Living Room

More of the Living Room + a Holiday Contest With a $250 Prize For You

Okay, it’s finally time to tell you about the project I’ve been working on and it includes a chance for you to win $250 from any online retailer!

The reason I reshot the living room is that the lovely peeps over at Houzz invited me to participate in a contest called “Full Houzz for the Holidays.” They asked “How do you transform your entertaining area to accommodate family and friends at the holidays while still maintaining a well-designed space?”

I shared my answer in this Ideabook and I would love your support! All you have to do is click over to my Ideabook and leave a comment at the bottom. One comment = one vote. (Your comment can be anything and as short as you want.)

The three ideabooks with the most comments/votes by December 2, 2011 will win and everyone who commented on the winning books will be entered into a drawing to win $250, $100 and $50 gift certificates from any online retailer. Just in time for the holidays!

Thanks so much for your support!

(Photos: FROM THE RIGHT BANK with an SLR this time!)

 

A Higher and Wider Look at My Living Room

I think I got a little ahead of myself yesterday when I said I’d be telling you about a new project today. It’s going to have to wait until tomorrow but I can tell you it involves my living room which I’ve been reshooting since the big reveal last month. I especially like how this first photo turned out so I wanted to share it you.

This one also gives you a better idea of the entire space:

Would you believe I shot these with my iphone?! It’s wider than the wide angle lens on my SLR so I was able to fit more of the room into the frame. Incredible.

Okay, more tomorrow. I swear.

(Photos: FROM THE RIGHT BANK)

Big Reveal: The Living Room

At long last, here is our living room! As the formal living room, it doesn’t see much action so I decided to use it as a living room/library.

The built-in was the perfect place to house all of my art and design books and with all the natural light, it’s a great place to read. These shelves get tweaked constantly but here is how it looks currently.

Across the coffee table is this:

Across the table the other way:

As you enter:

A closer look at the mantle:

I was in the mood for a pretty bare mantle this weekend. (This is another thing that gets tweaked almost daily.)

The antique baby grand player piano that came from my parents:

I used to play as a kid but can’t anymore so it’s nice that it can play itself! (Growing up, some neighbors thought it was me playing when they heard it playing on its own and they would gush about how beautifully I played. Sometimes, I just let them think that!)

A closer look at the art wall:

The art is from various galleries, antique markets and ebay. I’m always on the hunt for nice pieces so I envision this wall getting completely filled out eventually.

So that’s it! Next up, the master bedroom. It’s time to whip that room into shape once and for all!

***Don’t miss the Elce Stockholm Pillows Giveaway open to readers worldwide!***

(Photos: FROM THE RIGHT BANK)

Sneak Peek of the Living Room

It has been such an exciting week here at FTRB and I’m so, so grateful for all of your support – for my new shop, the One Kings Lane sale and just for FTRB in general. Thank you so much for your visits, your comments and your friendship. It truly means the world to me.

Okay, enough gushing and on to our living room. I’m still pulling it together but it’s time to give you a sneak peek already!  You knew an art wall was a given:

This is what is across from that wall:

and underneath the wall:

and what’s on the coffee table:

I’m waiting on my new rug to arrive (to die for) and I’m still working on shots of the rest of the room so stay tuned for a more full reveal very soon!

If you’re visiting from OKL or are just new to FTRB, here are a few links to help you get acquainted:

-You can see everything I’ve done with my house so far here.
-There is a tour of my last home on Design Sponge here.
-You can shop my virtual shop for one-of-a-kind antiques, original art and vintage gems here.
-There’s more than you ever wanted to know about me here.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone and if you haven’t had time to stop by yet, the One Kings Lane sale runs until Monday morning. Thanks again for a ridiculously fun week!

(Photos: FROM THE RIGHT BANK)

Feeling Rusty

Hey, everybody! I hope you all had a good week. I had the best time in Paris. God I love that place but I think the best part was being able to catch up with old friends.

I’m now home for at least a couple of months so I’m going to be turning my full attention to the scary to do list for the house!  The living room is nearly finished and I’m still loving the palette of blues with rusts and oranges for it. Seeing these rooms makes me love rust even more.

Rust. Who would have thought?

(Photos: Marie Claire Italy)

New Palette for the Living Room: Oranges and Blues

My beloved orange chair has been in five different rooms in this house, looking for the perfect place to fit in. I think I’ve finally found it: the living room. This of course throws a big wrench into my plans for a neutral living room but what else is new? So my latest thinking is to use the orange and different shades of it – rusts, corals, etc. complemented by a good dose of navy and inky blue against the gray, white, cream and gold that’s in there now. Here are my inspiration pictures.


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This is a really unexpected combination for me – not one I would have ever used before. It seems I’m having a lot of surprising ideas lately.  Your thoughts?

(Photos: 1,5,6 via Coco+Kelley 2.Dwell Studio 3-4.Elle Decor)

More on Decorating by Feel

Today I’d like to continue that discussion about decorating by feel that I started a few months ago. I’m drawn more and more to rooms for their feel more than how they look. Many of you got what I was talking about the last time and had some really great insight.

Here are two more rooms that have a wonderful air of creativity and history about them. Of course, the individual pieces and features of these rooms are gorgeous on their own, but it’s the effect they have together and the special ambiance they create that make them so appealing to me. How do they feel to you? I’d love to hear.

If you missed my first post on this topic, you can find it here.

(Photos: 1.via Delight by Design 2.William Waldron)

A Sprinkling of Gold for the Living Room

I’ve been really focused on the living room the past couple of weeks probably because we’re expecting guests (and let’s face it, that’s the only time a formal living room ever gets used). As I mentioned Monday, the colors I’m using are gray, white and taupe with touches of black. I forgot to mention I’m  using gold as well. Here are some more inspiration pictures for the room that I’ve been storing.

I seriously doubt I’ll pull it all together before everyone arrives on Friday but I’m doing my best!

I obviously have gold on the brain as it’s also a prominent color in my Christmas decor this year. Aren’t the silver cups and these gold pots de crème just stunning?

I should have some more pictures of my Christmas decorations tomorrow.

(Photos: 1.via Trouvais 2.Lonny 3&6.via All the Best 4.Ditte Isager 5.via This is Glamorous)

More Gray and White Rooms I Can’t Get Out of My Head

Gray and white with a dash of taupe and black is the color palette for my living room. I think this room does that combo perfectly:

I seriously die over this island every time I see it.

I don’t think there’s a more perfect shade of gray.

This room is so simple and serene:

This bathroom actually has me rethinking my “white towels only” rule:

I really think I could happily live in a house that is entirely gray and white! What about you?

(Photos: 1.Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles 2.via Houzz 3.via Diversion Project 4.via Greige)

Decorating By Feel

I decorate a lot by feel. While I’m completely a visual person and I’m always looking at inspirational images, often it’s more of a feel of a space that intrigues me more than what it looks like.

This is a great example of what I’m talking about:

While this room is much more traditional than my style, the feeling I get from it is exactly I would like to re-create in our living room:  on the formal side but also warm, inviting and relaxed. In other words, I want my living room to feel like this even if it doesn’t look like this. Do you know what I mean?

I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot so you may see some more posts on it over the next few weeks.

Thank you for all of your visits and comments this week. Have a great weekend!

(Photo: MyHomeIdeas)

Room Love + What’s My Name?

Picture 56

I just had to share this room. Louis chairs, Beni Ouarain rug, baby grand, great art wall, lovely pedestal table, huge window and beams. LOVE IT. So much so that it could almost be my “Style in One Picture.” 

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So, have you found yours yet? I’m thrilled that over 100 brave souls have participated in the challenge so far! It’s been described as torturous and agonizing (among other things) but it’s so much fun! If you haven’t had a chance yet, join us!

rightbank_banner-final

Speaking of fun, I know that my blog’s name is kind of weird* and that it causes a lot of confusion. I’ve seen just about every variation of it over time:

From the Left Bank to the Right Coast
From the Left Bank to the West Coast
From the Right Bank to the East Coast

and pretty much every combination of the above.

Then a few funny ones:

From the West Bank to the West Coast (East Coast, Left Coast, etc.)
From the West Bank
The Front Right Bank

The last one really cracks me up because I have no idea what it means.  Does this ever happen with your blogs?

*For those of you who don’t know, it started out as From the Right Bank to the Left Coast because I moved from the right bank of Paris to Seattle, which is on what is sometimes referred to as “the left coast.” I thought it was kind of cute and catchy when I came up with it. Then I moved to Atlanta so I shortened it to just From the Right Bank.

(Photo: Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles)

Tickling the Ivories

Remember I said there was a surprise coming with my parents’ furniture? Ta da:

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It’s an antique baby grand player piano that’s been in my family since I was a kid. There are these beautiful paper rolls that you feed into and it plays sweet, sweet music.

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Neighbors used to be really impressed with music coming from our house. We just let them think it was one of us. Why shatter the dream, right?

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My mom plays and I actually used to play as a kid but I can barely play the scales now. It’s so sad. For all the money my parents spent on lessons, they could have bought several more pianos!

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Anyway, before it arrived, I looked around the web to get some ideas for decorating around a piano. There’s a great post at Things that Inspire where I found the two photos above and also more recently at Houzz. Here are also a couple of pics from Skona Hem with pianos that I really like:

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In our house, there’s really only one place it fits – in the living room in the bay window – so that part was easy. Learning to play it again is going to be the hard part!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for all of your input and suggestions this week for lighting and wallpaper!

That Room Looks Kind Of Familiar

I was browsing some favorite sites recently and came across this photo:

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Aside from the different artwork, does it remind you at all of this:

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Yup, my living room. Pretty much the same couch, rug and lamp. Even the pillows kind of look alike. The other room is more stylish but I think the resemblance is there. Has this ever happened to you?

(Photo: Skona Hem)

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

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It’s Hooked on Fridays and I wanted to post this photo today not because I’m a huge Beatles fan or anything (I like them enough) but this room has such a sweet atmosphere that I can’t stop looking at it. We’ve all seen rooms decorated with pianos but drums? Why not?

The drum reminds me of the episode of Mad About You when Paul and Jamie go to Yoko Ono’s house and Paul starts plunking on John Lennon’s white piano. I think he falls off or breaks the bench or something like that. (Does anyone else remember that episode?) Well, I’ll leave you now with that bit of randomness. Have a fabulous weekend!

(Photo: via Desire to Inspire)

Another Idea For The TV Area

delikatissen2

I came across photos of this apartment and it caught my eye for two reasons. First, that gray wall is such a great accent and I think that shade is just lovely. But more importantly, I’m trying to figure out our tv/fireplace area and I really like these shelves above the tv. It would be a good way to display art and books and add some interest to that blank space. 

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But my window goes to the edge so I don’t have enough wall space for the shelves to rest so I wouldn’t be able to stretch them from wall to wall. I still like this idea quite a bit so I wonder how I can make it work  . . .

(Photos: Delikatissen)

Design Issue With Fireplace/TV Area

We have a gas fireplace – I wish it were wood burning but hey we can’t have everything and not why I started this post – anyway, it’s built in to a nook in the living room wall next to a window seat/cabinet unit and I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it. (Sorry for the teeny photo.)

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The main problem is that the fireplace is not centered so hanging anything over it looks awkward to me because I’m into symmetry. 

Then I saw this photo of a similar setup but for some reason, it doesn’t feel awkward here:

10(Desire to Inspire)

I guess sometimes we just need to see another take on something. And I suppose if ever got rid of the tv, it could look like this (but we all know that’s never going to happen):

picture-971(Floto+Warner)

I also saw these photos and I like how the whole fireplace/tv area was turned into a display and seating area:

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022609_jimmyaoot_02(via Apartment Therapy)

The area I’m working with isn’t as long but I’m encouraged by this and want to try to do something similar. Do you have any awkward spaces you’re trying to figure out? 

Mirrors, Mirrors On the Wall

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The other thing I bought last weekend was this white Rococo-esque mirror. I definitely didn’t need another mirror and had no idea where I was going to put it but I have a thing for mirrors so here it is. I also have this white rectangular mirror which we hung in the guest room a couple of months ago after it floated around the house for a while. And then there’s my beloved antique Murano mirror which had previously been in the living room but got displaced by the bookcase and ended up in the master bedroom. I don’t think I’ve posted a picture of the bookcase before:

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Anyway, I’m driving myself nuts because I see a lot of options for where the mirrors could go. I think the new mirror would look nice in the dining room on that stone wall I talked about before or in our bedroom which as you may know is all white.

As for the rectangular mirror, it could stay put (but where’s the fun in that?) or – it seemed like a weird idea at first but – it could actually work in the dining room like this:

gasl06_rectangular(dominomag.com)

I’d like to bring the Murano back into the living room but there isn’t much free wall space. It could go above the writing desk but I’m thinking about moving that into the bedroom so that’s another thing to consider. I’d love to hang a mirror above the fireplace but as you can see, it’s not centered so it’s awkward. And if we ever do mount the tv, I think it would be strange side by side. (I’ve got other issues with the fireplace which will be a topic for another post.)

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So basically, there are just too many options but I plan on figuring it out by the weekend since it’s a long weekend and a good time to get the understanding husband to do the heavy lifting. Plus, it’ll all change again in a few months anyway, right?

A Chesterfield

Now the last thing I need is another couch. We got the gray one when we moved into our house and a second couch is sitting in my studio, waiting to go to our weekend house (whenever that may be). There is also a settee on the landing upstairs. So really, another couch is out of the question. But, I’ve been drawn to the chesterfield for a while now and want to keep it on file for future reference. I love how English and clubby it feels. 

 

ff_sofas_fs_200307_1011(sofaclassics.co.uk)

 

But it’s can also be quite modern in white leather:

murano(muranoresort.com)

Recently, I found this gorgeous, distressed leather version at Shabby Chic:

1516_brown_leather_l1(www.shabbychic.com)

We got our couch before we got our dogs but had it been the other way around, I would have definitely gone with something leather. So I think this will be my next couch. It may be a while but there’s nothing wrong with a long term plan, right?

Shagalicious

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So after two weekends of rug shopping, we went with the shag.  With two dogs, any light color rug is a questionable choice but ever since we brought the pups home, our attitude is (almost) everything can be replaced.  I have to say the shag feels great underfoot and the dogs are really digging it. (You can see one of them sacked out on it by the table.)  It’s amazing how much a rug can do to pull a room together.  

I also decided to hang our small painting collection in a grouping above the couch.  They were in separate rooms before but I think it has much more impact this way.  

Next up in the living room: hanging the big ass tv on the wall.  With that, the living room may be finished.  As much as anything is finished around here . . .

Still Rug Shopping

I’m getting closer to finding a rug that could substitute for the Orla Kiely rug I haven’t been able to get my hands on. 

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picture-2(anthropologie.com)
 

yellowrug3(designpublic.com)

yellowrug1(angelaadams.com)

Unfortunately, the last one only comes in a 2′ x 3′ size.  I really like it though so I’m tempted to get it for another part of the house.

I’m also really drawn to shag rugs right now so I’m considering going another way with something like this:

picture-11(crateandbarrel.com)

Off the topic: isn’t the sofa a lovely shade of blue?

And Some French Contemporary Design, Too

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(left: Paris Living Room; right: Seattle Living Room)

Another piece that made the transatlantic journey with us is my favorite chair.  I first spotted it soon after we arrived in Paris and it was love at first sight. I thought it would pass so I resisted buying it on the spot.  But as the months passed, it became clear: this love was here to stay.  In our Paris apartment, it was the only pop of color so it was a real statement piece. It sits in an entirely different setting now and I think it works equally well in both.

Rugs from Orla Kiely and the Rug Company

I’ve been in love with all things Orla Kiely for a while now.  I own an embarrassing number of her bags and I just can’t get enough of her signature stem print.  I’m currently in the market for a new rug for the living room so I completely freaked out when I saw this:

(photo: orlakiely.co.uk)

After I calmed down, I realized that as much as I love this pattern, I don’t necessarily want this much going on in a rug. And then I came across this:

(photo: orlakiely.co.uk)

Now this is the perfect rug – the color is just what I’ve been looking for and the pattern is fun without being too busy.  And of course, it’s also by Orla Kiely.  The only problem is that I can’t seem to find it for sale anywhere.  So I keep looking . . .

The Rug Company is making the most beautiful rugs these days. The one I love most is by another one of my favorite designers, Vivienne Westwood:

(photo: therugcompany.info)

The colors wouldn’t work in my living room but I think it’s just gorgeous. I’m sure that my current obsession with London has something to do with it.

I think this one by Paul Smith would work best:

(photo: therugcompany.info)

but I think I’d still prefer a mustard/yellow shade to so much color so the search continues . . .