Weekend Makeover | Nicolette Mason’s New Home

Hold on to your palm leaves, folks because we have another intense living/dining room weekend makeover for your viewing pleasure. This time its the new home of fashion blogger/consultant Nicolette Mason, her new wife Ali and their pug, Frankie. I know I say this a lot, but this is truly one of my most favorite makeovers. It’s one of those situations where you go thinking yeah, this will be cute, and then you look around at the end and think Damn … how did we pull that off?

The answer: We worked hard, had a great client with great style and lots of help from Target who sponsored this bad boy (and yes, about 70% of what you are about to see is Target). You didn’t think that I could mix Target pieces with high end Hollywood Regency did you? Click on through and see the full reveal …

Nicolette had just move back here from New York and they had basically VERY little. Fun fact, prior to our arrival they didn’t even have that sofa in there because the movers “couldn’t fit it up the stairs”. Let me explain something – I’m the girl that thinks EVERYTHING can fit. I have a very bad spacial awareness with my own body (which gets 10 times worse when pregnant – as I slam this child into walls and chairs constantly), but when it comes to things fitting into other things, my optimism is unparalleled. So we gave it a shot and sure enough, we got that sucker up the stairs and into the proper room. Thank god. None of us wanted to have to shop/buy/pay for an awesome sofa when they had one stuck in their entry two floors down.

What we started with were simple white walls, that sofa, the side table, the glass/brass coffee table and the fiddle leaf fig – all things she already had (the coffee table was in another room). What she wanted? Old Hollywood meets contemporary. She is attracted to everything super feminine and pink, but her wife was less so, so we wanted to make sure that we brought in enough simple shapes and darker tones to even it out. You probably saw the post last week with the mood boards, but here is what she sent us:

My job is to take what my clients think they want and do the best version of that possible – so I wanted to tone the ornate detail back a bit by adding in some cleaner lines, bring in some more substantial pieces and find an updated version of that Martinique wallpaper (I love that wallpaper but its intense and iconic and I feared it could look dated in a new-ish apartment). The condo was so bright and simple and I really didn’t want to lose that by throwing a bunch of stuff in there.

But first … we actually have to throw a bunch of stuff in there.

We walked in on day one and made it look like total insanity for a day like so:

But then, as if by magic, it was done. Ready to watch the video that documents the process, shows the behind the scenes chaos and involves a pug trying on a dress?

For those of you who are going to watch the video later (I get it, your boss is looking over your shoulder wondering why Mr. Steven’s account is being neglected because you are watching a pug trying on a cardigan) here is the reveal:

It ain’t minimal. It ain’t masculine. It isn’t everyone’s style necessarily. But its undeniably so pretty and stylish and still feels so bright and airy despite the fact that it has so much more happening than there was before.

Just in case you forgot, here is where we started:

From Kate Goslin, to Ryan Gosling. That’s what that is right there.

It doesn’t hurt that Zeke Ruelas takes BEAUTIFUL photographs. The space itself is so pretty, but there are times when you photograph something really pretty and you just don’t capture how it looks, but Zeke really did.

Nicolette had a huge TV to install in there (that wasn’t really part of our makeover) and we grappled a lot with what to do underneath it. In a perfect world we would have done a built in cabinet with shelving around it but we got it quoted and it was going to be at least $2k so instead we installed those cabinets from Ikea (for about $400). The hardware is vintage brass that we had left over from another job – it pays to hoard, folks. The sconces were originally intended for the sofa side of the room, but once we put lamps over there we realized that they would look a) dinky and b) totally unnecessary because we had enough light. Next to the TV they helped dress up that wall and made it feel more special – plus they brings light over there which couldn’t have a lamp due to the TV situation. 

The chairs were this perfect minty- green that pulled the lighter tones from the wallpaper. They are the ideal scale, PLUS they are ultra-suede which is the most pet/dog/mess friendly fabric you can own.

All those accessories – the lamps, the lanterns, the pillows, the vases, the side table (on the right) are ALL part of the fall line (the eye pillow is from Jonathan Adler which she already had). It made our job so easy. The coffee table was already hers and I believe its from West Elm.

The benches and that mirror peeking in are from Nate Berkus’ new line and the black task lamp, side table and the wood lamp are hot off the Threshold production line. I know that some of these things are hard to find (for me, too) because they can be online but not in store or vice versa but keep checking back because since the line is only 10 days old some stores are just getting the good stuff. Luckily here in LA we have LOADS of it (go to Burbank, La Brea or Pasadena).

The rug is from Lulu and Georgia. Its a 9×12 and I was shocked and so happy with how well it worked with the chairs and the wallpaper. If you can order a sample first, I would do that, but this was perfect for us as it was a gray with a LOT of light green in it.

Instead of adding in a ton of pink, we brought in the metallic du jour – rose golds and coppers.  I think that with that wallpaper had we added a lot of pink it could have looked really silly and young, but the addition of the that pink metallic (which Target has a TON of right now) kept things quiet but still super feminine.

Those wood/brass lamps are one of my favorite pieces but they aren’t on the site yet (CHECK YOUR LOCAL STORE!!!). I have one of them but had to give Nicolette the other and now of course even I need to go snag another at a store, too.

Let’s talk about that artwork for a second. Its by Jaime Derringer for Minted. It normally doesn’t come printed so large but since I know Jaime personally she made it happen. (See links below). The room needed something modern and abstract to keep it from going into glam land, and these helped all the black in the room really make sense and pop without being too heavy. The scale of them was perfect for above that sofa and lastly we didn’t want anything too busy or bright because that wallpaper was already so strong. So something graphic and loose was really the way to go.

The combination of mint and black was not something that I would have predicted that i liked so much, but lo and behold the striped blanket, plaid pillow and black task lamp with the club chairs and wallpaper created this really good tension that still kept the space feeling open and airy. Contrast is a tricky thing to balance in a room and if you have too much it looks insane and busy, but sometimes not enough doesn’t really represent the personality of the homeowner enough. This wasn’t a white on white on white situation, we needed action and energy so adding in the patterns and black/white kept the energy up without making it to intense.

We obviously had to take a new headshot for Frankie while we were there. Watch the video to see the wardrobe options we decided between, although she opted for the nude portrait. So LA.

The living room feels just so happy and it looks so pulled together. I think that if I had two goals for every single project it would be that – happy and ‘pulled together’. Not perfect. Not safe. But where the room, no matter what style exudes a happy feeling and at the same time, looks/feels like someone cared enough to make it work.

And now you can get that look.

1. Three Armed Chandelier | 2. Wallpaper | 3. Mirror | 4. Art Print / Art Print | 5. Wall Sconce | 6. Sofa | 7. Copper Votive | 8. Stoneware Vase | 9. Copper and Marble Table | 10. Gold Candle Holder | 11. Arm Chair | 12. Eye Pillow | 13. Small Glass & Metal Candle Holder | 14. Large Glass & Metal Candle Holder | 15. Geometric Votive | 16. Table Lamp | 17. Accent Table | 18. Beaded Pillow | 19. Rug | 20. Fringe Pillow | 21. Ottoman The black/white plaid just became available today. The black/white throw and the black/gold/white pillow are from Nate Berkus’ new collection and aren’t online yet.

Let’s head on into the dining room. What was totally blank and empty is now fit for a dinner party, specifically one with me and my crew. My favorite food requests in this order are french fries, ice cream, clam chowder and pho. That is why I don’t throw dinner parties. But now Nicolette sure can:

It’s pretty in pink with a heavy dose of simplicity and glam. We kept the foundational pieces totally simple and clean, then layered on the glam with the chandelier and the tableware. The dining room is on the smaller side and its shared with the kitchen (and living room) so I thought that the simple white/black would be the way to go with the furniture, but Nicolette was begging for more pink (a request that I firmly supported). So in about an hour we painted out that wall this pink. 

The table was found at a thrift store, then professionally lacquered (I’ll do a quick post on it). I knew that since the space was kinda tight an oval would be the way to go to keep the flow of it as open as possible. Those chairs are my favorite simple windsor inspired chairs from Target. I originally wanted the in mint but they sold out too fast and of course now I think that black is the right move because the mint with the pink could have been skating into candyland, whereas the black keeps it grounded.

They purchased these pretty stools in between the time we saw the space and performed the makeover, so it was kinda perfect that we ended up going with the black chairs anyway.

The Jonathan Adler light fixture from Lamps Plus was something that was on her mood board and probably her bucket list, too. She wanted it soooo bad so when we installed it, she was ecstatic. That room was so plain, so adding a fixture like that completely livened it up.

The art wall on the back was a collection of four pieces that really visually helped create one large focal point. We didn’t want to make it a huge organic salon wall, nor did we have the right pieces to make a modern grid. Instead we arranged these four pieces into a really simple wall arrangement where the larger pieces balanced out the smaller pieces. We included a variety of mediums and visual weight, while they all shared the same color palette and in this case white frames.

The tabletop pieces were a combination of what she already had (Kate Spade glasses, vintage plates) and Target (see the ‘Get The Look’ below for sourcing).

The newest barcart is an obvious favorite already and if you are interested in it I suggest you snag it asap. It lived in her dining room but we couldn’t resist shooting it in front of the wallpaper because that wallpaper is like 10 million times more exciting. The lamp on there is Target (not on their site yet).

Those copper-toned and glass lanterns got a repurpose by me turning them into a terrarium. Green thumb I am not but basically all you need for that are some cheap succulents, some potting soil and tiny rocks (all available at your general hardware store).

1. Chandelier | 2. Moscow Mule Mug | 3. Flamingo Canvas Print | 4. Bar Cart | 5. Art Print | 6. Gold Flatware | 7. Cactus Print | 8. Large Glass & Metal Candle Holder | 9. Champagne Flute | 10. Small Glass & Metal Candle Holder | 11. Pink Glassware | 12. Paint in Pirouette | 13. Charger | 14. Copper Martini Shaker | 15. Tall Taper Holder | 16. Short Taper Holder | 17. Dining Chair | 18. Dining Table

A makeover like this is never complete without a gif to show you how it all came to life.

The video tells more of a story. In fact here are a few things you’ll find in the video that you won’t get here:

1. That rug wasn’t the first rug we tried (the first one was HOT PINK).
2. Frankie, the pug, actually tried on dresses in the dressing room while we were shopping at Target (and yes, we caught this on camera).
3. My sweater vest was actually screaming for release.
4. Also the video producer (that hot guy below) is my husband. He’s not in the video but he and his company shot and produced it (and are available for hire). But he’s VERY taken, romantically, so please don’t get any ideas.

Thanks Nicolette for being such a great extreme weekend makeover client. Man, that is satisfying. I’m sure you guys have a ton of questions so let them rip. Meanwhile go and WATCH THAT VIDEO. 

*Photos of Nicolette and I by Jessica Isaac for EHD. Photos of the space by Zeke Ruelas.

Want more about how we got to here? Check out the design plan post, as well as the feature on Refinery29 and if you want more Weekend Crashers? Check out our Mid Century Eclectic Makeover.