ONE ROOM CHALLENGE REVEAL // CALIFORNIA CASUAL LIVINGROOM

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE REVEAL // CALIFORNIA CASUAL LIVINGROOM

Another One Room Challenge is finally in the books and today, I'm so excited to show you the result of our living room remodel. While we have made several foundational improvements to this room in the years since we moved into our 1967 SoCal Rancher, it has never quite come together - until now. Truth be told, it has taken just 7 weeks to do what we have been seemingly working towards for 7 years. Today, I'm so proud to take you on a visual tour of the finished room and talk through some of the elements that were integral to bringing our long-intended vision to life.

You can can catch up on the "before" and weekly progress here:

With extensive renovations completed for our kitchen remodel during the last One Room Challenge [click here to see that!], this round was a nice respite from my typical DIY marathon and the ensuing project chaos that typically follows. Still, the redesign challenged me in other ways - budget and restraint quickly becoming the stressful undercurrents as I plotted and carried out our plan.

We retained many of the existing furniture pieces which helped save on cost and instead, relied heavily on new textiles, art and an edited collection of room accessories to change the entire vibe of the room. Of course the new white oak flooring we installed throughout the house during the last One Room Challenge was the MVP element in the new design and was essential to pulling it all together.

We had two primary goals in mind as we planned and carried out this remodel. The first - we wanted to create a design more complimentary to other areas of the house and chiefly, that new kitchen we just completed. The second - we wanted this heavily used room to be a more accurate reflection of who we are and how we live. Part of that meant bringing in textural and visual elements that spoke to our love affair with our home state and marrying that up with the work I do in my online home goods shop, Bird + Belle.

Both goals ultimately influenced the art, accessories and new textile selections in the room.

It was also important that this room not only look polished, but remain functional. We have two rambunctious dogs and while baby gates kept them at bay for the last couple of weeks while the room was completed, no doubt they will eventually reclaim this room for themselves. Because of this, it was important that the soft goods chosen were not fussy and could be cleaned as needed. We also plop ourselves down nightly on that giant sectional in front of our eyesore of a TV. It may not be the most design-worthy element, but our living room is for living and I think the final design remains true to that.

I think the the bright neutral palette at work here challenges any prior conventions I may have had that said neutral is boring. In the early days when planning colors for our house at the paint counter, I could not have imagined a combination of tonal grays, beige, black and even brown to play together as cohesively. I was short-sighted in thinking we had to either carry grays, browns or color independently throughout the house and that was the source of a lot of early design frustration.

When I look at this reimagined room now, I see a balance of both warm and cool. While the sectional, rug and flooring read on the cooler side, the brass, natural wood accents and our original flagstone fireplace add those essential cozy overtones that keep this space comfortable and livable.

The room is a bit of a fishbowl with clear views into the side and backyard areas of our home. I've always seen this as an opportunity to bridge our outdoor areas with the interiors. Our poolside fire area visible from the north facing windows infuses some of that indoor-outdoor living California is famous for. But the side yard that can be seen from the 15ft bank of windows abutting the couch was the perfect place to showcase a shady side garden planted against the fence we share with our neighbor. I've been making small adjustments to this landscape for several years and with the current selection of native plants, it finally feels complimentary to the newly decorated room just inside.

The pillows, beads and vintage pottery were all pulled from my own stock of home goods at Bird + Belle. I must confess it occasionally happens. There are some things I find it simply too hard to part with! But most importantly, bringing in a treasure I dug through piles of oddball stuff to find from an estate sale I drove miles to attend and then pairing that up with pillows from the shop make this space much more personal to me.

Our living room blends with an adjacent dining area that got a bit of work in the months between the spring and fall One Room Challenges. A new custom sized lighting fixture and the counter-height directors chairs we brought in have made this a functional addition to the sitting area in front of our TV. While we use our farmhouse table in the kitchen dining area for daily meals, the set up here provides additional seating when entertaining - something we do a lot of here at the house.

About the Slim Aarons photograph that hangs here... I realize it has gotten a bit trendy in recent years, but I have a personal affection for this piece that dates back a decade. We got married in a sprawling mid-century house in Palm Springs and on our first tour of the house, my eyes fixed on this very photograph for the first time hanging in the entry-way and I remember turning to my then fiance and I said... "When we finally have our own home someday, this is something I want to hang on our wall." It may be a replica, but that memory is forever tied to this now popular poolside art piece and for that reason alone, I'm not sure I could ever part with it.

As someone who operates a small business, it was also important to me to support other makers and sellers putting themselves out there with their wares (see sources below). Many amongst the pared down grouping of accessories came from local, up before dawn flea market vendors. That vintage kilim rug came from an overseas Etsy shop I wholeheartedly recommend for the friendly customer service and incredibly speedy ship times (3 days from Instanbul you guys - like whoa...). Can you believe that four of the art pieces hanging on these walls came from a singular Etsy Shop? I simply purchased the download and printed and framed my own. Even the custom light fixture over the dining table came from an Etsy shop, as did the fabricated black metal table base beneath it.

If you made it this far through the flood of photos, my humblest gratitude for allowing me to share my excitement over this project. My sincerest thank you as well to One Room Challenge founder and organizer extraordinaire, Linda of Calling it Home. I've been pushed by these quick turn deadlines to finally finish off (5!) rooms in our home over the past couple of years and for that, plus the much needed motivation and the encouragement of the design blogger community, I am truly grateful. A thank you to ORC media sponsors House Beautiful and Home Love Network and to all of the other guest participants for their inspiring hard work over these past several weeks. Last but not least, a heartfelt thank you to all of you who have stopped in to take a peek or dropped a note to pump me up as I worked to complete this design. The One Room Challenge is certainly one of those occasions when the blogging community really comes together to support one another and I walk away with not only a finished room to enjoy for the upcoming holiday, but appreciation to be part of that.