This White-Walled Living Room Gets an Unexpected, Elegant Makeover
ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER
HOME TYPE: House
STYLE: Colorful, Eclectic, Maximalist
SKILL LEVEL: Professional
RENTAL FRIENDLY: No
Sometimes, when you first move into a home, there are so many design decisions to make that it’s overwhelming. Chasing Paper founder Elizabeth Rees calls this “decision fatigue,” and she had it after renovating her home five years ago. As such, she went with mostly white walls in her home, with pops of color. No wallpaper or paint or anything.
But in her latest living room makeover, Elizabeth Rees went all-in on wallpaper — and wallpaper that she designed at that! “It started with the wallpaper and built from there,” Elizabeth says.
The wallpaper makes for fun pattern play.
“I have dreamed of creating my own line of wall covering for 13 years, and when it finally happened, it felt deeply personal,” Elizabeth says. The pattern she designed and selected for her living room is called Legacy Leaves.
Elizabeth says her goal was for “the room to feel rich and lived in and full of pattern and color.”
Arranging the furniture took some trial and error.
Elizabeth says if she could change one thing about the room, it would be the blue-tiled fireplace, but she chose that five years ago during the remodel and had a slightly different vision for the room then. “While I think the blue is fun, I would have perhaps gone with another material that would be a bit more classic.”
This time around, she made furniture choices to balance out the blue, like the the armchairs. “The styling of the room was so fun. I got to shop for new items, create new life for furnishings and decor I have had for years, and create moments in the room that felt unexpected,” Elizabeth says, adding that the biggest obstacle she encountered was second-guessing herself. “The room is long and narrow, so that was a bit of a design challenge,” she says.
She also “learned how expensive window coverings are!” she says. “Holy cow! But they make the room and are something we will have for decades to come.” And those help create cohesion with the blue, too.
The bench is an upcycle with leftover curtain fabric.
Speaking of the curtains, one of Elizabeth’s favorite pieces in the “after” is the blue patterned bench. “The little skirted bench I found at a thrift store and [had] recovered and added a skirt with the leftover material from the drapes,” she says. “It’s so sweet, and I love the scale!”
Overall, she says she loves “all the texture and pattern play,” in the room. “It feels layered but not chaotic … It feels like me!”
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
Further Reading
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
