Parisian Chic Living Room
The Design Brief:
In this project, the client wanted to transform the living room in their new home into a multi-function space to accommodate a library with reading area, a place to entertain, have tea, and play games, and an occasional work space. She also noted that her husband’s main concern was comfort. They have beautiful hardwood floors with wood trim throughout the home that they wanted to keep as-is. The room also features built-in bookcases with arched tops that flanked the fireplace. The room has two large windows, but doesn’t get a whole lot of light. On top of that, there is no overhead lighting in the room.
The design aesthetic requested was a refined mix of global, traditional and mid-century modern. A current popular trend is grandma chic design. Which, in my opinion, can really be any mix of traditional design styles, mid-century modern, florals and retro patterns. I gave this client two initial design concepts. The first leaned a bit more mid-century modern with a grandma chic flair (more details on this version of “Grandma Chic” coming soon). The concept she ultimately chose I call “Parisian Chic.”
Ever since I was a young girl, flipping through my mother’s Architectural Digest magazines, I’ve loved fancy, Parisian interiors. Rooms that have a refined, eclectic mix of traditional, art deco, mid-century modern, global, and classical architectural features and interior design details. My own personal style is actually a mix of all of these. The look can lean more feminine or be a well balanced mix of both feminine and masculine. I think we achieved the latter with this design.
The Design Solution:
Here’s how I met the client’s functional and style needs:
I created a sitting area with a clean-lined, contemporary sofa in a cream fabric (stain-resistant, of course) and a pair of high-backed wing chairs that offered comfort, style and a pop of navy blue. I chose a mid-century style triangle coffee table to fit perfectly in between the accent chairs and sofa.
An antique game table behind the sofa is the perfect place to play card games or board games, and also could function as a workspace. I paired that with mid-century style chairs in a saffron colored velvet. Once again balancing out the traditional with the modern. A last minute request was a storage piece adjacent to the workspace for hiding away any work papers and items.
Since lighting was a challenge, I opted for three floor lamps for the room. Two matching swing-arm lamps behind each wing chair, and a multi-light, sputnik style floor lamp for the other end of the room by the art wall. I also included a small globe table lamp on the bookcase behind the game table.
Another trick to give the room more brightness was to suggest a brighter color for the walls. They were originally a light-medium sage color. I suggested two different creamy whites for the client to try in the space: Sherwin Williams Greek Villa (SW7551) & Snowbound (SW7004).
I brought a global vibe to the space through the textiles: a Moroccan style shag rug and a mix of global prints in the pillows.
More traditional details were brought in through the art and mirror over the fireplace. I kept the majority of the art on the traditional side, but did throw in a couple of abstract pieces to make the look more contemporary.
Color scheme: The biggest challenge here was working with (and not against) the yellowish-orange hued hardwood floors and architectural details in the room. I chose to stick with a neutral base (sofa, rug, walls) and add pops of color through accessories and the accent chairs. Since the floors have a yellowish-orange hue to them, the navy chairs pop and make a statement in the room. The pillows and artwork all have pops of blues, yellows, rust/oranges.
Scroll down for the before pictures, final renderings and to shop the look!
Before
Renderings
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