I hate my sofa!

So I get a voicemail from a client a few weeks ago:

Grant- it's XXXXX- I just can't take this family room sofa anymore- this sofa is so horrible. It's the wrong color- it's ugly, boring and you MUST call me back soon- we MUST to go shopping to get a new one to replace this. What are you doing next week? I just can't take it anymore. Kisses- CLICK

(Now before we go any farther lets review that I did not PICK this sofa out and this is what I call a "preexisting condition" from BEFORE we started working together)

(This next part is where is where I enter the picture to try to save the day- one pillow at a time)

I arrived at the house a few days later- ready to evaluate the situation (with my laptop tucked in my tote bag with all kinds of inspiration shots for new sofas).

My first thought was to remove all of the throw pillows off of the sofa and put them in the closet. By the time I came back to to room- what I saw was a classic- clean lined sofa (you know me- I say it over and over again- invest in pieces that will be timeless). So anyway to make a long story short- I could have started with showing my client all kinds of new sofas and convinced her to purchase something new- but I saw that the sofa really wasn't the problem it was the boring pillows that blended into the sofa. The sofa just needed little pick me up!

So now what did I do?
A few days later I had been up in Marin for a client meeting and lunch and I spotted Calico Corners out of the corner of my eye. I had not been in a long time-and was SO pleasantly surprised by the selection of really affordable fabrics and some great colors and bright patterns.

We are still picking out which fabrics will work for this sofa- but I thought I would share some of these great fun patterns and fabrics that would be sure to brighten up any ones day. Everything seemed so fresh and fun. The prices were great too!

(Disclaimer- if your sofa is ugly to start with- this won't work in every case!)

I work on projects of all levels and sizes. Some days I can be out picking out a paint color and just consulting and other days I can be working on a design of a whole house. If you don't know where to start- why not call up a designer (or me!) to consult just to make a few minor changes. Spring is just around the corner- time to freshen things up and let a little color into your life! I think that some peoples first gut is to start again and get new furniture- but sometime just changing a few things and editing and moving things around- and changing out something as simple as the pillows can change the whole space.