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Most of us know Kellie Brown as an interior designer and content creator, but she also happens to be a big sister—a title she took very seriously when her sibling asked if she’d help update her Philadelphia living room. “My sister was one of those smart people who saved up to buy a house early instead of renting, so she’s lived there for a little over a decade,” Brown shares. The problem was, “She decorated the living room once, and then never again.”
Brown wasn’t afraid to be honest with her sister, who she describes as a “gentle soul.” She started by addressing the room’s millennial gray palette, doing her best to drop hints that maybe it was time for a change. Before she knew it, she mocked up a fresh design, all the while letting her sibling know that she had her back. “She’s my favorite person, and I deeply respect her,” Brown says. “I told her we could make this better, and I also told her that I can’t shoot content in her home if it stays like this.” Here’s how they teamed up and reimagined the space over the course of a few days.
Elevating the Color Palette
Brown had one big advantage for this project: She understood her client’s tastes from the get-go. For starters, her sister prefers neutrals and isn’t drawn to patterns. Brown did her best to stay within those guidelines, while also nudging her sister beyond her comfort zone. “Everything in her original living room was cool-toned, so I started with showing her examples of what it would look like to warm things up,” Brown notes. “I wanted the room to reflect who she is now, without it feeling like some foreign land.”
Brown found a wallpaper print that had a mostly beige backdrop detailed with black-and-white shapes, and the pair agreed it struck the right balance. After enlisting a friend to help paint the room in Valspar’s Swiss Coffee, they installed the treatment on the living room’s most visible wall (the DIY was a real test of their collaboration).
Creating a Boutique Hotel Feel
Brown and her sister like to travel together, so they played off the idea of making this living room feel like the lobby of a boutique hotel. “We didn’t want the type of living room where she would cuddle up and watch TV—that wasn’t what we grew up with,” the designer says. Instead, they imagined this as a semi-formal space for lounging and entertaining friends.
The room is situated off the front door up a short flight of stairs. Brown’s sister didn’t want a railing blocking the sightlines from the entryway, so for safety and seating, they positioned a tête-à-tête chaise by AllModern along that edge facing a wider sofa on the main wall. Their shared curves (something Brown’s sister explicitly requested) add depth to the design while encouraging easy chatter. Brown hung linen curtains from Twopages from floor to ceiling across the windowed wall, concealing the awkward height of the dual panes without losing too much of their sunlight. All of it met the goal of casual luxury, but Brown jokes that just adding the tufted Wayfair rug felt like an upgrade.
“My sister had this mental block around not ever wanting a rug in her living room,” Brown says, “but as soon as she saw how much cozier it felt and how the rug better defined the furniture, she was all in.”
Sifting Out a Secondhand Find
The morning before Brown was set to head back to Palm Springs, she spotted a round coffee table on Facebook Marketplace that seemed like the ideal link between the two sofas. (Not to mention, it was originally $1,459 and listed at a mere $250). She taught her sister, who was new to the secondhand shopping game, that when you see something you love, you’ve got to jump on it. “We drove across town at seven in the morning before the seller had to go to work,” Brown says. “It made her a true believer, because it’s beautiful and such a steal.” As a finishing touch, they hung art by the front door that was once in their childhood home.
“There were aspects of this project that challenged us, but we really work well together. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and selfishly, I love visiting and having a better backdrop for content,” she says. Spoken like a true sister.