A (Living) Room with a View
The first couple of months after moving into the condo, I lived and breathed this room. Because I didn't really have much furniture yet, I slept, ate, lounged, and worked on a twin air mattress. This room has been nothing if not an exercise in patience, with the last major puzzle piece finally coming together over two years after I moved in.
The room which would become my living room was originally staged as a bedroom (see the condo listing pics above). However, when I started to measure things out, a full queen size bed would make things a bit snug. And the dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows seemed wasted on a bedroom rather than a space where I would be spending most of my downtime and entertaining guests. The long, narrow dimensions of the space also made for an interesting design challenge.
The first major hurdle I needed to clear was finding a sofa, which during the height of the pandemic and all of its supply chain issues, was no small feat. All told, I ended up ordering four sofas: the first two were ultimately backordered, seemingly indefinitely, the third, when it finally did arrive, was just a couple inches too long to maneuver into the condo. At long last, the fourth was delivered 3.5 months after I got the condo. Though the sofa saga continued when I went to assemble the couch and discovered I was short several legs, which were ultimately delivered a couple weeks later. It was a terrifying prospect to make a major furniture purchase like a sofa without ever having sat on it (thank you pandemic lockdowns), so I was heartily relieved to find my choice exceedingly comfortable.
After years of having a very neutral furniture palette, I wanted to go a bit bolder, continuing my theme of dark turquoise throughout the home. I found this richly-coloured, tufted sectional from Rove Concepts. I’d never owned a sectional before, but I thought an L-shape might help to define the long space. And because of the narrowness of the room, I couldn’t have a traditional seating arrangement with chairs facing the sofa, so additional sectional seating somewhat served that purpose. I didn’t want a wooden coffee table, as I felt it would make the small space feel cluttered and heavy, so I opted for a clear, acrylic coffee table from CB2 to create a bit of lightness.
Now I am definitely partial to West Elm furniture in general, but one of my favourite pieces is my walnut media console. I love the geometric patterning and texture, which adds a unique twist to a traditional, minimalist console.
Given the length of the room, I knew I needed to define a few different spaces. I created a reading nook by the window, with just an armchair and my old side tables and left the rest of the space fairly open. It serves many functions—the occasional dance space, an area for the Christmas tree. Allowing for a bit of versatility will hopefully leave the door open for future design changes as my needs evolve.
The only work that my contractors did in the living room during the original renovation was to remove the closet and install pot lights for an area that would eventually become my bar nook. To help define the space and provide an interesting feature, I wanted to wallpaper the back wall. I’d come across this gorgeous wallpaper from House of Hackney, and with the help of a friend, managed to figure out how to successfully put up wallpaper.
Putting up the wallpaper
To save a bit of money, I ordered shorter wallpaper panels, as my plan was to install a built-in bar cabinet. During the pandemic, I’d bought an electronic piano, which just perfectly fit into the space. I wanted to be able to combine both the piano and a place to hold all my liquor. My friend designed specs for a cabinet where the piano would pull out on a drawer, so it could then be neatly tucked away when I finished playing. While he had originally offered to build it, time and availability constraints got in the way. So I enlisted a recommended vendor, Dream Build Homes, to actually build it.
Once measurements were taken, the turn-around time was relatively quick (within a couple of weeks), and it wasn’t long before they were installing it. One hiccup we encountered was a misread of the original measurements, meaning the entire cabinet was 6” too short. It needed to be a certain height for two main reasons: 1) for me to be able to sit at the piano and play, and 2) to clear a wall outlet. Rather than start from scratch, we quickly came up with a solution—they built a 6” drawer that the entire cabinet would sit on. It had the silver lining of actually providing more usable cabinet space, as the original design would have had very tall base cabinets, where it would be more difficult to use up all the available space. It was a bit of a tricky cabinet to construct, as perhaps unsurprisingly, the walls of the nook were slightly curved, and there was essentially no clearance on either side. Thankfully though, it all just fits!
After two years, there is such a sense of satisfaction to feeling like my home is complete. Though I know it will continue to evolve, and that is the joy of interior design—the capacity to reinvent and reimagine. But for now, this iteration, with its many, many plants, whimsical art prints of anthropomorphic animals, jewel-toned accent walls, and beautiful pieces of furniture, is a place I am proud to call my home. Because, in the end, it feels like a true reflection of me.
Source List
Sofa: Rove Concepts
Rug: West Elm (no longer available)
Coffee table: CB2
Media console: West Elm
Armchair: West Elm
Shelving unit: IKEA
Gold side table: West Elm
3-tier plant stand: IKEA
Wallpaper: House of Hackney
Bar cabinet: Custom built by Dream Build Homes
Piano stool: Structube
Paint: Benjamin Moore "Whitewater Bay"