A Comfy, Inspiring Condo Is Brimming With Good Vibes & Positive Energy

Name: Justine Celina Maguire and partner Adam
Location: Calgary — Alberta, Canada
Size: 1550 square feet
Years lived in: 6 years, owned

My partner and I both lead very busy lives and our home is our sanctuary. It’s also where I live and work—so creating a warm, inviting living room where we can relax, unwind and hang out with friends was really important to me. My ultimate goal was to create a comfortable, creatively inspiring room brimming with good vibes and positive energy! Our apartment is six years old and we purchased it from a builder who was inspired by earth’s natural elements. That inspiration was one of the reasons I originally fell in love with this apartment—so I used that concept as my inspiration for our living room refresh as well.

I believe homes are meant to be lived in and fully enjoyed—and there’s a lot of living (and working) that happens in this space! Neither of us like spaces to that look too polished or precious. Because of my passion for DIY and making things with my hands, it was important for me to include a lot of handmade items and foraged pieces (all the driftwood in this space is from my friend Kelsey’s lake, where we’ve spent many girls’ weekends over the years!). So, in keeping with the natural elements theme, I selected textures, materials and flora found in nature that age gracefully—including wool, leather, wood, marble, stone, crystal and purifying salt with lots of air cleansing plants—plus some fresh springtime blooms masterfully arranged by Rebecca Dawn Design to bring the space to life.

From home decor to personal style, I love an eclectic, layered aesthetic. Our living room features mixed metals and lots of natural, layered textures to achieve a laid back, homey feeling. Layered rugs are trending at the moment—and they’re a great way to experiment with texture and colour in a space by keeping your area rug neutral and having fun with your smaller layering rug!

Our new couch and armchair are extremely comfortable, but my favourite spot in any living room is actually perched on the floor, cross legged. So I brought in lots of relaxed, alternative seating and a pouf to set up around the coffee table. Since we live an apartment, having versatile seating options was another priority of ours—it’s also the reason why we transitioned from a sectional to a couch and armchair. There’s nothing worse than company feeling cramped in a space with awkward seating!

One of the main issues in previous living room set up was storage. Although we have decent square footage, we looked for pieces with lots of concealed storage to keep the space clean and relatively clutter free. I love being able to style our coffee table and sideboard with a few pieces of decor I can switch out depending on the season (or my mood!). Neutral vases, salt lamps, natural stones and crystals, plants, candles and gorgeous hardcover books are a few of my favourite little luxuries to finish a space and create an inviting atmosphere.

Another way we played with texture in this space was with pillows and throws. I love all these different textures against the warm leather. From Mongolian lamb, to macrame with metallic thread, to velvet, to wool, to fringe—you’ll find it in our living room! Since the colour palette is neutral with pops of blush, I felt like we could really have fun with the textures in our space to make it feel warm and cozy. I love curling up with glass of wine in front of the fireplace after a long day!

Although this project took much longer than we originally anticipated due to some furniture delays (our couch and chair were back ordered and took a couple of months longer than expected to come in!), it was actually a blessing in disguise and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the way it came together. Taking our time while we waited for our furniture to be delivered and mindfully curating each piece of decor that we brought into our living room has made it so meaningful for both of us—I know it’s a space we’ll enjoy for years to come.

Thanks, Justine !

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*This submission has been edited for clarity and length