Meet Liz Levin! An Interior Designer Who Decorates with Kids and Pets In Mind!

She's young. She's hip. And she digs color and pattern!
More importantly, Interior Designer Liz Levin decorates so the whole family (that includes the kids and pets) can all live together . . . both stylishly and comfortably.  Here, below, are images from her own "home lab;" plus, a recount of some of her own experiences, and a couple of must-have family friendly fabrics!

Interior Designer Liz Levin in her living room.

Even an experienced designer can be stumped. "I breeze into clients’ homes on a daily basis, and I instantly know how to make them better:  move this, add these and ditch that.  A different story prevails in my own house. I recently found myself flummoxed by my living room," she says. 

"What started as the innocent desire for a shot of color and toddler-friendly furnishings set off a domino-like cascade of changes," she says. 

First, she swapped two white antique arm chairs for more comfortable, stain repellent and shockingly fuchsia ones. 

Hold on . . . "what was I thinking? I know better than to add something unrelated to anything else in the house and expect it to work."

She reminds everyone that even if you've made a purchasing blunder, a shot at recovery still exists. To help herself focus on the next step needed in her own home, she took a photo of her living room. In doing so, she realized the repetition of several themes.

"I noted touches of slate blue in the rugs and artwork; the bronze nailhead trim on furnishings, the cache pot.  I needed a BIG, new element to marry all of this -- the fuchsia, the brown, the flora -- together. Throw pillows, perhaps? Patterned pillows possess the power to unite, but I found nothing with major uumph I was looking for. But what about wallpaper? Perhaps a bold accent wall behind my sofa --perfect location since it would be behind me when I lounged, and I would be less likely to tire of it."

You see the fabulous wallpaper she selected above. Here are more photographs of her home that she sent along:

Interior Designer Liz Levin share a couple of her favorite fabrics here:

"One of my go-to fabrics (shown on the Hollywood 2 chair in my house) we dub the "magic fabric"at the office. It's magic because it has multiple thread colors that make up the woven texture. It reads like a solid, but the range of color within the weave makes it versatile and marries color schemes together.  I have it in my house; I used it on a pair of wing backs for partner of a law firm  and on a multitude of family room sofas. (Shown as nesting grade G fabric (see search by fabric) on her Web site.) We call it "rough n tumble" because it is super durable. Made by Osborne & Little to the trade." 
http://lizlevinnesting.com/pattern/rough-n-tumbledenim
"Another go to fabric is a pattern I love by David Hicks by Ashley Hicks for Groundworks (to the trade). I'm currently using it in green for roman shades in my office, in magenta for recovering a chair in my house, and in beige for my friend's ottoman down the street. I never tire of this diamond pattern and LOVE the colors."
http://www.leejofa.com/search/CWDENT.ASP?pattern=2430-GWF