A Major Case of the Blues

:: DID SOMEBODY SAY NAVY? ::

Is our latest project in Cape Cod? Nope - it's in Larchmont Village here in Los Angeles. A couple asked us to bring that East Coast look into their California Craftsman. To us that translates into 2 words : navy and blue.

We started with the entry. Our amazing workshop, Foundation, reupholstered the couple's existing flea market found chairs - we went with a navy stripe because nothing says New England like a good ol' rugby stripe.

On to the living room, our navy theme continues. We chose a to add a touch of modern design with these two leather chairs. The cognac color and tufted details are just enough of a nod to traditional club chairs, but the lack of arms allows the narrow room to feel more open.

In this project our biggest lesson in design was that a GREAT navy rug is close to impossible to find. We fell in love with this Ralph Lauren Sheldon Rug as soon as we saw it, but apparently so did half the other designers in the world, as it was backordered forever - delaying the finish of our project. Clearly, however, it was worth the wait.

Just off the living room is a long and narrow room that we split into two area - a playroom that will "grow up" to be more of a library / den and a media room. We covered the walls in Schumacher's Haiku sisel wallpaper in cerulean. Our ridiculously talented wood-working guru Rodrigo from RBF Design brought to life our custom built in bench and shelves under the window.

The bench cushion is upholstered in Ralph Lauren's Main Sail in ultramarine fabric (and we're officially obsessed with it forever).

How amazing is the bookcase that looks like a group of Brownstones in Boston? Since this room is visible from the formal living room, we wanted to make sure it looked as sophisticated as it could for a playroom. This bookcase is perfect for that and does a superb job at hiding toys.

Needless to say, couple's two very young children are big fans of the super plush, appropriately named "Walk Softly" rug - but who wouldn't be?

The other half of the room functions as the tv room for the family. We reupholstered their existing sofa in a pale gray cotton fabric and added a navy velvet tufted ottoman.

This custom built in media cabinet was a must not only functionally (the downstairs has limited storage options) but also visually. The long room is now connected end to end with the matching custom cabinet at one end, and the window bench at the other end.

Dining in navy obviously. Since this dining room has four entry points, an oval table was a must - the smooth edges help keep a natural flow to the room.

It is now no secret that our favorite navy paint is Ralph Lauren's Club Navy. We knew there was no better way to take advantage of the beautiful, wainscoting in the dining room then by painting it a warm but bright white (Benjamin Moore's Mountain Peak) and adding more navy to the ceiling.

The kitchen overall was very...white and we just couldn't leave a room without adding some blue. To add some visual interest, we painted just the bottom cabinets in Benjamin Moore's Van Heusen.

If you pay attention you'll notice we try to sneak an animal print somewhere into our designs. The powder room was perfect for Scalamandre's Ouistiti in Majolica Blue wallpaper. It is not only gorgeous but has monkeys playing throughout. We LOVE it and the couples two year old daughter does too.