Design
What Arlyn Has Planned Design-Wise For Her New Rental Home (Hint: It Involves More Yellow Velvet)
To anyone who has been following my “Arlyn is moving!” series, thank you for coming back today and continuing along with me on this journey. If you missed the first post, you can find that here; last week’s article was an update since we landed in our new city and our boxes and furniture arrived. This week, I’m diving a bit more into some of my plans around the design and any projects I plan on taking on in our new rental home.
Welcome back, friends, to another installment of my California to (North) Carolina moving saga. While I may have shown a peek into our new home in the last post, today, I’m going to dive a little deeper into where my head is at with designing. Because let me tell you, when you move across the country and sell half of your belongings, you’re kind of forced into a reinvention and redecoration mindset, whether you like it or not. I partially like it because it’s fun to think about how different my home could look since I last picked all new furniture eight years ago. I was a different person then—my husband and I were newly married and child-free, but now with an active preschooler, our needs both functionally and emotionally have changed.
My beloved velvet blue Interior Define sectional stayed back in LA (it found a new home with one of Jess’ best friends, and I feel so comforted knowing she gets to visit my old sectional!), and honestly, as much as I loved that cobalt and still do, I was ready for something new visually. But first, let’s revisit a mini “before” tour of my new place, which we plan on renting for one to two years max before we buy our first home (!!!). I include that detail early on because, as this isn’t meant for the long-term, that limits how much time and resources I’m willing to put into this place. It’s fairly pleasant as is and mostly just needs some styling.
What I Kept, What I Need To Replace
If you’ve ever made a giant move, you’ll know what happens to your brain a few weeks (and even worse, a few days) before the movers arrive. Suddenly, you’re convinced you should take nothing with you and start becoming the world’s most charitable philanthropist with your stuff. I’m telling you, the neighbors in my Buy Nothing Group were some of the luckiest people.
WHY OH WHY did I get rid of my armless desk chair that I so desperately need now? Why exactly did I decide not to bring my deep chest freezer? Or my daughter’s cushy Pottery Barn toddler chair? Or her bookshelf? Or sooooo many other things? And even though I sold some pieces for money, I’m bemoaning those, too. The green cabinet in my kitchen was so gorgeous, and I let it go for so little money. There’s a perfect little nook in my current kitchen that it could have lived in, and I’m kicking myself. But such is life, and I have to give myself grace for decisions I made under duress.
One of the only rooms that didn’t feel the wrath of purging desperation was my bedroom. THANK GOD. Every single item in here made it to the other side. Well, not the rattan footstool, but that thing was too high to actually be comfortable for my legs and feet, and was a lightweight hazard for my daughter, who loved to climb it. And like I said, no, the armoire, once again, does not live in my bedroom, but remember those fireplace nooks I mentioned above? YES!!! It’s going there.
My little breakfast nook table came with me, but not the chairs, because they were hanging on by a thread. So rickety, sadly. RIP green cabinet, though. On the flip side of my bedroom, there are nearly no remains of my living spaces because they were the bulkiest pieces that would have cost the most to move. The one survivor was my Article Seno sideboard. Everything else was donated (and my dining room set was sold).
Because IKEA Bestas are the best bang for your storage buck, I kept that whole piece, and it just may have another life in my new dining room again. (Reminder, it lived in my living room for the last three years). I also still have those emerald green velvet curtains, which didn’t have a home in my previous townhouse but will likely be reunited with the Besta unit. I couldn’t bear to part with my vintage (or possibly antique) wood server, except now I don’t have a very good spot for it.
Am I Doing Any DIYs Or Projects?!?
Well…while I’m not totally discounting it, the most I’ll likely get into is putting up some peel-and-stick wallpaper in my office and my daughter’s bedroom, maybe swapping out some shades because so many of them are crooked, stained, or just don’t match the one right next to it, and changing some light fixtures. Sure, if this were our long-term home, that would be different, but my goal here is to make it comfortable, happy, livable, and easy to revert when it comes time to turn in the keys again.
Color Palette Inspiration
Okay, now for the fun stuff. Reinvention. But I say that with my typical caveat: I do not see the need to do the most with this home. There will be no painting, no over-the-top or inventive DIYs. Some of the things that I’ve had for years, such as decor, art, curtains, and maybe even throw pillows, are going to be reused to limit the financial load. Our ultimate goal is to own a home, and buying all new stuff just to take a pretty picture for the internet does not go hand-in-hand with saving as much as we can for a down payment.
But I am lucky enough to be working with Sabai on a new sectional (hence why I was able to pass off my previous sofa to another home), so I get to play around with establishing a new color palette. I can’t wait to walk you through some moodboards when I’m ready, but instead of cobalt blue this time, I went with a yellow velvet. I love it so much in my bedroom on my headboard, so I knew I needed to carry that throughout the home more than I had previously. My delivery comes tomorrow (YAYAY), so I’ll have more to share on it soon, but here’s a snapshot of it from their website:
Our South Pasadena home acted as a holdover tank for all of the things that were hand-picked for our Mid-City 1930s apartment, and truthfully, it never actually had much of a locked-in color palette. I started to get into a bit with the dining room, but then we decided to move. As a reminder, here’s where I left that space (I kept those curtains, the chandelier, the casegoods, and that rug):
Being that the walls of our new home are a warm, buttery beige, I’m going to be leaning into earthy neutrals with punches of bolder hues like in the above. But that never felt complete either. The combo of colors was missing something, so I decided to dig around and see what struck my fancy.
Do not pay too much mind to the style above, but rather, the colors that are being paired with the mustard yellow tile. Blush. Red. Brown/black. Green. In the right ratios, this could be so lovely with all the wood tones and creamy yellow walls I have going on.
I love the addition of the sky blue here and some pewter accents. A few pops of burgundy do a lot to ground the mustard.
This image reminds me that I don’t need to lean that far into any other color, because yellow (as I mentioned in this post a while back) is a star and acts as a warm neutral for a low-contrast space. Note to self: add plenty of taupe and natural textiles to keep it down to earth.
As you can see, I’m really loving the blues and greens paired with the punch of mustard. The balance of color here doesn’t match what I’ll do, but the color story is similar. I do really like the softer mulberry rather than burgundy or red.
What I’m Going For In The Living Room (I Think)
I have a super clear vision of what I want to see happen in my dining room (keep reading), but I’m a bit lost in my living room. There are some furniture placement decisions I need to make—don’t worry, I’ll blog about it all if they let me—and while I’m feeling pretty locked into a rough color palette, I don’t know what I want it to *feel* like. Some words I could use to describe the ideas bubbling around my head for that room: Easy. Cozy. Family-friendly. Happy. Casual. I’m struggling most with what rug to pair with my sectional, and I think that will really steer the design in the direction it needs to go.
Here are some spaces that I could easily see myself living in:
I’m leaning more neutral and low-contrast today, but I just adore how effervescent this room is without being overly maximalist. That’s the goal. Less stuff, more impact.
I have shared this vignette before, and I keep coming back to it. There is something just so easy and beautiful and elegant about it to me. Elevated but easy.
I love anything Pierce & Ward does, really, but the coziness and warmth of this living area really speak to me right now. There’s nothing overly exciting about it, but honestly, that’s what I like about it.
If you can look past this being a dining room, you’ll see exactly what I hope to create in my home this time around. Something that looks like it could have been there for decades but still feels pared back yet inviting. Tons of layered wood tones, subtle patterns, and nothing stealing attention from anything else. I keep going back to the word “easy.”
Dining Room Vibes
The one room I have a clear vision for is the dining room. I’m going for “laidback Angeleno moves to the country” because, well, that’s basically what I am at the moment. It could be just as appropriate for jam-making as it would be for a dinner party with new friends. The table is solid wood that has told some stories, the chairs are likely to hold some tales of their own with rush seats and some interesting detailing, and the only color coming through accoutrements.
Another 5-star design from Pierce & Ward. I am looking every single day for chairs like that across every platform I can find. The only problem is that vintage wood chairs with intact rush seats are not easy to come by, especially in quantities larger than 2. I do worry about food getting pressed into the grooves of the seat courtesy of my kid, but welcome any opinions if you’ve owned something similar.
I do like the modern touch of the Nelson Saucer pendant, because I don’t like leaning too far in any one style direction. I plan on reusing my Serena & Lily capiz shell globe chandelier, though, so let’s keep that in mind.
This is skewing a bit too born-and-bred-on-the-farm for what I’m after, though, don’t get me wrong, I love this. I would probably have to commit to a sourdough starter routine, but I’m charmed by the seat cushions (something I thought I’d never say after growing up with them in the 1990s).
All hail an all-wood palette!!! That table makes me absolutely swoon (and p.s., it can be converted down into a coffee table. Friggin’ genius). I’m quite tempted to just strip away all of the color in the dining space, change the fronts of my Besta unit to a matching wood tone, and live my no-contrast life to calm my nervous system.
Though truthfully, I know I’ll land somewhere closer to this, if not a touch more Nordic. BUT THOSE CHAIRS. Please, SOMEONE, ANYONE, help me find these chairs at a price that doesn’t require me to empty my daughter’s 529 (I’m kidding, of course).
Some Of My Secondhand Finds So Far
Forgive me for being unstructured in this post, as I feel like I’m jumping around, but a big majority of our purchases for this immediate phase of our life are going to be second-hand. Considering we had almost nowhere to sit or work (I was using an ironing board yesterday as a desk, mind you), I quickly got to work sourcing some things. I have a very long shopping list, but so far, I’ve scored these woven leather chairs for our breakfast nook, and this cutie little desk for my office.
The chairs are less orange than they appear in the above photo, while the desk is far more red than it looks in the listing. I love the shape of it, but I have to figure out a way to neutralize it a bit. I don’t mind a warm, reddish, or even orangey wood tone, but this is RED!!! I’ve seen a few DIYs I need to do some more research on, but my ears are open if you’ve accomplished a similar task.
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And that is where I leave you, friends. I have A LOT of work to do, with not a ton of time, and no considerable budget to get it done. But hey, I’m nothing if not courageous and willing to make things work. I can’t wait to see where I land in a few weeks or months, because I do believe I’ll get there soon. If only for my comfort and sanity.
I leave you with an incredibly rough draft of “vibes” for the home:
Pendant light | Sectional | Dining Chair | Dining Table | Yellow Rug | Blue Rug | Wallpaper | desk (vintage)
Stay tuned!
Until next time…
The vintage rush chairs are gorgeous. I bought six similar chairs for our farmhouse. As a mom to a younger daughter as well, I will warn you that they are “top heavy”. I didn’t realize it when purchasing! Now, I understand all chairs are different. But we had to switch two out for our daughter. Just an FYI.
I love it all, Arlyn! Love the mustard yellow sectional- especially paired with the light blue color!
Best of luck to you and so glad you are sharing your story with us.