An Every Day Living Room – Peek at a Project

An Every Day Living Room

For this week's peek at a project, we're featuring an every day living room in a new, architecturally designed construction project, in which our role was to select all the finishes, fixtures, and fittings.
After the home was constructed, our client moved in, and we were ready to move on to decorating the living room! In this home, the living room is a great place for the family to hang out every day. Located next to the kitchen, it's central to the rest of the home, making it an active and common area for everyone to gather.
Our client's must-haves for the space included a piano for the kids to practice daily (and for the rest of the family to listen in!), comfortable seating that focused on both the fireplace and the television, as well as stain resistance fabrics perfect for every day use.
Our clients also came in with two pieces they wanted to be sure to incorporate into their new living room. One was a chair, which was one member of the family's favorite spot to read as a child. For her, this chair represented happy memories, as it came from a childhood neighbors home who she had always regarded as a 'grandma'. Including this chair in her living room was essential to creating a warm, personality-driven space filled with the feeling of safety one's home should always bring.
Another piece our clients wanted to incorporate into their new every day living room was a table from the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Like his wife's chair, this table represented important memories for our client, as he had worked at the hotel as a young man.
With all of that in mind, keep reading to see how the living room played out!

Every Day Living Room - Floor Plans

As we were designing floor plans for the space, we wanted to be sure to maximize seating.
We discussed whether a loveseat or individual chairs were better for the family, and considered all the different kinds of groups they would be entertaining to make that decision.
We drew out 3 different floor plans, each of which considered these factors in a different way.

Furniture Mood Boards

When choosing furniture beyond what our clients already wanted to include in their every day living room, we considered a lot.
To ensure a timeless appeal for this living room, we chose all classic styles of furniture for the space. However, to create visual appeal, we wanted to mix furniture between having legs and skirts, so that the room didn't appear too uniform.
We also wanted to mix up the scale of upholsteries, because different scales will accommodate all the different kinds of people the family is planning to entertain. Shorter, taller, younger, and older people all needed to be considered! For instance, older visitors to the home might need a higher seat height, and arms that come to the front of the chair to assist them in standing again after having been sitting down for a while. Intentional home design considers all of these factors.
Tight backs sit more formally and upright, while cushion backs are more loungy and relaxed. In our furniture mood boards for this every day living room, you'll see a mix of both!

Fabrics

We considered 3 separate fabric palettes for this every day living room. One monochromatic, one with gold and green accent colors, and another with coral and chartruese accents. Each option strikes a slightly different mood.
The monochromatic palette creates a serene, calm mood, while the palette with coral and chartreuse is much more lively and unexpected. The option with yellow and green accents creates a mood of happiness and optimism. According to Very Well Mind, yellow is a color that evokes warmth, brightness, energy, and attention.
All of these color palletes reflect a different aspect of the personalities of our clients and the vibe they want to create in their home.