Room of the Day: Vintage Posters Jump-Start a Happy Room Redesign
A bright and cheerful living room has this family feeling joyful again. See the before-and-afters
Becky Harris
April 27, 2016
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
It’s not often a designer’s preliminary meeting with clients is in a cancer treatment room, but that’s exactly where this lovely project started. “Last April, I got a call from a client during his wife’s first cancer treatment,” says interior designer Laura Lee. “He said he really needed to find something joyful he could give her to look forward to.” She packed up some catalogs and her iPad, and met with the couple during a chemotherapy treatment — a wonderful distraction for both of them that helped her get a sense of how to turn their drab living room into a cheerful place that reflected their personal style.
Before Photo
Photos by Alise O’Brien
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two teenagers
Location: St. Louis
Size: 350 square feet (32.5 square meters)
Designer: Laura Lee of Laura Lee Home
BEFORE: The room was drab and a hodgepodge of dark furniture. There were no draperies, and it wasn’t a happy space.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two teenagers
Location: St. Louis
Size: 350 square feet (32.5 square meters)
Designer: Laura Lee of Laura Lee Home
BEFORE: The room was drab and a hodgepodge of dark furniture. There were no draperies, and it wasn’t a happy space.
AFTER: The couple loves to travel and collect vintage things. Their vintage poster artwork served as the inspiration for the colors and spirit of the room. The Lillet poster seen in the entry here was the jumping-off point for the palette. “We pulled the blues, oranges and reds from the poster,” Lee says. “We lightened up the walls and made the room neutral around the perimeter so that the posters and colors could be a counterpoint of the design.”
The comfortable seating in the room includes a cream sofa, taupe tufted leather armchairs and orange swivel armchairs. “I kept the sofa light in order for the color to pop across the room,” the designer says. She also used a Fiber-Seal treatment on the sofa and rug, and chose indoor-outdoor fabric for the throw pillows to protect them from the family’s two dogs, which have free rein and love to get comfy in here as well.
Wall paint: Wind’s Breath OC24, Benjamin Moore; trim paint: Oxford White 869, Benjamin Moore; all lighting: Circa Lighting; round tables: Woodbridge
The comfortable seating in the room includes a cream sofa, taupe tufted leather armchairs and orange swivel armchairs. “I kept the sofa light in order for the color to pop across the room,” the designer says. She also used a Fiber-Seal treatment on the sofa and rug, and chose indoor-outdoor fabric for the throw pillows to protect them from the family’s two dogs, which have free rein and love to get comfy in here as well.
Wall paint: Wind’s Breath OC24, Benjamin Moore; trim paint: Oxford White 869, Benjamin Moore; all lighting: Circa Lighting; round tables: Woodbridge
The Greek key fabric on the ottoman was the first fabric they chose, and it brings the blue from the poster into the room. “She’s a risk taker and loves color,” Lee says. “We brought a lot of cheerful, bright color into the room but used enough neutrals to make it calm and livable.”
Ottoman: Vanguard; Greek key fabric: Anna French for Thibault
Ottoman: Vanguard; Greek key fabric: Anna French for Thibault
Before the redo, the room had wood blinds and no draperies. “Drapes were a great opportunity to spread the blue around the room,” Lee says. “The fabric was a splurge, but we had it early and were able to balance the budget accordingly.”
She used a carpet cut to room-size to anchor the seating area and hold everything together. “This was important,” she says. “Before, they had an 8-by-10 rug, and it cut the room into thirds.”
The fireplace also didn’t originally have the piece above the mantel. The wife’s father crafted it for them, and then plaster workers came over to match the molding at the top to the existing molding in the room. All the molding in the room is plaster, as are the walls. New sconces on the surround provide another layer of light.
The construction of the 1930s brick masonry home is wonderful but presented challenges for TV equipment. “It’s not like you can cut a hole into a stud because there are no studs,” Lee says. Instead, she ran an inconspicuous channel for the wires along the top of the mantel and down to the baseboards.
Fireplace surround paint: Taos Taupe 2111-40, Benjamin Moore; drapery fabric: Duralee; sofa: C.R. Laine; rug: Stanton Carpet; Basil linear sconces: Circa Lighting; all throw pillows: custom
She used a carpet cut to room-size to anchor the seating area and hold everything together. “This was important,” she says. “Before, they had an 8-by-10 rug, and it cut the room into thirds.”
The fireplace also didn’t originally have the piece above the mantel. The wife’s father crafted it for them, and then plaster workers came over to match the molding at the top to the existing molding in the room. All the molding in the room is plaster, as are the walls. New sconces on the surround provide another layer of light.
The construction of the 1930s brick masonry home is wonderful but presented challenges for TV equipment. “It’s not like you can cut a hole into a stud because there are no studs,” Lee says. Instead, she ran an inconspicuous channel for the wires along the top of the mantel and down to the baseboards.
Fireplace surround paint: Taos Taupe 2111-40, Benjamin Moore; drapery fabric: Duralee; sofa: C.R. Laine; rug: Stanton Carpet; Basil linear sconces: Circa Lighting; all throw pillows: custom
Lee plucked the orange in the swivel chairs’ woven upholstery from the posters. “The shortest person in this family is 5 feet 10 inches tall, and their son is 6-foot-5, so these chairs are really deep and comfortable for them,” she says.
Another vintage poster makes a peacock the mascot of the bar. The bar cabinet is a vintage find that had been ugly and brown. Lee had it painted a cheerful blue and added new hardware to dress it up.
An interesting styling aside: Lee says that many of her clients want the stocked-bar-cart look all the time, but have teenagers around the house and don’t want to leave alcohol out in the open. Lately, she’s been styling the crystal vessels with colored water, as is the case here, while the homeowners leave the real stuff locked up in a liquor cabinet.
An interesting styling aside: Lee says that many of her clients want the stocked-bar-cart look all the time, but have teenagers around the house and don’t want to leave alcohol out in the open. Lately, she’s been styling the crystal vessels with colored water, as is the case here, while the homeowners leave the real stuff locked up in a liquor cabinet.
A table behind the sofa provides room for reading lamps and books. Lee used warm metallics like gold, brass and bronze around the room on lamps, the sunburst mirror, side tables and nailheads.
Large Ring Form table lamps: Circa Lighting
Large Ring Form table lamps: Circa Lighting
Before Photo
BEFORE: Renovating this small sitting room was another part of the project. The room is open to the living room through an archway, and the French doors lead out to the deck.
“Before, no one wanted to hang out in here; it was just a pass-through space to the deck,” Lee says.
“Before, no one wanted to hang out in here; it was just a pass-through space to the deck,” Lee says.
AFTER: “Now they all love to spend time in here,” she says.
Lee carried the same paint color through here, as well as the inspiration from the poster. “This time, we grabbed the lime greens, yellows and reds from the poster,” she says.
The intricate coffee table brings in more warm metals. The cowhide was repurposed from the dining room and placed atop a natural fiber rug. “I love the layered look, and this is almost an indoor-outdoor kind of room,” Lee says. It also ties in two darker leather chairs on the other side of the coffee table, just out of view in this photo.
Lee carried the same paint color through here, as well as the inspiration from the poster. “This time, we grabbed the lime greens, yellows and reds from the poster,” she says.
The intricate coffee table brings in more warm metals. The cowhide was repurposed from the dining room and placed atop a natural fiber rug. “I love the layered look, and this is almost an indoor-outdoor kind of room,” Lee says. It also ties in two darker leather chairs on the other side of the coffee table, just out of view in this photo.
There’s a happy ending to this story. After a year of cancer treatments, the family recently celebrated the last one. “They are such a wonderful couple, and she’s a pillar of strength,” Lee says. Now they have a cheerful space where they can make new memories together.
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Browse more Rooms of the Day
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Beautiful. Love the graphic posters!
What a great husband! And the rooms are beautiful...
The room is great and recovery a tremendous addition. Lots of great ideas here for a welcoming and happy home.
I am
curious about a caption, however, about how it is becoming more of a trend for
people to stage a bar area without alcohol for the benefit of teens.
I
know that I am not American and so do not have the approach to alcohol
that has caused so much havoc in the US, but I admit that it seems a
little odd to me to think that alcohol is so irresistible and so
dangerous that it needs to be locked away from teens, but that it should
be celebrated with a fully established - if fictional - bar and through
the hanging of advertising in a home. If alcohol is something to keep
from young people, why reinforce drinking culture with a fake bar
standing in for the potentially thrilling danger of a locked cabinet
with the real stuff?
I will happily use this styling example for a
bar area I am putting together, but as someone who does like whisky and
other spirits and who is happy to have a variety available for
responsible use, I am not sure about this approach. I learned my
moderation by example, in a home where alcohol was present and visible,
consumed for pleasure and otherwise left alone. I inherited my
grandmother's decanters and keep them stocked - and I expect teenaged
and other visitors to treat their contents as they do other consumable goods in the house.Has so much changed in 30 years that this is an unreasonable expectation?