Room of the Day: Living Room Does a Vintage-Meets-Modern Balancing Act
Old is new again in this Austin, Texas, living room full of easy decorating tricks
To bring modern style to a 1920s living room, designer Maureen Stevens had to pull off a careful balancing act. She began with a newer sectional sofa and added vintage pieces picked up at antiques fairs. To counteract neutral colors, she used hits of emerald green. A sharp-angled side table was paired with a vase of foraged branches. The moves paid off to reveal a fresh, collected look that artfully combines old and new.
Since the room already had good bones and features (read: a charming arched front door and moldings), Stevens wanted to highlight these elements with storied, eclectic pieces, such as an old, repainted hatrack and vintage artwork.
These more eye-catching accessories, along with found natural branches, soften the more big-box items, such as the sectional, giving the room personality and an older, lived-in feel.
Mirrored table and drapery: West Elm
These more eye-catching accessories, along with found natural branches, soften the more big-box items, such as the sectional, giving the room personality and an older, lived-in feel.
Mirrored table and drapery: West Elm
In small pockets of the room, Stevens worked in her emeralds for a vivid accent against all the earth tones. “I took each area almost one vignette at a time and just added a splash of green where I thought it was needed,” she says. Just off the front door, the hatrack over the vintage green trunk creates a makeshift entry space in lieu of a true foyer.
Trunk: Roundtop Antiques
Trunk: Roundtop Antiques
A gallery wall showcases objects collected from markets and travels, framed by Stevens in varying sizes. Even hotel coasters have a place on the wall as mementos that are as personal as they are stylish.
Stevens also wanted to infuse black into the room, especially when it came to the chest. Once she found one with the right shape on Craigslist, she painted it black and paired it with a mirror that she also repainted.
“I wanted something that had curves and was both traditional and modern,” she says of the mirror’s transitional design. To finish the vignette, she painted a pair of identical vintage lamps green. Here the emerald creates a focal point while helping create a cohesive color thread in the room.
Mirror: Ballard Designs; lamp paint: Krylon Emerald Green; chest paint: Graphite, Annie Sloan
“I wanted something that had curves and was both traditional and modern,” she says of the mirror’s transitional design. To finish the vignette, she painted a pair of identical vintage lamps green. Here the emerald creates a focal point while helping create a cohesive color thread in the room.
Mirror: Ballard Designs; lamp paint: Krylon Emerald Green; chest paint: Graphite, Annie Sloan
Stevens looked to Craigslist for a bookcase to upcycle as well. To coordinate with a black and brass Hollywood Regency-style console in an adjacent office, she painted the bookcase a similar glossy black and finished it with brass hardware.
Paint: Inkwell, Sherwin-Williams
Paint: Inkwell, Sherwin-Williams
Wild branches — from seasonal cherry blossoms to sticks found during local hikes — add an organic element and a dapple of green to the room, as does an emerald-colored architectural plaque.
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Location: Austin, Texas
Size: 156 square feet (14 square meters); 12 by 13 feet
Designer: Maureen Stevens
Working with a neutral backdrop, designer Maureen Stevens chose emerald green (a recent Pantone color of the year) in small doses to energize the room by way of accent pillows, a pair of lamps and a trunk near the front door. “It’s a gem color, where it makes a statement but it’s not too bold where it overwhelms the space,” she says.
Given that the walls are a pale French gray and bounce a lot of natural light around, Stevens put the TV on the windowless wall and worked her furniture arrangement around that. With a brown contemporary sectional already in play, she added a Georgian wingback for its clean lines and curves, evoking a “neotraditional vibe.”
Wall paint: Sherwin-Williams Light French Gray; trim paint: Sherwin-Williams Pure White; chair: Restoration Hardware; sectional: Z Gallerie