DESIGN | Moutain House Project - Living Room

If you follow me over on Instagram, you have probably seen my updates about a project I'm working on for friends out in Colorado. They are building a ski house (lucky ducks) and have asked me to help design the project, which is a dream come true! I'm designing the whole place, so I will have many rooms to share, but today I wanted to show you my plan for the Living Room.

My friends didn't want a traditional ski house vibe. They just wanted the house to be a cozy comfortable place for the family to escape to on the weekends. With that in mind, I have kept the giant carved bears and elk horns to a minimum. The Living Room design really started with a pair of chairs we scored on Chairish. I had originally wanted the room's accent color to be a bright chartreuse green, echoing the color of aspen leaves, so when we spotted this pair of chairs for sale in the Denver area we jumped on them!

The wife was also was dead set on navy couches, so that informed the basic palette of green and blue, a combo I love!

Here is the plan for the space.  Since they want to be able to seat a large number of people while still maintaining this as a slightly formal space, I opted to do two sofas facing each other rather than a sectional. Another seating area with the chartreuse chairs will be at the end of the couches.  

Here is my design board for the space.

The deep navy velvet sofas will be a nice balance to the bright green of the chairs, and I'll weave in cooler shades of green in the throws and pillows. I also wanted to bring in an accent of burgundy through vintage lighting and eventually an oriental rug to lay over the large jute area rug. My friends have two kids, and there will be many more visiting (like mine), so we had in mind durable materials and child friendly touches. We opted for upholstered ottomans to keep bumps and bruises at bay, and they will be topped with trays to collect spills. Like I said before, the "mountain vibes" are kept to a minimum, with just a few touches in the tartan and wood stump cocktail tables.

*Note in the sofas. The one pictured here is from Anthropologie, which up until recently hasn't had a showroom for their house and home collection. When you are going to invest some money into a sofa you really want to sit on it, right!? Well, I just checked the mail yesterday and what did I see but an announcement that they are opening a House and Home showroom right here in NYC at 195 Broadway! So if you are hoping to see some of their goods in person you don't have to wait long. 

So there is your first peek here at the Mountain House project!  Stay tuned for more designs coming your way.

xo, Kate

HOME | NYC Apartment Tour Part 2 - Living Room

Part 2 of the grand Apartment Tour!  Enter...the living room!

It is the most complete space and where Mads and I spend about 99.9% of our lives.  I have to say, I'm very happy with how it has come out.  It is light and bright, with a good mix of modern and vintage furnishings.  I tried to keep the color palette very neutral, sticking mostly with whites, grays, and natural woods.

Here is what the space looked like when we moved in:

Here is its first iteration with the West Elm Rug (I took this right before we changed it so they aren't exactly styled...):

...and here is what it looks like now:

 

So obviously the biggest change here was the rug.  When we first moved in I ordered the chenille herringbone rug from West Elm, which I was obsessed with, but it just wasn't right for a high traffic room. Clearly I should have realized this.  White chenille + a baby = no bueno.  But hey, I was blinded by love.

The new rug we ordered is fantastic!  I agonized over what to buy and even considered some very expensive options before finding this one at...drumroll please...Home Depot! I wanted something light that wouldn't drastically change the feel of the room, and most importantly be soft for a very mobile baby.  This definitely fits the bill.  I'm going to share my thoughts on the West Elm rug and the new one we purchased, so stay tuned for the scoop.

The other major change in the room was replacing an enormous Jens Risom desk with a smaller Danish modern table.  We still primarily use this area as a desk, but it is now easier to switch it up for dinner, and it's expandable in case we host parties.

Oh hey there little lady!

There isn't much I'm planning to change/add in this room, but here is my to-do list:
- install sconces on gallery wall for more light
- change the pulls on the tv cabinet (I already have my sights set on these agate beauties)
- add decorative tape to the blinds to dress them up a bit
- baby-proof the wire mess under the table

I feel like this is all very do-able.