This post is sponsored by West Elm. If you’d like to see all the posts about our living room makeover design, check them out here.

When we talked to West Elm about collaborating on our living room make over, it was more than working with a brand to design a room in our home. It’s about collaborating with a company that shares a belief in something we’re passionate about – we’re fierce believers in the creative community and small creative businesses. Everyday I wake up, I’m grateful that we have our own business and we get to do something we love. Of course, there are the days of being unsure, doubting yourself and wondering if success will find you.

When I see a large business like West Elm collaborating with small creative businesses, it makes me deeply happy. I’ve personally talked to some businesses that collaborated with West Elm and they all said the same thing: it’s amazing for their business and helped them tremendously. Knowing that, gets me all emotional and excited for those businesses. The West Elm Local curates product for 100+ stores from 800+ small businesses. Think about that number: 800+ small businesses. 

West Elm collaborates with small design businesses in two ways: one is a artist/designer collaborations and the second is through their Local program. We’ll give you a sneak peak of a few products from those programs that are included in our living room, plus a round of of our favorites.

Roar and Rabbit Collaboration

Above: Roar + Rabbit Swivel Chair;  Leather Chair; Sofa

Theses chairs were designed by Roar + Rabbit as a designer collaboration with West Elm, and they are SO good. Everyone who comes over to our house has a cocktail and sits in this section of the room. Everyone comments on how nice the chairs are – and comfortable. I love that the styles have been expanded to include leather and a sofa. These chairs are a design classic – modern lines, with the traditional pleating of the fabric give these chairs a timeless look.

If you love the creative process, see this video on Roar and Rabbit’s site for a look at the behind the scenes for this collection. Also, check out the full collection here.

West Elm Local Program

We purchased this blanket from the LOCAL section of the West Elm Dumbo store (designed by Made Here New York). Not only is it stylish and made with organic cotton, it’s washable. Our dogs get on the couch and whatever is on that couch has to be washable (cause the dogs stink, you know what I’m sayin’). When I saw this blanket, I actually got giddy cause it’s stylish and washable, making it my forever-love. 

I’m not gonna lie, when I was a kid I used to love a high school gym craft fair. Looking at all the home made goodies from blankets, quilts and stenciled items (it was the 80s!) got my creative brain excited. I still love discovering hand crafted items and browsing the local section of the West Elm site. Also, when I visit a new city, we’ll pop into West Elm and see what’s in the Local section. I was in New Orleans recently with my sister and we were browsing Magazine Street, checking out all the cool shops. We popped into West Elm to see the local section and found some great items that I hadn’t seen at other shops. If you can’t make it to a store, below are some of my favorites from the website. I follow all these artists on Instagram and love seeing their creative evolution.

A. A Question of Eagles Carved Horizon Planters, B. The Vintage Vogue Linea Coasters, C. Louise Gray Quilt No. 1, D. Monroe Trades Clothing Rack, E. Yerbamala Designs Plant Hangers