Gebhardt Casual Living Room: From Design Board to Transformation

13 Sep Gebhardt Casual Living Room: From Design Board to Transformation

Don’t you love seeing transformations?  Me too.

Sabrina contacted me about doing some design boards for her, and I knew from our first conversation, this project was going to be fun.  She had just moved into a 1920’s home, and needed two living rooms to get situated before her son’s birthday party: a casual living room and a formal living room.  The great thing about her home is its ample amount of windows/light and tons of old house character. So much potential here…

Looking from the back wall out to the formal living room

Left wall when you walk into the room

Back Wall

Right wall when you walk into the room

She wanted this room to be casual, but still pretty.  Relaxing, inviting, and FUNCTIONAL for her family.  It needed to house some toys, be conducive to play for her two little ones, and be a room you wanted to be in.  Sabrina also had another major request:  “I don’t want the television to be the first thing you notice about the room!”  Something I loved about her:  she wanted color!  Since the walls were gray, she wanted color in the fabrics and accessories, with navy being a main accent color for the room.  With all this in mind, I put together this design board.

Sabrina had already purchased a pair of fluffy comfy couches off of Craigslist for the room so that was taken care of.  She also bought the chic bamboo chest to use as a media console, and a pair of upholstered benches from Kristen and I via Gypsy Soul.  To disguise the television, I proposed to install a large panel on the long windowless wall, painted in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy and trimmed with made-to-match custom molding.  Since windows frame every other wall of this room, I wanted the long wall to also have visual interest.  White and black frames would surround the television, drawing the eye from the big black box to the photos.  I felt the white bamboo chest would really pop against the navy, and I liked the idea of the television being off-center.  For more “teleguise” ideas, you might like this post.

If you read yesterday’s post, you know what the benches looked like before, and their transformation story.  When I created the inspiration board, I had the wrong impression about the amount of toy storage their family would need, so in the end, we went with a smaller antique chest they already had with two rattan baskets underneath.  She was not crazy about the curtain fabric on the board, so I went on the hunt and found an awesome ikat-y fabric for $3.00 A YARD at my favorite secret fabric store, Home Fabrics & Rugs.  There are not many of them, and only one in Texas (where I live), so if you don’t have one near you, I am very sorry.  It is crazy what you can find in there.  Once I found a bolt of the same fabric Pottery Barn was selling for $58 a yard for $12.99 a yard!

Without further adieu, welcome to the Gebhardt’s beautiful, comfortable, inviting, and happy casual living room.

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

The pillows on the sofa and loveseat are mostly from Home Goods.  White lamp from Home Goods also.

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Still loving how the benches turned out!

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Furniture like this is so handy when you need more seating, and it is comfy to put your feet on while watching football games.  Also, I liked that the benches didn’t take up very much floor space to allow some room for the kids to play.

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

The pillows you see there in the corner (you can see the mock-up/idea on the design board also) are floor pillows for Sabrina’s two little ones, a boy and a girl.  I loved the idea of them having their own space in the room, something they could snuggle with, and lounge on.  I had the covers custom made with a zipper (yes, they are washable!), and they are stuffed with two 30×30 faux down pillows from Cutting Corners.  The covers are 52″ x 27″ for those of you who like to know details like that, or you want to replicate the idea.  Red ticking stripe fabric is called “Timeless” in crimson from Cutting Corners, and the floral fabric is called “Tanda” also found at Cutting Corners.  (We had extra floral fabric left over – it has this wonderful linen-y feel, and the colors are sooooo pretty – so we made extra pillows for the couch out of it.)

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

While we originally pondered getting the West Elm Andalusia rug, we decided to stick with what Sabrina already had, this diamond jute 8×10 rug.  I think it looks terrific in there!

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Just a reminder – this fabric was THREE DOLLARS A YARD!!  I loved the watercolor-y feel to it and the varied shades of blue.

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

Can you believe how awesome this wall looks??!!  I think Sabrina and her hubby were a bit nervous about the idea at first, but they went with it, and they love how it turned out!  It makes me so happy to look at it.  It is like a storybook of their life on the wall.

P.S.  If you live in the DFW area and need a wonderful newborn/child/family photographer, check out Sabrina’s work here.  Lovely!!

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

This is probably my favorite picture.  I love making my little clients happy, too!

Image by Sabrina Gebhardt

What do you think?

Come back tomorrow for the formal living room reveal!

P.S.  If you have any questions about the space I didn’t answer, feel free to ask them in the comments!  Also, if you are interested in a design board(s) and/or other interior design services or consultations, please use the contact page or email me at submissions @AStoriedStyle .com.