Home & Garden

Our resident interior designer turned this Riverside, CT, living room from cluttered to chic in !ve easy steps. By Stephanie Horton

Living Room Makeover

between the husband’s career in the city and the wife’s pedi-atrics residency (and their two preschool-age daughters), décor under- standably took a back seat. Although their living room has water views, generous proportions and lots of natural light, the dark color scheme and choppy floor plan didn’t do it justice. We worked together to create a simple but elegant space perfect for entertaining or curl-ing up with a story. B

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102 SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER 2012 / SERENDIPITYSOCIAL.COM

BEFOREThe hodge-

podge space was dark and

cluttered.

AFTERWe stuck to neutrals with

pops of accent color.

Photographs by JANE BEILES

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3. Embrace NeutralsBy changing the client’s room from navy to a soft beige, the space instantly felt larger and more soothing. Then we chose a grass-green accent color that created a strong connection with the outside lawn.

4. Mix Materials

The sofas on either side of the room

are identical, but we created distinct

vignettes by mixing dark woods with light

painted pieces and green accent items.

A matching suite of dark furniture

can’t achieve the same effect.

2. Go BigDon’t be afraid of

large scale. This Indian teak and

bone mirror mea-sures more than five feet across. It opens up the

space and makes more impact than

anything small.

1. Open Your Floor PlanPreviously there was only one sofa in the middle of the room and a china cabinet. By placing twin sofas against opposite walls we created two distinct seating areas for entertaining and maximized the flow of the room.

5. Use Bold Accent PiecesWe kept the large upholstered pieces, wall color and rug neutral. This makes the room more difficult to grow tired of and it creates a quiet canvas for the accent items. Here, the punch comes from this green ikat chair.