It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Sensible Chic room. I love doing these because it is fun to show that a great looking room does not have to cost a lot of money.
This go around, I chose this beautiful living room by one of my favorite designers, Tammy Connor.
It’s light and airy and easy on the eyes. I don’t think I could get tired of being in this room.
This is what I came up with………
The standout piece in the inspiration room is the rug….I found this rug from Dash and Albert (9×12 $414)
It is tone on tone like the one in the inspiration room and it’s a casual cotton rug in keeping with the feel of this space. For the sofa and chair, I turned to good old tried and true Ikea. The lantern is from Ballards and is a great price..$329. I love it!
Here are a few more pieces to complete the room.
The surveyor’s floor lamp is from, get this, JCPenny..yup…$180 dollars.
For the armoire, I decided to check my local Craigslist to see what these things are going for these days. I found this one, it’s solid wood and b.i.g. for only $200.
Of course it needs a coat of creamy paint to give it the look we are after, but still a bargain.
For the desk behind the sofa, I found this desk from Overstock for $160.99. It is traditional looking and dark like the one in the inspiration room.
For the two wicker chairs that go with the desk, I once again turned to the budget friendly Ikea, and you can’t beat the price…$79 each.
The drapes in the inspiration room are sheer and have a subtle pattern to them. I came up with these light-weight linen panels from World Market for $24.50 per panel.
And for the coffee table, I found this coffee table with similar lines as the one in the inspiration room for $249.
OK, so here is the fun part, the total cost for the living room is………….$2693.
In many cases, that is the cost for just one sofa!
Have a good one, friends!
Do you remember a show on HGTV many years ago called “Sensible Chic”? The show host would meet with a couple and they would show her a picture of their “dream” room. The challenge was for the host and her team to recreate that look for less. Much less. The dream rooms they featured were typically filled with expensive antiques, furniture and fabrics and I remember they would range anywhere up to $20,000. At the end of the show, after they recreated the space on a budget, they had a designer come in and tell the team whether the room was a hit or miss. Fun show. I loved it! I thought it might be fun to recreate The Cottage Mix version of “Sensible Chic”. The only difference is that I will not have the total price that went into our inspiration room. My goal will be to recreate the space spending as little as possible. Shall we play?
Every year around this this time, I start thinking about hosting Thanksgiving at our house. One of the rooms that I wish we had is a formal dining room. I know they are only used twice a year, but I’d be ok with that! So for our inspiration room, I chose this beautiful dining room that was designed by Barbara Westbrook for the Traditional Home Showhouse.
I saw this bench the other day in World Market on sale for $379. I would use 2 of them instead of the side chairs. I know I am deviating here but I think it would give the same effect but with a twist, and it brings in the natural linen element that is so important to the design.
I have these Ikea Henriksdal slipcovered chairs in my dining room. The chair is only $109, but we would need to make slipcovers. To solve that problem, I would use drop cloths made out of canvas.
I recently purchased these drop cloths for a project from Home Depot and these would work great for the slipcover fabric. The best part is the price….$10.98 for a 6×9 canvas.
I would also use the same drop cloths for the drapery panels. That’s only $22 for TWO panels!
The table in the inspiration room is a raw, unfinished wood table. I found this one from Restoration Hardware on sale for $695 (originally $1695!)
I love this light fixture from Pottery Barn for $399 and it looks identical to the one in the inspiration room.
The most dramatic element in the room is the wall color, BM Caponata. It is a chocoloate color with plum undertones. The adjoining living room to the inspiration room has two upholstered chairs in the same color as the wall color. This color works so well because of all of the natural light in the room.
So here is the price breakdown of the room:
Table $695
Benches $758
Chairs $218
Slipcovers $100 for 2 (approx.)
Light $400
Drapes $22
Total $2193
So what do you think? That’s an almost-complete room for under $2200. The chairs in the inspiration room are from Lee Industries and I am pretty familiar with their pricing. My guess would be that those chairs retail for roughly $350 each. So just for the chairs in the inspiration room, they are at $2100.
If you come across a room that you think would be up to the ‘Sensible Chic’ challenge, email me and send me a picture! LL@LaurenLeonardInteriors.com
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