Room of the Day: Color Wakes Up a Living Room
A modern blue, gray and orange rug is at the center of a redesign that embraces the homeowners’ art collection
Sometimes you don’t see that your home needs help until you go away for a while and come back. Upon returning from a yearlong stint in New York City, this Toronto couple declared, “We have to do something with this place!” They called interior designer Emily Griffin, whom they’d met through their real estate agent years earlier. “It was time to make this house a home,” Griffin says. And she did just that, brightening the living room with light paint, highlighting their favorite artwork, repurposing a tired but beloved buffet and bringing in dynamic colors and patterns.
BEFORE: The room was drab and didn’t look pulled together, but Griffin knew it had great bones. “It simply had no life in it, but I could see that they were getting great light from the windows,” she says. In addition, it had beautiful wainscoting and a coffered ceiling.
As you can see, the green encaustic paintings stayed in the room. “When redecorating, I always like to take a day to cull through all of my clients’ art and rehang it,” Griffin says. With the exception of one photograph, all of the pieces in here were part of the couple’s existing collection. Griffin swiped the black and white piece over the sofa from another room. It’s a charcoal rubbing from the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
As you can see, the green encaustic paintings stayed in the room. “When redecorating, I always like to take a day to cull through all of my clients’ art and rehang it,” Griffin says. With the exception of one photograph, all of the pieces in here were part of the couple’s existing collection. Griffin swiped the black and white piece over the sofa from another room. It’s a charcoal rubbing from the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
Griffin lightened things up by painting the walls and trim in Cloud White by Benjamin Moore. The walls are done in a flat finish; the millwork is semigloss.
This is the view from the kitchen. For the window treatments, Griffin found simple panels at Ikea but had rods custom-made. “I can’t stand it when off-the-shelf rods have a join in the middle — the drapes get stuck when you try to pull them shut,” she says.
This is the view from the kitchen. For the window treatments, Griffin found simple panels at Ikea but had rods custom-made. “I can’t stand it when off-the-shelf rods have a join in the middle — the drapes get stuck when you try to pull them shut,” she says.
Back to that rug. Griffin used its grays in the sofas and chairs, and custom-upholstered a Womb chair in the orange. When it came to the blue, she added several shades via the throw pillows.
The photograph behind the chairs was a fortuitous find. Griffin found it in New York and thought of the couple. When she sent them a snapshot of it they said, “Buy it!”
“All the stars aligned on this one; they’d just spent a year in New York City and it worked so well in the room,” Griffin says.
The photograph to the left was taken in Cuba by John Wellner. The green encaustic paintings are by Ann Shier.
Side table: Structube; koi pillows: custom in a Tonic Living fabric
The photograph behind the chairs was a fortuitous find. Griffin found it in New York and thought of the couple. When she sent them a snapshot of it they said, “Buy it!”
“All the stars aligned on this one; they’d just spent a year in New York City and it worked so well in the room,” Griffin says.
The photograph to the left was taken in Cuba by John Wellner. The green encaustic paintings are by Ann Shier.
Side table: Structube; koi pillows: custom in a Tonic Living fabric
More shades of blue and gray show up on the sofa throw pillows. Fringe brings another dash of orange.
Pillow: Snob (Toronto)
Pillow: Snob (Toronto)
While the homeowners have extensive bookshelves in their family room, they wanted room for some beloved volumes in here. “Because of the wainscoting, regular bookshelves wouldn’t have worked in here,” Griffin says. Instead she used these vertical shelves.
Array Bookcases: CB2
Array Bookcases: CB2
BEFORE: One piece that stayed in place was this Asian buffet, after a makeover. “This was a piece that they bought together years ago. It fit perfectly and was very useful to them — they use it to store a lot of their china,” the designer says.
To make the piece fit in the room, Griffin had the top removed to give it cleaner lines, then had her furniture refinisher give it a light sanding and several coats of midnight blue lacquer. She kept the original antique brass pulls, which looked just right. The painting did too. It’s by Montreal Artist Cerj Lalonde.
This photo also gives you a glimpse of the floors. Previously, they had an orange tone. Griffin had all the floors refinished with a midtone brown stain in a matte finish.
This photo also gives you a glimpse of the floors. Previously, they had an orange tone. Griffin had all the floors refinished with a midtone brown stain in a matte finish.
Here’s a plan to show you how it all works together. The opening on the right leads to the front hall; the one on the bottom left leads to the kitchen.
Browse more Rooms of the Day
Browse more Rooms of the Day
Living Room at a Glance
What happens here: Stephen Northfield, Ellen Braganca and their three teenagers enjoy reading, gathering, relaxing and entertaining
Location: The Beaches neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 240 square feet (22 square meters)
Design: Emily Griffin of Emily Griffin Design
“The rug set the tone for the whole room,” designer Emily Griffin says. However, the 9-by-12-foot version played hard to get. “West Elm wouldn’t ship anything bigger than 8 feet by 10 feet to Canada, so when Stephen was in Manhattan for business, Ellen and I begged him to pick it up for us,” Griffin says. “He said he felt like Aladdin carrying it over his shoulder down the streets of New York City!” Because it’s a cotton dhurrie, he was able to fold it up and put it in a suitcase. For bonus points, he also hauled back the very heavy marble-base table lamp.
Wall paint: Cloud White, Benjamin Moore; coffee table: Shelter (Toronto); rug and table lamp: West Elm; paperweights: Snob (Toronto); sofa and chairs: EQ3; curtain panels: Ikea