The McOlson House: Making It Their Own

Meet Marie.

I was honored to have Marie as a beautiful bridesmaid during my wedding

I met her our freshman year of college. We were on the same floor in the dorms and soon decided we'd like to share off-campus housing once we were allowed to move out. We lived together for two years, in a tiny apartment and a rented single family house, so I had a pretty good idea about her style. She's one of those friends that you can pick right back up with, even if it's been months since you last talked.   

Marie and her husband Travis recently bought a house. She asked me to come over and give them some ideas on paint colors, layout, finishing touches, etc. I jumped at the chance! I spent a morning with the two of them, talking about pieces of furniture they had to keep, what we could change, what they like and don't like. Then I took pictures and measurements and started planning with mom. We did a lot of our brainstorming via a secret board on Pinterest. (Have you tried that? It's amazing!)

So here are the before photos of the space. Their biggest concern was the paint. The pale yellow is so not them. They want to add color, but aren't sure where or how much. So my goal is to add punches of color within a neutral palate.

As you walk in the front door, this room is on your right. It's a dining room/formal sitting room. You can see that they started to paint the ceiling white, but it made the yellow-ish paint look worse. So right now that's on hold until we pick a paint color.

 

This is the couch (with a matching chair) in the front room. We'll work with this, just switching up the placement and pillows.

 

This is the dining room view. The table is cocktail height. The light fixture is change-able as well.

 

The next room you walk into is the open, spacious kitchen. The granite color is great. They don't love the tile floor or backsplash, so I'll come up with some ideas for that as well.

 

From the kitchen you can see into the family room, where they spend the majority of their time. We'll work with all the furniture in here. Paint, window treatments and some punches of color will finish this off nicely.

 

This is a piece of art Marie recently bought. I am actually using it as my inspiration for the pops of color I'll use in the entire space. I'm thinking of hanging it on a wall you see right when you walk in--a point of view where you can see all the rooms. It will all make sense from that vantage point.
 

Mom and I were putting finishing touches on our design boards this weekend. I'll present them to Marie and Travis and get their feedback so we can make any adjustments before they're considered final.

This is SO fun!

Stay tuned for more,
Karli