Before & After: Lost Living Room Finds Beautiful Balance
As marketing manager for Eventbrite, Sara is a professional social butterfly. She’s fun, fabulous, and loves to entertain, but her apartment in Boston’s Beacon Hill didn’t exactly reflect that. And, since she works from home, she wanted a space that inspired her. Sara decided to work with designer Victoria Solomon to add some style and cohesion to her place.
“When Sara and I first chatted, she shared that she definitely wanted this to be a bachelorette pad and to embrace a little femininity,” says Victoria. And with most city apartments, it needed to serve many purposes in a small space: working, entertaining, relaxing. To make room for those functions, some of Sara’s extraneous pieces had to go.
Sara was unknowingly making a common small space mistake: having too many too-small pieces, like her bulky two-seater sofa and side chair. “We were able to get an even larger sofa in the space while making it seem open by combining the purpose of the chair and sofa and having a sofa with cleaner lines,” Victoria explains.
“There wasn’t a designated dining area and there were two different bookshelves and a TV console on the long wall across the sofa. It felt like a lot of items in the space existed without a clear purpose. So we consolidated the items of furniture and created a dining nook near the window. And then combined the previous desk and bookshelf into a beautifully decorated shelf area.”
“The walls were originally a beige and the trim was an off-white and it made the space seem so much smaller and darker,” says Victoria. “I think [it’s] the thing that changed the space the most.”
“I feel like the room came out as a true reflection of myself,” says Sara. “It couldn’t be anymore perfect.”
Sources:
- Sofa, Custom in Kravet 1066376-02 Velvet
- Throw Pillows, Custom by Motif Pillows
- Throw Blanket, Z Gallerie Chinchilla Throw
- Roman Shades, Custom by Recreate Your
- Ottoman, My Chic Nest Liv Ottoman
- Sconces, Pottery Barn Barclay Sconce
- Side Table, Wisteria Marble Top Side Table
- Dining Table, CB2 Hackney Marble Table
- Dining Chairs, Kartell Louis Ghost Chair
- TV Chest, Reual James Metropolitan 3-Drawer Chest
- Bookshelf, Wayfair TFG Manhattan Bookcase
- Acrylic Tray, West Elm Acrylic Tray
- Pink Buddha, Boy-Girl Tees Laughing Pink Buddha
- Blue Ceramic Dishes, Red Raven Studios Glacier Blue Dishes
- Banana Bud Vase, Jonathan Adler
- Origami Star, Domino
- Foo Dog Bookends, One Kings Lane
- 6″ Octopus Figurine, One Kings Lane
- Rose Gold Wishbone, One Kings Lane
- Gold Elephant, Vintage
- Blonde Hair Print, Elizabeth Mayville
- Surfer Illustration, Olives Raine Art
- Houndstooth Fashion Illustration, Olives Raine Art
- Crown Print, Prrint
- Blue Door Print, Hello Twigs
- Bike Print, Hello Twigs
- Shake It Off Print, Sweet Peony Press
- Connecticut Print, Poppy and Pine Cone
- Giclee Colorful Prints 1 and 2, Parima Creative Studio
- Portland Map Foil-Pressed Print, Minted
- Golden Gait Print, Minted
- All in the Details Print, Minted
- Pink India Fly Print, Minted
- Mirrored and White Gallery Frames, West Elm
See more photos over on Victoria’s flickr page.