Photos and answers by Sophie Kost, lead designer and director at My Beautiful Abode

Who lives here: A professional couple and their new baby
Location: Toorak, Victoria
Room purpose and size: Living room and adjoining compact dining area.

My Beautiful Abode

Starting point: My client’s rug was the starting place for my colour palette, and I had a very clear vision of how these colours would look in the space.

My Beautiful Abode

Once I showed my client the selected artwork during our initial meeting, it was love at first sight. I then set about layering that colour palette through the cushions, throw and other furnishings. Including a few elements that incorporated gold was a fun flourish that my client loved.

My Beautiful Abode

Brief/scope of work: I met my client when she was eight months pregnant with her first child, and had just moved into this home. I was tasked with making her existing furnishings (sofa, coffee table and rug) settle into the new living room and dining area, to make the space feel planned and comfortable. The living room has no television, so it is primarily a room for conversation and reading, while the dining area needed new dining chairs and artwork.

My Beautiful Abode

Thinking behind the arrangement of furniture: The rooms have very high ceilings, so they needed artwork to draw the features together. Without the artwork, the furniture looked a little lost. Along with the existing sofa, we introduced a grey armchair to make a pleasant seating area. We also brought in a very tall white bookcase from Ikea to house my client’s extensive book collection without crowding the seating area.

My Beautiful Abode

Key design aspects
Colour palette: Turquoise, teal, grey and gold
Materials palette: Leather, timber, velvet, mohair, ceramic and metal
Key pieces of furniture: The canvas artwork is from Urban Road, while the limited-edition gold prints are by Danish artist Monika Petersen and framed by Forman Picture Framing.

My Beautiful Abode

Why do you think this room works: There is something special about a colourful piece of oversized art on a white wall. I think that the room works as the accessories are not all matching perfectly, this is a space that someone can comfortably live in.

My Beautiful Abode

Challenges worked around: We needed this project to be a quick one, as we wanted it completed before the baby arrived. As it turned out, I was onsite with my picture hanger finishing the project as my client was in hospital in labour.

Tell us
What do you love about this room? Tell us in the Comments below. And don’t forget to save your favourite images, bookmark the story, and join in the conversation.

More
Beautiful affordable living rooms

Comment23

Comments (23)

See 20 more comments

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

PRO

My Beautiful Abode

The striped cushions are from a trade supplier, inbox me for more information, Regards, Sophie

Like 5 October 2017 at 7:57AM

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

junipergirl

I would have liked to have seen more of the room, rather than two walls and close ups of things.I'm not getting a good sense of the room as a whole. I do like the greens and blues, I think they are very relaxing. Very nice job.

1 Like 7 October 2017 at 10:09AM

Thank you for reporting this comment. Undo

Mat N

There is an amazing artist who I follow on Instagram who does similar pieces. Search for @stuart_murphy86. I think he has an exhibition coming up early next year

Like 10 October 2017 at 2:20PM

Room of the Week: A Tonal Melbourne Living Area

This open-plan living and dining area is a study in affordable elegance

What are you working on?

Related Stories