Natalie's House




About a month ago, a very nice reader named Natalie contacted me and asked if I would find inspiration photos for her house. It was a little funny to treat her house as "if it were mine", but it was fun, and I thought you might enjoy seeing the results as well.

Natalie sent me the photos from the listing before they owned the house, so the furniture you'll see belongs to the previous homeowner, who had done a beautiful job.  Natalie mentioned that she preferred a slightly less traditional look, and that the wall under the dining room wainscoting was now painted solid brown.  (You can see a peek of it to the left of the french doors.) That was all I needed to be off to the races.

Here's the living room from the listing:



The first photo I found was this, designed by Amanda Webster.  Can you believe the shelves have the same shape as Natalie's?  I loved the brown behind the shelves to tie in with the dining room brown. It looks like a textured grasscloth, which is a great idea.

Next I thought about furniture arrangement. Brooke Giannetti's Santa Monica living room had a similar floor plan to Natalie's.


I liked both Brooke's and Amanda's furniture choices, as well, because they have a relaxed traditional feel. 

Finally, this suggestion was the wild card, but I thought if she painted the fireplace surround and bookcase to tie-in with the dining room, it would really shake up the traditional feel, and look something like this:


I also like the pared-down accessory arrangement, and the large painting over the mantel. 

Here's her dining room. As mentioned, the lower wall is now solid brown.



I know, the top and bottom colors here are flip-flopped from what Natalie has, but you get the idea. I'm digging that square table with benches, as well as the artwork and chandelier.  The room has a nice transitional feel that is still elegant, but in a more relaxed way. 

Next is the kitchen:


 I really liked this kitchen's paint color against those creamy-white cabinets, so I played around with the Benjamin Moore paint visualizer, and this is what I got:


I tried a few brown variations, but this color, Cattail, most closely matched the inspiration photo. It also seems to have a little gray in it, which makes it a nice on-trend brown.

You can see how Natalie's beautiful house certainly made it easy to find great inspiration photos and new ideas. Coming up in the next post, I'll show the bedrooms and bath, and her really cool sunroom/den. You won't want to miss it!


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