My Favorite Room with ... Designer Taylor Johnson

A room may be beautiful, but it must also be livable. When diving into the conceptual design phase her clients, designer Taylor Johnson wants to know the style her clients feel inspired by. But most importantly, she wants to know how the room will be used.

It's all in the details: Will the room be used for hosting or entertaining? Will dogs be allowed on the sofa? Should the room feel more formal or more casual?

While this combined living and dining room may appear more on the formal side, fabric and furniture selections make this room surprisingly kid friendly. Taylor says she loves receiving photo texts of the client's twins propped up on the ottoman, surrounded by their favorite toys.

More My Favorite Room: Designer has a passion for pattern, shapes and colors

Other details like the waterfall bench, dining chandelier, the drapes with the perfect shade of pink make this Taylor Johnson's Favorite Room.

Top 3 Tips to Recreate This Look:

• 1. Paint every part of the space the same color but use different sheens- semi gloss for walls, high gloss for trim, and eggshell for the ceiling.

• 2. Choose different but coordinating rugs for each zone. Here, there’s a vine pattern on the dining side and a traditional Oushak on the other side that picked up a bit of the green from the vine pattern.

• 3. Don't play it too safe and choose a beige or cream sofa -- blue can still be considered a safe color, but totally elevates the look of this room.  An interesting frame can also make a big difference. In this case, the bench seat was combined with an exposed wood accent on the front.

More My Favorite Room: Kitchen from designer Amanda Strine

This article originally appeared on Upstate Parent: My Favorite Room with ... Designer Taylor Johnson