Decor

The Most Calming Living Room I Ever Did See

July 13, 2020

Our Home Editor, Audrey, takes us on a tour of her gorgeous living room, decorated in calming neutral tones and textures.

Welcome to our living room! While it’s the least-utilized space in our house, it's certainly my favorite from a design perspective. The living room was a huge selling point when we first saw the house back in February of 2019 – I knew there was potential the second I saw the large windows and vaulted ceiling. I also quickly realized that the layout of the room would be tricky.

The living room is long and narrow, with a fireplace in the middle of one wall, a large, arched window in the middle of another, and the entrance to the dining room dominating a third. There was only one wall that could possibly be used for a television, and it took us months to figure out a seating configuration that made sense based on the location of the TV. To make things easier, we chose a television that doubles as art when you aren’t using it.

During renovations, we did several things to the living room that made it feel more updated and workable: we painted everything white (including the vaulted ceiling beams!), removed all of the track lighting, added 4 wall sconces, laid new hard wood floors, and updated the tile in front of the fireplace. This gave us a fresh start as we started to bring in furniture and décor.

Before & After Renovations

This Preteen’s Bedroom Got A MAJOR Makeover

July 8, 2020

Before

When I was 9 or so, I decided that I wanted my bedroom to be painted in shades of purple and teal (it was 1990; I have no other excuse for this) - and my parents, to their immense credit, let me actually do it. Which is great! Everyone should have a regrettably painted preteen room; it's a rite of passage.

But another rite of passage is when you age out of that room, and suddenly find yourself wanting something a bit more...peaceful. The teenage years can be rough ones, and I think having your own space to retreat to is an absolute essential. So when my friend Margo's daughter Claire told me that she didn't like her room anymore and wanted something that felt more "her"....

Decor

A Very Malibu Makeover

February 18, 2020

sunset with my loves

CLEARLY the point of living in Malibu is to enjoy all that beach-adjacentness as much and as often as possible, which means creating a lovely outdoor space was fairly high on my priority list from the second I moved in. I got rid of all of my outdoor furniture when I moved - it was so old that moving it would have been more expensive than it was worth - which left me in the market for some new stuff. But my wraparound deck situation perplexed me a little. It's very long, and quite narrow, and the only area big enough for a table is next to the front door.

Here is where having a friend like Audrey is a blessing from the home decorating gods: I asked Audrey what she thought I should do with the deck, and do you know what she sent me?

Decor

Today In “Who Knew?!”

February 2, 2020

Here is my kitchen. It's where I spend perhaps 75% of my day. There's the cooking and puttering and such, but those barstools are also my writing spot, the kids' homework spot, and (more often than not, alas) where we eat dinner, with the kids sitting on the stools and me leaning over the countertop on the other side (whatever, formal sit-down dinners are overrated).

There's something that my kitchen's missing, though.

Before & After Renovations

How We Turned a Doctor’s Office into Our Guest House

January 22, 2020

Home contributor Audrey completely reimagines a former doctor's office in her new house...with jaw-dropping results.

When we were looking for our new house, we knew that we needed a space for guests. My family lives in Texas, and we love having them out to visit. We also have friends who regularly come to Los Angeles, so we almost always have someone staying with us. When we first toured our new house, we noted the detached doctor’s office behind the house, which had three rooms – a waiting room, a bathroom, and a main office. I knew that with a little work we could convert the space into something that would allow us to comfortably host frequent visitors.

Main room, before

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