I am FINALLY done the refresh of this living room. I have been working on this space for far longer than I care to admit. (The blog post of my plan for this room tells me I’ve been actively working on it since February of this year and even before.) I’ve got to say, I have no regrets because design is not meant to be done at the speed of light. This room was a true labor of love and was built around my dream green velvet sofa. Once that was picked, I followed the same old formula that I always use for completing a room when there are no major renovations.
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Green Velvet Sofa: The Hero Piece
I started with an English rolled arm sofa in mind. And because I previously vowed that this room required nothing new, I spent the better part of three months scouring Facebook Marketplace for an a sofa that could be reupholstered. And this one more than delivered. A vintage Henredon in perfect condition for a whopping $200. After thinking long and hard, I knew a green velvet sofa was what I wanted. I fell in love with the Rocky performance Velvet from Schumacher in the color Olivine. It’s the perfect chartreuse color and I knew it would play off the blue walls like a charm. It was kindly gifted by the folks over at Schumacher and so I was off to the races. Ms. Annie Bowden in Apex, NC did the reupholstery. If you are in the Raleigh area and need upholstery, her work is pristine. Not to mention she was so affordable for a job of this size. Once it was upholstered, this sofa became the hero piece where everything else dances around it. Sometimes my hero piece is a small vase and sometimes it’s as large as a green velvet sofa.
Choose a Color Palette
Once you’ve got your hero piece, chose the color palette. Green for the sofa, blue for the walls and everything else was a wild card. One of my favorite cheat codes is to pull in a vintage kilim rug that I adore and then pluck colors from it. (See our dining room as an example of this.) Once I picked this rug -which is actually not vintage but a sneaky Pottery Barn look alike I found on Facebook Marketplace- I knew what colors this room would lean towards.
Add in Lighting
I always recommend different sources and levels of light in a room. It’s the easiest way to make a room feel layered and more expensive without spending a ton of money. I started with this affordable chandelier at ceiling level. I dialed it up with a diy pleating with block print fabric and my old friend, Rub N Buff. At mid-level, I added these sconces that once lived in our powder room. I changed them over from hardwire to plug in and added yet another pleated shade out of scraps of fabric. I wanted green glass lamps at reading level which turned out to be hard to find so I diy-ed those as well out of vintage carboys that I found on -you guessed it- Facebook Marketplace. For each piece of lighting, I made sure to reference my chosen color palette (ie the rug) to make sure they would be cohesive even if they weren’t an exact match.
Bring in Art that Feels like Home
Art is the most important item in a space for me. It takes a space from feel “meh” to feeling like “yours”. The largest piece in this space, by Colin Bootman, was love at first sight. With colors that paired perfectly with the wall and the sofa, I couldn’t wait to order this. Since I didn’t want to hide the colors behind glass or pay for yet another frame that costs more than the art, I mounted this piece to a canvas for less than $100 total. I pulled in smaller pieces like Warmth of Other Suns by Bisa Butler and vintage pieces from flea markets.
Layer in Texture
Texture will always be what makes a room feel “complete”. A room may not always have a ton of prints and colors but may be hiding depth in different fabrics and textures. The easiest way to pull in texture and soften the lines of a room is with window treatments. This room already has those because of the other end of the space. From there, I opted for those pleated lamp shades to warm up this long lean space. I added in textured pillows and overstuffed fabric chairs while being careful to stay within my self assigned color palette.
The only “color” that bridges outside of my rug assigned color palette is the pillows. Made of quilted fabric also kindly gifted by Schumacher these pillows are one of my favorite parts of this room. It’s their Hotch Potch Crazy Quilt and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to have it. If you are new here, I am constantly on a soapbox about the importance of quilting to Americana and the role that African Americans played it into the fabric of this country. So I knew I wanted to include quilting.
Throw in bits of life
Last but certainly not least, every room needs a bit of life as I call it. Things that call back to your life whether it’s to your family, your day to day, your travels or your work. For us, it’s this bar cart we used for our wedding reception, family photo albums that live under the coffee table for ease of access, a set of rocks we collect on vacations, a book from my 12th grade English teacher. This room is so chock full of a life well lived. Those are always the items that differentiate your space from others
Living Room Sources
Green Velvet Sofa (Similar | Similar) // Sofa fabric (gifted) // Wall Color: Endless Sea by Sherwin Williams (gifted) // Chandelier // Quilt pillow fabric (gifted)// Sconces (similar | similar) // Little boy art // Red quilt art // I came, I saw, I left pillow (gifted) // Vintage Bar cart (similar| similar) // vintage coffee table // Blanket // Rug // Black Ivy book // Joie book // Marble coasters //