest and originality of the space,” she says.
White wicker chair: Crate and Barrel; Moroccan rug: Stark Carpet; seagrass rug: FloorCraft; metal side table: H.D. Buttercup
Before Photo
BEFORE: An existing chest and Picasso print made fine additions to the living room, but they needed a little bit of a designer’s touch to really shine.
Brittany Stiles Design
AFTER: Stiles centered the chest and accessories, including a new lamp with a height that better fit the proportions of the cabinet and art. She also brought over the same cooler-toned wall color from the living room to add contrast to the warmer tones in the cabinet.
Lamp: Visual Comfort
Lamp: Visual Comfort
This floor plan shows how properly scaled furniture packed a lot of function and style into the tight living room.
Construction: Artisan Builders
See more Rooms of the Day
Construction: Artisan Builders
See more Rooms of the Day
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