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Annie Elliott Design, Washington DC

Annie Elliott Design

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Who doesn’t love a makeover? Befores and afters

Annie Elliott | July 15, 2023

Gentle Readers! I apologize for falling off the blog track for a few weeks. Life overtook me ;) Thank you for your patience!

First things first: we are accepting new projects for the fall! Please head over to this page if you’re rarin’ to redecorate. I’d love to work with you!

For inspiration, I thought I’d do a little before/after post of some recent and ongoing projects — heavy on pictures, light on commentary. It’s the blog version of a beach read. Here we go!

Before: Ho-hum. The sectional was new, though.

Gray sectional in family room

After: Crisp and bright!

Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Before: A festival of neutrals.

Living room in beige and gray

After: Blue and orange save the day.

Photo by Angie Seckinger

Same room before: The problem wall.

Two leather chairs against a wall

Same room after: The solution!

Blue built-in bookcases

Before: Basement office, emphasis on basement.

Beige basement office

After: Grasscloth and greenery enliven a now-multi-use space. Replacing the wall-to-wall carpeting with ceramic tile plus rug made a big difference…it’s hard to see here.

Photo by Markus Wilborn

Before: A small gray bedroom (realtor photo).

Small gray bedroom

After: Still small, but infinitely more cozy and interesting! We blocked off that silly high window: it wasn’t centered on the wall, and it faced a brick building. Don’t worry, though; the window is still there if we want to uncover it later ;)

Moody teal bedroom with dramatic scenic Roman Shade
Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Before: An empty white box. (Hi, Amy!)

White family room in an open floor plan

After: Glorious banquette-d family room, featuring cork wallcovering and kick-ass art.

family room with long blue banquette
Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Before: A boringly staged open plan condo (realtor photo).

Open plan dining area with white walls

After: What isn’t different? Look carefully – there are 2 wallpapers! Schumacher’s Deconstructed Stripe is on the left, and Timorous Beasties’ Totem Damask is on the TV wall.

Photo by Stacy Zarin Goldberg

Before: Dreary gray paneling.

Painted gray paneled wall down staircase

After: Pink! We just photographed this space last week…professional pictures (by Markus Wilborn) coming soon!

Paneled wall painted in shades of pink

For more in-depth reading about some dramatic makeovers, here’s a previous post about this family room:

Green reading nook - striped sofa in a bay window

And another about this breakfast room:

Brown and white desk against white floral wallpaper

Happy summer, everyone!

Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, D.C., but we work on projects all over the place. We’re experts in creating gorgeous, color- and pattern-filled homes and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Category: Before and after, Color + paint color, WallpaperTag: banquette, basement office, bedroom, before and after, bookcases, deconstructed stripe, family room, home office, Living room, makeover, open plan, paneling, Schumacher, Timorous Beasties, wallpaper

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Sep 9

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It’s Wallpaper Wednesday! This week, feast your eyes on @timorous_beasties Fruit Looters. TB claims that William Morris’s Strawberry Thief pattern inspired Fruit Looters, but only the name indicates the connection: Strawberry Thief, Fruit Looters…get it? Whereas Morris’s iconic pattern is medium-scale, rhythmic, 2-D, cartoon-like, and muted, Fruit Looters is the opposite in every way but subject matter. The scale is huge, with the foliage “stripes” providing a geometric order, and it oozes TB’s trademark edginess. The crisp pattern is finely drawn; pull it apart, and each element — a flower, a bird — could be in an English botanical print. Fruit Looters comes in vivid, saturated colorways, some with a metallic sheen, and dramatic black is present in all.Recently, a client (who originally introduced me to Timorous Beasties!) and I used Fruit Looters wallpaper in her stairwell, in the Alabaster colorway. The drama. Oh, the drama!

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