Helping a Decorating-Challenged Friend Decorate Her New Home

In August 2011, my former neighbor moved and built a new home.  I was sad to lose a neighbor, but excited about the opportunity to decorate her new home.  My neighbor downsized her home--she went from 2,600 sf to 2,100 sf.  Amazingly, she was able to bring everything from the old home to the new home.  The new home had the same number of rooms, but the secondary bedrooms, formal dining room, and living room were smaller than her previous home.

My neighbor was the best type of client:  she let me have total control over decorating her home!  First of all, she has beautiful furniture.  She purchased new furniture for her study because her old furniture was Victorian.  She also needed new/updated artwork.  Fortunately for me, my neighbor doesn't enjoy shopping for furniture and accessories.  But, I do!  Secondly, her builder constructed a beautiful home with a lot of nice architectural features--coffered ceilings, crown molding, hand scraped hardwood floors, 11 and 12 ft ceilings.  So, having nice furniture and a home with good bones is icing on the cake. 


Here is a photo of what her living room looked like totally empty.  Notice the coffered ceiling.

Now check out what I accomplished by placing her furniture, artwork, and accessories in the room:

The sofa needs a few colorful accessory pillows to make it pop.