Favorite Room Feature: Raiana Schwenker Design

My lovely ladies. I hope you are all ready for some serious eye candy this morning. I am talking serious  sophisticated glam from my girl Raiana. You will never guess where this talented lady hails from...I will give you one guess. Oh Canada. I am telling you. Design is in the water there. Today she is sharing her super glam glam living room and I am trying to find a way to move in immediately. 

Hi Sadie & Stella readers! I know you are all sweet, silly and beautiful just like Lindsay and I am so honoured to be here today sharing my Favourite Room! My name is Raiana , I am an Interior Designer from the Niagara Region of Ontario, in Canada! I also collect and sell vintage & refinished furniture and accessories. I am a wife, and mom to two under 2. I believe in following your dreams, doing what you love, and encouraging others to do the same.

I am showing you our living room. It's very small, but believe it or not we do everything in here. Its where the kids play, our dog lounges, we watch tv, usually where we eat, and where we work. It's not perfect, and not at all done or where I would like it to be. However this room is a great example of taking what you have and making it work. This whole space has been done on a major budget[like, under $1200] Certain things are also in place, or not, because of the presence of a toddler and soon to be toddler. Lots of changes and upgrades in the near future hopefully! I will share the before photos of this space over on my blog, after Lindsay posts. You can visit me here to see where it started!

My philosophy on decorating any space is to collect, mix, curate, and layer. Buy pieces you love, layer in pieces with meaning. Different textures, finishes, price points and styles blended within a space. Always have natural elements. Balanced. Traditional with an edgy, eclectic, twist.

The credenza is a garage sale find, lacquered black. It holds diapers, wipes and toys as well as some electronic equipment and cords! The wall with the tv isn't at all finished. Ideally we will finish our basement to create a rec-room and have the tv down there. The rush grass coffee table replaced a brass Ibex table for crawling/walking toddler purposes :). Very happy with this table, I am so shocked and pleased by how well it is holding up. The brass and navy velvet chairs are an estate sale purchase, I have four of them. The vintage brass floor lamp is from my husbands Grandmother. The mirror is Home Sense. The curtains[which neeeeed to be replaced, but serve a purpose] are canvas drop clothes from Home Depot]. The sunburst clock is vintage Syroco. The ginger happiness jars are from my large, and growing, blue and white china collection. These particular two were from Etsy. The area rug is from my families cottage in Muskoka. Its lovely, but not what I would choose for the room, and the piling drives me insane [its at least 25 years old, you would think it would stop shedding...but no, its the worst]

The sofa is a slipcovered Lee Industries english roll arm, which I picked up used[covered in plastic and probably sat on twice, the woman even joked that for 18 years her kids weren't allowed near it] for $100. Some people find it insane that I have a white sofa as our primary sitting/tv watching place with two babies, but the truth is I find it a million times easier. Its slip covered, so it is washed and bleached twice a month and looks perfect each time. When it no longer is holding up, we can easily commission a new slip cover or have it reupholstered. Would like to switch out the two brass velvet chairs with comfier upholstered chairs in the near future. The leopard velvet pillows are Arianna Belle, and are my favourite ever. The area behind is my work space, and houses art supplies, canvases, paper work and my laptop.

The brass chinoiserie lamp is vintage, as are the chairs, ginger jar, and mirror[which is undergoing a refinish asap, thinking a tortoise shell finish].

The desk is IKEA, definitely recommend it! The small burled wood picture frame is from The Gluckstein Home Collection.

The desk on the right wall is IKEA, and holds my husbands desktop. Many of the frames are waiting to be filled, sorry! The two floor lamps drive me a bit insane, and are sort of just...there. Our ceilings have that popcorn finish[who what when why??? why would anyone?] but shockingly doesn't bother me enough to want to fix it.

Just beside the room is this vintage bamboo hall stand which I just adore.

Thank you for having me!! XOXO