Tom is an English lit professor in his early forties who has put a lot of thought into his home. He loves his living room, but his boyfriend, a vegan, is moving in. Thus the leather has to go! (The brindle, too, but he’s moving that to his office.) Tom’s younger sister, Frances, has been making do with a sad little sofa that has seen better days, so she’s the lucky recipient of the leather chesterfield. We’ll see it in her decidedly feminine space next.

We saw the couch in his sister’s home, but many of you asked for a spinoff! What replaced it? Let’s see…
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© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Making it Yours 8D: Leather Chesterfield | 10 comments

Making it Yours follows one piece of furniture through several different looks. We’ve already seen this green leather couch in a more masculine room, and then in a younger, more feminine space. Now we have it in its final look, another feminine room, but this time a little more refined.

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© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Making it Yours 8C: Leather Chesterfield | 20 comments

Making it Yours follows one piece of furniture through several different looks. We’ve already seen this green leather couch in a more masculine room, and now we’ll see it with a (young) woman’s touch.

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© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Making it Yours 8B: Leather Chesterfield | 20 comments

Here is the first look in the eighth edition of Making it Yours. I like to imagine a story arc for each step in the series…

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© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Making it Yours 8A: Leather Chesterfield | 37 comments

© 2012, published by Making it Lovely as Making it Yours 8: Leather Chesterfield | 29 comments

This time around, we’ve been following the window daybed. It was first seen in a little boy’s bedroom, and it served as his bed through his teen years. It transitioned with him to adulthood as a couch in his first apartment, and again later as he matured. Now he has a little girl, and the daybed is a sweet, sentimental place for her to sleep.

He also brought his old doll house and vintage kid’s chair out for her. Other than those, and the Curious George bedding, this is a pretty sophisticated room for a little girl that will grow with her for a long time! A simple dresser, floor lamp, and neutral paint are livened up by the fun rug. The big knitted pouf is good for extra seating that can be moved around the room, and kids love them. The frame decals are a cute, graphic way to add wall art, and the mobile would have come from the little girl’s nursery over to her big girl room.

And so ends this edition of MiY, having come full circle from a little boy’s room to a little girl’s! You can see all of the previous Making it Yours editions right here.

© 2011, published by Making it Lovely as MiY 7e: Girl’s Room | 13 comments

The daybed still functions well as a sofa here, but the other elements surrounding it have become more sophisticated as our fellow’s taste has evolved. A worn looking rug, industrial lighting, and cool vintage-style chair play off of the mod nesting tables and vintage record player (both kept from the previous look). Oil jars bring a nice texture in, and the wall color picks up on their green/gray/blue shade. A Katagami print adds graphic punch to the walls, and the daybed has been softened with a few faux suede pillows and an octopus pillow.

The daybed has held together well, and we still have one more look to go before ending this edition of Making it Yours. Our fictional guy has come so far, and I start to feel attached to my characters as I design their spaces. I have a couple of ideas for the end, but I’m waiting to see where he’ll end up exactly!

© 2011, published by Making it Lovely as MiY 7d: Our Guy Grows Up | 9 comments

Our guys still loves to play guitar. He’s pretty into his music, so he picked up a vintage record player and is now annoyingly into vinyl (he just brings it up waaay too often at parties). He has brought his black armchair with him from his teenage bedroom, and he likes to relax by playing rad games like Portal (hence the framed poster). The living room is a little sparse, but he did bring in some cool nesting tables and a floor lamp with a wooden shade, and he likes that there’s room to keep his bike by the front door. There’s no rug, but the apartment has wood floors, and he painted the walls gray/blue.

What’s next for our single guy? Want him to settle down or keep living the bachelor life?

© 2011, published by Making it Lovely as MiY 7c: Single Guy’s Living Room | 17 comments

The boy is now 14 (ah, it seems last week he was just a little boy!). He and his dad repainted the walls, but they kept the daybed, painted dresser, nightstand, striped rug, lamp, and guitar poster. Now road signs replace the alphabet, and groovy bedding replaces cute monsters. The phrenology head is awesome (I gave one to Brandon last year), and yes, there is now an actual guitar in the mix. I have a soft spot for Danelectro because that was the make of my first guitar too (a Dano U2). The black swivel chair makes a good spot to sit and practice those pesky barre chords.

Next up, we’ll see the daybed in the living room of his first apartment.

* Edit (08.02.11, 8:45pm)
A couple of comments suggested adding a desk and some storage, and I thought that was a good idea. Consider this bookshelf, desk, and chair part of the room as well.

I also had a little fun dirtying up the place. Literally and figuratively. Can you spot the new addition to the room? (more…)

© 2011, published by Making it Lovely as MiY 7b: Teenage Boy’s Room | 28 comments

Here it is as a little boy’s brand-new bed, complete with cute monster bedding! A bright blue nightstand next to the bed is a good place to store books, and a dresser with wooden sides has gotten a coat of citron paint for more color in the room. The striped rug adds a nice graphic pattern to the room, and a nice clear blue looks great on the walls. The vintage kid’s chair is mid-century modern and the light is new with seventies style, but they work together well and also with all of the new pieces in the room. An alphabet and guitar print adorn the walls, and a really awesome doll house works in the room for a boy just as well as it would for a girl.

The room is for a little boy, but nothing feels too twee or cutesy about it. Next we’ll see the daybed make an appearance in the boy’s teenage bedroom! A lot of the same elements will remain, but the room will grow up a bit as our young boy gets older.

© 2011, published by Making it Lovely as MiY 7a: Boy’s Room | 24 comments