Before and After: Windsor Smith

Who didn't see this room by Windsor Smith blasted on the cover of magazines, the halls of pinterest, and just about every interior design blog known to man?

Her beautiful living room, painted pink, and filled with beautifully custom upholstered furniture with the most amazing frames. The room was delightful, with it's pretty pink walls and exuberant, colorful upholstery. But as with most interior designers, the bug for change sets in and begins to eat away. Before we get into where she went, and how I think she got there, let's take a look at this rooms many "Pink" phases.

The room is actually considered the dining room in her home, though she had never used it as a dining room until the house was double booked for separate magazines. Publication is the greatest compliment that an interior designer can receive. It's also how major players like Windsor Smith get the next whale of a client to spend fortunes in their own homes. So smart Windsor, who had been asked by Western Interiors Magazine for a feature while simultaneously promising her entire house feature to House Beautiful (which ended up the cover) styled the room (and painted it pink) to create a dining room story. This one in fact:

 

The magazine feature. The best way to compare this room and it's many incarnations is the view point of that gorgeous window:

 



Ah, yes! Here we go. Quite different from the House Beautiful cover feature that soon followed it:

 

The room itself had many different versions, as Windsor added art and accessories she found, and furniture was moved from place to place.

 

 

Now however, the pink is gone, as is the vibrant hues in the upholstery and pillows. Windsor tucked it all away in favor of this:

 

 

 

You can see that a few things have stayed: the chest and mirror, and a few pieces of the more muted art. But the furniture has taken a departure, and though it's the same in this photo, the chandelier changes.

 

Some not so often seen style shots of the new living room include the bar, and a settee:

 

 

 

It's not the first time we've seen Windsor use these pieces though, which maybe was her impetus for making a change. Let's take one more look at the new space:

 

And now this one from the Greystone Bedroom Windsor did in 2008 ...

 

Sofa looks a little familiar, doesn't it? The bed from that room was the bed from Windsor's own master bedroom.

 

 

And those chairs came from Veranda's Brentwood Showhouse, thereafter purchased by Gwyneth Paltrow, called House of Windsor:

 



 

They were a part of this beautiful space:

 

 

But it's not the only room of the house that experienced a change. In fact, what has undergone more change than the pink room is the formal living room that precedes it. What's really interesting is seeing the transition of the whole house - the space as a whole and how it all plays together:

 

 

Does that mirror in the living room look familiar? Windsor used it over the fireplace in the family room of the concept house. Here you can sort of tell how the house is planned, and where the location of the pink room once was. Right off of Windsor's beautiful gray and white marble tiled foyer, is a formal sunken living room with book cases, seen to the left of this instagram photo. And simply because it's lovely - here's the foyer:

 

 

 



And once more, the view into the living room:

 



 

This room is so different moment to moment, that I have no real idea what it looks like in the present. But it's been quite fun rewinding through its many looks. Here's the best I could do with chronological order:

 

From the House Beautiful shoot in 2009, showcasing her fabric "Riad" from Kravet:

 

 

 

A big change, featured in Veranda January 2012, you can see from the picture below that the walls in the once pink room have been changed:

 

 

The mirror reflecting the entry door seems to be a staple, even if the mirror changes. The architecture of the room never changes. But the furniture play is quite fun. Here, in the beginning, the sofa from the pink room sits facing the room's fireplace.

 

 

And looking in from the entry way, two slipcovered chairs (which make an appearance over and over again) with two zebra hid covered ottomans sit in front of the built in bookcases.

 

And then today:

 

 

 



 

Which was your favorite?