Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

As promised …my living & dining room makeovers

Before Thanksgiving I gave you a couple of peeks into my dining and living room … our “fall projects” I suppose you could say.

I thought I’d elaborate a little more on them for you today.

First up, Dining Room.  This is what it looked like before.

 
Everything was pretty much from our very first condo in the city.   I still loved our sideboard and table from Mig & Tig but I just longed for a more elegant and polished look. The rug is only a couple of years old, so that was going to stay too.
 
So, with new chairs (I wrote about them here), a new paint job (I wrote about my decision process here) a new top for my sideboard (read all about it here) some new curtains, and a little rearranging, here’s what I have now …
 
 

 
And this was it all set up for Thanksgiving …

 
I am still wanting to replace the chandelier the builder put in with this one that I have loved forever …
 
 
 
 I moved the small hutch I painted with chalk paint last year (read about it’s transformation here) onto this wall and hung some pretty but simple plates I found at Anthropologie  around it.  I still wanted a soft look with out too much pattern or color.
 
 
I had struggled to find the right spot in my home for this desk/hutch ever since I painted it, but now I think it’s finally found its home. It’s become a great place to display some of the pretty, smaller pieces that seemed to get lost inside the big sideboard.
 
 
 
I also did a little lamp swap … I switched these lamps with the ones in my bedroom.
 
 
 
Voila!
 

 
 And I kinda like these on my nightstands …
 
 
On to the living room …
 
Perhaps you remember what it looked like before …
 
 
 
I’ve liked the red … in fact, we’ve had a red room in our last 3 homes … maybe that’s why I was up for a change. Something a little softer and more soothing.
 
I’ve also struggled with the large wall behind the settee …
 
 
I had started out hanging my collection of Sid Dickens Memory Blocks that I’ve accumulated over the years … each one is different and symbolizes different times or occasions in our life. You can read more about them here.
 
While I love them, they just felt a little sparse on that huge wall. I’ve already got a large piece of art above the fireplace and that large mirror in the dining room so I wanted to find something different.
 
 
The other issue was that besides the settee, we had no other seating in there … we always seemed to find other priority items to purchase and I never really found the right chairs.  I wanted something pretty AND comfortable. A place where I might curl up with a magazine while my “men” are watching sports … or a place to relax and chat with friends, a fire and an after-dinner drink.
 
My solution for the big wall was inspired by these pictures …
 
 
 
 
 
 
Those first three are from Nate Berkus’s Manhattan apartment and the last two are coincidentally, also from a Manhattan apartment designed by Phoebe Howard.
 
What I love about all of them are the big airy metal shelving units.  They really fill a big space with out feeling too heavy.  Nate Berkus always talks about creating a space that feels collected over time,  and with shelves like these I think you can really elevate objects that are special to you into pieces of art.
 
So … when I spotted these shelves on one of the design blogs I read, I thought they could be perfect for my living room … and I couldn’t believe where they were from.
 
Yep … these babies are from Ikea! And at $70 bucks a pop, I could get 2 and fill the entire wall.
 
And that’s exactly what I did.
 
 
(I picked up 4 of the baskets from Ikea as well … I love the texture they bring and the hidden storage, since all of the rest of the shelves are so open.)
 
SO, while Dan painted, (Benjamin Moore Wolf Gray) I built bookcases … and I LOVE them!  They are very sturdy and the glass shelves make them look much more expensive than they really were.
 
And now I have just the place to put all of the pretty stuff I collect that makes me happy … you know … antlers, pieces of coral, vintage trophies, my favorite coffee table books … I’m sure this arrangement will change often …( especially after the summer antiques market season!)
 
 
Notice the little lamps? How cute are they?  I spotted them in the Ballard Catalog and knew they’d be perfect … especially since the bronze finish is the same as the shelves.
 
 
  They actually clip on and I just ran the cords down the back of the posts … so you can’t see them at all.  I have them set on a timer, so late every afternoon they come and fill the room with a nice soft glow.
 
And for the rest of the room?
 
 
 

 
Anyway, that’s it … new paint, new shelves, a couple chairs and a new lamp … and the room has a totally different look.  It has become just the space I envisioned it to be … the “girls” sat in there and chatted on Thanksgiving Day, the boys and I have sat in there reading “The Sixty Eight Rooms” (the book everyone is reading at school) and I have enjoyed it as a quiet spot to catch up on my latest issue of Traditional Home.
 
 
(Ok … so I’m still playing around with the pillows … what do you think? Given my pillow obsession it is always hard for me to commit. )
 
Do you have a room that just isn’t quite working for you?  Here is proof that you can transform it with just a few changes.
 
Have a great week!
 
 

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