Bronze Escape

November 27, 2020 Amber Guyton

Buying a new home is exciting, especially at the start of a new life together. For these DMV newlyweds, decorating their townhome was a daunting task, so they reached out to BLB to give them a helping hand.

Alice and Reggie are truly a power couple! The hardworking physician and wellness entrepreneur recently married and purchased their first home. Because they both work so hard and are incredibly busy, they sought Blessed Little Bungalow’s help in turning their house into a sanctuary that reflects their interests and gives them a space they would love and enjoy.

Though they wanted to decorate the entire house, we began the project focused on the basement floor’s entryway, home office and family room, and the largest space in the home – the main floor including the kitchen, dining and living rooms.

BEFORE:

When designing an open concept space, it’s important to approach each section of it with intention. Though not divided with any walls or barriers, we created designation and separation with area rugs in the dining and living spaces, and built functional spaces in other parts of the room with furniture and vignettes.

It was important to Alice to create a comfortable, yet sophisticated space that reflected their family with good quality furniture. She loved West Elm and wanted their home to be nice like one of their showrooms, but also feel lived-in and livable. The space was large and well-lit, and they were starting from scratch with all of the furniture. After considering a few different color palettes, I put together the following mood boards for the family to consider for the main floor.

Before purchasing furniture for the room, we decided to transform the space with fresh paint and new lighting. We painted the longest and pony walls a beautiful teal blue called Tsunami by Behr. Walking up the stairs to see this instant pop of color would give the room the ultimate “wow” factor the couple was looking for. We’d also add brass accents and fixtures to contrast the color well and warm up the space. We found a beautiful mid-century modern brass bulb chandelier for the dining space and brass and glass flush mount lights for both of the staircases. This new lighting also complemented the new pendants recently installed above their kitchen bar.

For the dining space, Alice was looking for a natural wooden table with 6 upholstered chairs, and bar stools that wouldn’t take up much space nearby. We topped a stain-resistant, terracotta color rug with West Elm’s walnut mid-century expandable dining table, a classic look for the new dining space. We also purchased a walnut slated buffet and last-look brass mirror on the pony wall to add dimension, functional storage and an additional surface needed when entertaining guests for cocktails or dinner.

For the living room, the remaining wall was still pretty large, but we were able to fill it well by framing the TV with brass and white shelving on each side and a raw mango wood brass inlay media console underneath. For seating, we selected a gorgeous gray velvet sectional and a bright marigold accent chair placed adjacently to the L-shaped sofa. We used various materials for the coffee and end tables to design a more collected look and positioned a new floor lamp by the accent chair to create a bright reading nook in the bay window. Similar to the new mud cloth print rug, we added more texture and patterns with pillows, a throw, several baskets and neutral curtains in the space. As a new Plant Mom, Alice and I also included maintenance-friendly plants on multiple surfaces throughout the living room to add a little life and more color in every corner.

After all of the larger furniture pieces arrived, I traveled to Maryland to finish things up before the summer months. I painted an accent wall on the basement floor with the same paint used upstairs and I shopped for, staged and styled each space designed for their home. During our shopping adventure, we hit up several of my favs like HomeGoods and Target, and spent quite a bit of time in Home Sense, one of the TJX brands I had yet to visit (Home Sense is sooooo nice, I was very impressed! So sad they only have store locations in the Northeast.). I also enjoyed arranging the couples large collection of books on their new bookcases (ROY G. BIV forever!) and creating a beautiful gallery wall of family photos with my favorite Target frames as a backdrop to their living space.

My favorite part of the project was by far the new artwork included. I’ve admired Jeff Manning’s art for years and was thrilled when the homeowners selected two of his prints for their dining and living spaces. The Black art, moody colors and metallic tones elevated the room with just the right amount of elegance, matted in custom frames seen from every angle of the main floor.

I’m so in love with this home! The dining and living spaces are only half of the work completed, but I’m excited to share Part I of the project with you!

AFTER:

I’m so grateful to Alice and Reggie for not only giving me the opportunity to decorate their new gorgeous home, but also welcoming me into it as one of their first guests as we completed the design for each space. It’s clients like them that make me feel like family and enjoy every ounce of what I do!

For more photos of the project, check out my Portfolio and #ProjectBronzeEscape on Instagram. And stay tuned as I reveal the basement-level transformation in early 2021!

Be Blessed,

ACG

Design Deets:

Paint: Tsunami by Behr

Sectional Sofa: West Elm

Area Rugs: RugsUSA, Wayfair

Dining Table: West Elm

Dining Chairs: Wayfair

Media Console: West Elm

Bookcases: West Elm

Coffee Table: West Elm

Chandelier: Wayfair