My love for the blog Yellow Brick Home is no secret. Packed with three of my favorite things, (1) pets, (2) done-it-themselves home decor and (3) really GOOD photography, it’s one of those Twitter/Facebook updates I love seeing show up on my feeds. Take their home tour – Seriously. You won’t be disappointed. But, shameless promotion aside, their living room has long since been a favorite of mine for the style, colors and simple functionality. There’s a lot that we can learn from Kim and Scott when it comes to small space styling and construction. Yes, I said construction. See that big glorious media unit above? Yeah, they made that. Incredible, right? Let’s take a closer look at this lovely little corner of some of Chicago’s finest…
WOOD
I’m a sucker for good wood grain, and this space stars some really great pieces that show it off. I think it’s wonderfully special when you’re able to incorporate wood grain as you would any other pattern in a room. The irregularity, the stripes, the warmth – It’s pattern perfection. Getting the stain right is a little tricky though. To each his/her own of course, but I’m personally drawn to stains with a little gray in them (i.e. less honey/orange). The stain on both the coffee table and TV unit here are spot on for me.
WALL COLOR
My love for mint is certainly no secret to you guys either. I love the shade in this room – It’s a cool, casual color that doesn’t weigh the room down, one of the many small space tricks they’ve employed. And can we please just take a moment to appreciate the crisp look of mint against elegant white crown molding?? ::sigh::
TECH
They don’t call this thing a media unit for nothing. The space, while soaking up the stylish vibe of the rest of their home, is also packed with electronics. There’s fabulous balance here – Sure there’s a TV and speakers AND hidden record player/TV components (behind the wooden panels), but that’s not really where your focus goes. It’s not easy to avoid the TV becoming a focal point in a living room, but I think it’s about finding a balance. And I think that comes through as well-thought out here.
STYLING
By loading up the surrounding shelves with colorful accessories, whimsical touches (anyone else dying to get their hands on that vintage camera?) and big, gorgeous black and white photography, the TV isn’t the thing your eye gets stuck on. This is balance at it’s best.
STORAGE
You should probably just click over to their post detailing the process of the media unit as a whole, but I can’t end this without talking about the storage. As fellow vinyl listening enthusiasts, I wonder where our eventual overflow will end up. The horizontal storage here is functional, but also looks pretty darn cool. Record covers have long since been a main-stay in home design – A pretty handy trend when it means your room can look cool with your stuff out in plain view. Just an all around awesome use of space.
So what are your favorite details?
For all of my top inspirational spaces, click here.
P.S. Did you catch my feature yesterday on JessLively.com?? I am so giddy about getting to be part of the Design Your Life series…Jess has been such an inspiration for me as a blogger (and human being!), so I can’t thank her and Caitlin enough for having me!
Instagramed in excitement yesterday, like the big ole dork that I am…
