I’m super excited to introduce the Upland Project to you guys! Since last fall, I’ve been working with an awesome family here in York to design their home. When I first met with them they had recently painted their family room and purchased new furniture but needed some help to finish the room. Their home is pretty traditional and their style is a mix of classic, transitional and luxe elements with a bit of rustic/antique mixed in.

After our first meeting, I got to work on their Project Guide which included an inspiration collage to establish their style, a sketch of the room and an itemized budget with price ranges to help with planning their project. Here’s a look at what the room looked like when they moved in, and then when I first met with them after they had painted and gotten some new furniture.

A great base, right? Their rustic coffee table is a family piece, a cut-down work bench from a local Piano factory. I love how it plays against the more elegant textures and materials in the room. My clients have great taste, they just needed help with figuring out that “top layer” of textiles, accents and accessories. Here’s the sketch I included with their Project Guide with my vision for the room. I wanted to create a space that felt very elegant and put together, but also livable, layered and cozy for a young family as their main hangout and TV watching spot.

The star if this room is definitely this Gold Olive Leaf Ceiling Chandelier from Shades of Light. It makes the perfect statement and looks lovely with the lights on or off! This room had no overhead lighting before, and I’m so glad my clients were willing to run electrical so we could use this fixture. And a big thank you to Shades of Light for providing us with a nice press discount!

Shades of Light is a lighting company based in Richmond, VA. They are also the home of Young House Love’s lighting collection and have a bunch of other exclusive designs along with tried-and-true industry favorites. They are a smaller company, have great customer service and are definitely worth a look if you’re in the market for any new light fixtures for your home. Request a free catalog to see for yourself!

For projects like this, I usually do a round of online ordering first focusing on bigger items like the rug, lighting, accent furniture, mirrors, large artwork, etc. Then I will go shopping at local home decor stores to fill in the small accessories and anything else we need to finish off the space. I usually get more than I think we’ll use on that trip so I can have some fun playing around with the styling and testing out different options. I really love the way this bookshelf styling came together! It’s the perfect combination for me - a few books, a little greenery, framed art, some ceramics and decorative storage/display. This bookshelf gets bonus points for having some more antiques and meaningful family heirlooms in the mix! Also, dominoes may be my new favorite bowl filler. I found the navy acrylic ones at Home Goods.

Since their family room is just about done (there has been talk of swapping out the wall sconces, painting the fireplace and upgrading to a more modern fireplace screen ), we are now working on their kitchen! It’s a generously sized kitchen with great bones, but at the moment its just entirely too brown for my client’s taste. I’m excited to update you all as that project progresses!