. . . that was my goal for this next living room design.

My clients purchased their home last year and since have been trying to figure out how to arrange their very large living room. The room has beautiful architectural details and ample footage, but also has a lot of doorways and windows to work around. The room was in need of lighting, furniture and overall flow.

Here was the room before:

Take a look at the third photo. See the cutout in the wall? Well, our first challenge was deciding what we wanted to do with that random opening that provided stunning views of the back hallway. ;) Actually, it wasn't so much a question of what to do with the opening as it was were my clients willing to embark on a bit of construction? So we looked at the layout two ways. First with the opening and TV cable hookup unchanged. Second with the opening enclosed and the cable hookup moved.

First Layout with Cutout & Cable Hookup Unmoved

Second Layout with Cutout & Cable Hookup Removed/ Moved

Knowing we were going to have to cut into the ceiling to add recessed lighting we decided to go big. Layout #2 it was! To me, this felt like the best way to create a comfortable and functional seating area.

Of course a project would not be complete without a few surprises along the way. When the electrician cut in the first can light, he noticed the ceiling was soft. Soft is a descriptor I only like to hear when discussing rugs and furniture, definitely not ceilings. Turns out the bathroom above was leaking. However, this actually was a blessing in disguise. Not only did we discover a leak that would have turned out to be problematic down the road, knowing the textured ceilings would need repaired made the decision to sand them down quite easy. To try and match the texture would have been nearly impossible, and anytime I can find a legitimate reason to skim out textured ceilings, I do.

Here was the room midway through construction:

Below are a few pictures with the new paint on the wall (we went with Tapestry Beige by Benjamin Moore). This is by far my favorite beige, especially when dealing with tile and hardwood floors that have an orange tone. Sorry for the poor image quality....

Ok, back to details of the design plan:

I was trying to find a healthy balance between traditional and modern.
My clients wanted to be sure we left space for the kids to play. The section of the room near the large window was strategically reserved since it is also visible from the kitchen.
We wanted a soft, kid friendly ottoman that would also withstand potential sippy cup spills, impromptu art projects, unstable toddlers,etc.
For the same reasons as mentioned above, we went with slip covered sofas.
I used orange and reds as our accent colors to tie in the terra cotta colored tile floors as well as the surrounding rooms.
The large jute rug with herringbone pattern is stylish, but will withstand the wear and tear that comes with having two boys under the age of 2.
The wood cabinet/ console from IKEA will serve as extra toy storage.
The mirror above the fireplace will help bounce light and keep the center of the room feeling open.
The fireplace mantel was a taupe color that completely disappeared into the stone of the fireplace so we stained it a rich espresso color to create a focal point and a bit of POP.

We added several recessed can lights and the orb pendant from Ballard Designs is centered above the ottoman.
The unforeseen plumbing issues forced us to allocate more of the budget to contractor work than we initially planned, so we ended up switching out the media cabinet in the plan for this one. This switch alone saved a lot of money!

From what I hear, everything is coming together nicely. I am due back for a visit, so I will be sure to post final after pictures soon.

I'm curious, what surprises have you encountered in your projects? Did they lead to a better outcome?