Inspiration: Bri’s living room

Inspiration: Bri’s living room

It’s no secret that I adore Bri Emery of Designlovefest/Blogshop and Emily Henderson of HGTV’s Secrets From a Stylist, so when the two collaborated to design the living room in Bri’s new apartment, the results could only be fabulous.

I talked last week about how I’m gravitating towards a more pared back, less cluttered look for living spaces, and Bri’s living room is a great example. This is a much different kind of space than what I shared last week, though. That was all about being minimal, and this is all about being fun. There is plenty of stuff in this living room — cool art, lots of plants, some knickknacks — but it all looks deliberate and never messy or random. The ability to do this well is what separates the pros from the amateurs! (Me being very, very amateur, ha!)

I think the key here is COLOR. If you look at this room, there are basically three colors that you see repeated over and over — turquoise, hot pink, and a little bit of yellow — with a whole lot of white to balance it all out. By repeating these colors throughout the space, you don’t get confused about where to look, with too many colors competing for your attention. It all looks unified, deliberate, and edited. The colors are so vibrant, but the repetition and the white space keep the room still feeling calm and comfortable. This is a place where you could relax and hang out, but it is completely put together and sophisticated. (And how much do you love this dining area below? From the table itself, to the light fixture, to the absolutely amazing photograph by Max Wanger…  sigh.)

It isn’t easy to put together a space like this. Thinking about my own living areas, it would mean making some hard choices about what to put away and what to leave out, and it also requires an investment. I don’t like spending a lot of money on furniture (90% of ours is hand-me-down or Target!), but Andy and I have talked about how we’ll eventually start moving some of our old stuff to storage and replace it with things that feel more like us, that we can have for a long time. It’s kind of scary, but it also sounds like a ton of fun to me… if only Emily Henderson were here to help!!

{ See a ton more pictures of Bri’s living room on her blog Designlovefest and in the LA Times. All photos by Laure Joliet. Designed by Emily Henderson. }