Welcome to “my” space! This room is my quiet space, my happy space, my little bit of peace- if you will! This is our formal living.

I think many home buyers struggle with, “Do we want a formal living or a formal dining?”  When you have an extra space that can be used as both, you end up weighing the pros and cons of both. Quite frankly, I think both are fabulous…but maybe for different stages in life. We can seat 6 in our dining area and then we have a long kitchen island with black kitchen stools. I don’t really have more than 10 people {ever!} to eat. I just love the dining tables Perth that we bought months ago. Every piece that we had at home was amazing.

I love to have girlfriends over for coffee or a glass of wine and a cheese board. I also like to have a little space where I can enjoy a book or have quiet time and not feel like I’m staring at Fisher-Price Little People strung about. Weighing the pros and cons, we knew that at this stage of life, a formal living would serve our needs best. I can host without cleaning up the family room, and I can always have a spot to take a phone call for work.

So let’s talk design! I let Paul win the battle of a leather sofa in our family room, and I’m so grateful I did! With crumbs and Maxi’s affinity for crayons, I’d be bleaching a slipcover day in and day out had I gone with another option. But you all know how much I adore light furniture, so we decided to go with a lighter sofa for my space. If the leather was the “his” sofa in this house, this is the “hers”. But the best part is I didn’t have to compromise, which I’ll explain below!

For selecting the furniture, our designer, Maddie, told me to check out Room & Board when I visited my girlfriend Amy Beth in the Bay Area for her 30th birthday this past May. She told me she was always pleased with the products and when I told Amy Beth we needed to make a pit stop, she was like, “Wait, you’ve never been to an R&B store?” Guilty!

I already had some chinoiserie panels {sold out} and custom leopard chairs, so I wanted the rest of the room to be transitional as well as neutral. I went with the tufted Macalester Sofa in 80″ in the fabric “Sumner Linen.“ The style of this sofa could lean modern, glam, or traditional- which I appreciate. I have commitment issues wondering if I’ll decorate a specific style for the rest of my life. The “Sumner Linen” isn’t actually linen, it just looks like it is! This is one of their performance fabrics, which works perfectly for this space because then I never worry when hosting- or if Maxi and Peaches were to accidentally leave a stain. So I get my light sofa and don’t have to worry about stains- win, win!

I added in the Classic Cocktail Table in Stainless Steel {mine is the 27″ size}. Ashley is the one who convinced me to go this route. She told me to have fun with the space and get something modern. I’m so glad I got this coffee table because it doesn’t weigh down the room. This room is smaller, and had we gone another direction I think it would have looked far too cramped. Keeping a glass top allows for sight lines. For a side table, I went with the Aria End Table in Venatino Marble with the White Base. I shied away from marble in most of this home because #KidFriendly, but I had to have a little piece for me in here.

In terms of textiles, you all know I’ve been swapping pillows out left and right here. I appreciate that you can easily do that with a linen sofa. I originally ordered 2 of the Mustard Velvet Pillows {size 21×21}, but we really love those with the leather sofa. They are really comfortable and hide stains, so they work in both spaces.

I added a fiddle leaf tree we got from my friend’s plant shop and I’m still surprised I have kept it alive. I always kill these things. So far- so good! Do you keep these alive?! Now I get a lot of questions on these panels and they currently aren’t sold. My hack is to either go through an antique store {I’ve found smaller scale ones sold for $25/$50!} or get fabric. Order some Chinoiserie fabric online and then get them framed yourself. I think this would honestly be a more affordable option and would allow you to complement your pillow scheme much easier.

Another question I get a lot about this room is the rug. I actually don’t think it fits the space too well {I’m not sure, I haven’t had Maddie look at this rug!} and it is a seagrass rug. There are pros and cons to seagrass vs. sisal vs. jute- and I’m thinking about maybe doing a post on it. But I find seagrass to be more uncomfortable. Granted, it’s nice and doesn’t stain…but not the softest on your feet. This rug seems more comfortable as it feels like silk. Then again, this isn’t a high traffic area so maybe we just leave it be!

I wanted to share this room because I think the dimensions would fit well for a girl in an apartment and, if I was still in my bachelorette days this is totally how I would want to style the space! To help you recreate, I’m teaming up with Room & Board on Instagram to give away this exact classic cocktail table! I shared a few ways I style it in this post, but I would love to see how you style it. Stay tuned on Instagram the next few days for the giveaway. They are committed to sustainable sourcing and American craftsmanship, so I was thrilled they were interested in doing a giveaway for my COF readers!

Let me know if you restyle this space in your home or apartment!