Yesterday I showed you the big reveal of Jude’s bedroom & playroom-turned-hangout space and today is all about the adjoining upstairs living room. As you’ll recall from the floorplans showing the layout of the upstairs, all 3 upstairs bedrooms and bathroom open up on to this large bonus room at the top of the stairs. It’s been many things over the years, but it’s currently doing double duty as playroom and family room.
See the before in this post. (Catch up with week 1 // week 2 // week 3 // week 4 // week 5 // week 6)
And here’s the after —
I can’t get enough of how this room turned out. I had visions of Mark Sikes‘ favorite shades of blue mixed with plenty of white and pops of natural wood and it’s the perfect fancy/casual mix for us. I wanted to bring in several different shades of blue, but to allow the beautiful CR Laine banquette via ME Home to be the star of the show.
And the final piece of the puzzle was that faaaaaabulous Oxford striped rug from Barclay Butera’s collection for Nourison. It’s the most beautiful wool rug, and I decided to layer it over the jute rug for a little extra texture and padding, especially what with the wood floors potentially being a bit noisy when we’re downstairs. It’s just all kinds of plushy yummy perfection. I feel like the rug was the piece that pulled everything together – it’s striking, but casual and still allows the banquette to be the main attraction.
I also wanted to draw attention to the architecture of the space, and make it feel cozier. I pulled in several different art prints to create a mini gallery area surrounding the banquette. I especially love the contrast of all the different frames, but with the same overall common art theme. The biggest piece is a shot of the beach in Malibu, which gives me all the warm fuzzies every time I look at it and I like that it’s a nod to our love of the water along Pacific Coast Highway. We had the Gray Malin piece from a few years back, and then I added that monochromatic lifeguard stand shot from Minted and framed it with a floating acrylic frame via Highland Hardware.
The table is from World Market and I’d bought it for last year’s One Room Challenge downstairs — it’s currently 40% off which is ridiculous b/c it was already cheap to begin with at full price. I LOVE this little table – it’s perfect for practically any space. I’ve rearranged a bit and didn’t need it in the family room downstairs, and it was the perfect size to use with the banquette. It’s a great little nook for doing homework, drawing, or whatever else strikes your fancy.
That velvet is so divinely soft. I think it’s going to wear beautifully over time, especially if my old 1970s-era emerald velvet sofa is any indication. And those attached bolsters are all sorts of amazing. I love how the lucite legs play off of the Highland Hardware frames – it’s a great continuing theme throughout the room. The nailhead also echoes the mix-and-match of metallics that I pulled in throughout too. I didn’t want to commit to just brass or just chrome. So it’s a happy mix of both.
We also got a pair of these stools from ME Home to do double duty as extra seating as well as an ottoman. They’re super versatile and have already been used for everything from a tunnel fort to a coffee table. Super fab legs on those beauties, too.
The TV was from our bedroom downstairs, but it seemed better suited for the boys to use upstairs. It was our first flatscreen TV from circa 2006 and it’s pretty heavy/clunky. But it gets the job done along with an Apple TV for all the Netflix watching and YouTube surfing. I used these frames from Target and had several of our family photos from Florida printed. I absolutely love looking at those photos every day. The console was from the Jonathan Adler for JC Penney collab several years back, and it’s also been in several different rooms in the house.
A great little detail shot of those stools and the fabric we went with. Yum yum yum.
Now on to the other side of the room. Facing the banquette is our older Henredon leather sofa; since my big plan to use the Stroheim-covered piece wouldn’t fit up the stairs, we ended up bringing this one up instead, and overall I’m happy with the final result. Like I told Simon, it pays to keep everything in the house a somewhat-consistent color scheme because then you can use it in any room of the house. The throw pillows are from Serena & Lily and the lumbar is from Annie Selke from last year’s ORC.
And another shot of the gallery wall around the TV, which I’m realizing now is a wee bit wonky on one side. SIGH.
Oh — we interrupt this One Room Challenge reveal for a special message:
I am Archer, hear me roar. Resistance is futile. May the force be with you. Carry on, peasants.
Or something like that.
Both of the window seats feature those beautiful custom Roman shades from Grace Allen Design. The cushion is actually a crib mattress covered in Archer’s old crib sheets but hey, it’s a perfect fit! Pillows are from Serena & Lily: euro shame buffalo check and wool plaid.
For those who’ve asked where the toys have gone away to, here’s your answer. On the opposite side of the sofa is one of my Ikea Kallax units and it keeps all those Legos and Playmobil toys hidden away. Part of the great purge I did was to get rid of all the toys that the boys don’t really play with all that often. We made room for books and I kept all the Legos, racears and Playmobil sets as those are the favorites (even with Jude). The biggest pieces are stored in Archer’s closet in a big rubbermaid bin, as well as a couple of rolling storage bins underneath his bed. The most frequently used and loved items live in that Kallax shelf. I ordered a small round play table but it didn’t arrive in time for the reveal; it came last night late and when Archer saw it, he gasped and said “Oh! My own little table! I WUV IT!”
I kept the nook pretty simple and monochromatic. The artwork is from Minted and it reminded me of our Big Sur trip last year; it too is framed in a Highland Hardware floating acrylic frame. The ginger jars are from Ballard and Jana Bek and the mirror is from Target; all those items were downstairs in different rooms. Storage bins are from Serena & Lily and the Land of Nod. The shelf is by Oeuf.
The rug is a 6′ square to provide Archer a soft place to roll around with his airplanes and racecars; it’s by Safavieh and I found it on eBay (a damaged rug for a steal – it has a small stain on the back). And here’s the other happy windowseat nook with Serena & Lily pillows, an old Z Gallerie lumbar pillow, and a Serena & Lily alpaca throw (SO SOFT). The Milo Baughman-esque yellow velvet chairs were vintage via eBay and I had them recovered last year with that yummy yellow velvet from the fab folks at Ketch Design Centre here in Oklahoma City.
I just realized there’s still carpet squares underneath that shelf from the wood floor guy. Oops.
I cannot begin to say thank you enough to all the fab sponsors who helped make this One Room Challenge happen. I’m enormously grateful for the opportunity to participate and recognize that it wouldn’t be possible without some serious trust on the part of these brands to let me create something with their lovely items. Please do me a huge favor and check out all of the sponsors via the links below. They all are putting beautiful things out into the world!
SPONSORED BY
The One Room Challenge comes together very quickly, but it wouldn’t be possible without some major help from these fantastic sponsors. Thanks for supporting these brands that I love!
Universal Furniture // Stroheim // Serena & Lily // ME Home Collection // Highland Hardware // Grace Allen Design // Minted // Nourison
And thanks as always to Linda at Calling It Home for hosting and also to House Beautiful, the most fab media sponsor.
