In partnership withWalmart

No More Playing It Safe: A Fashion Pro’s Living Room Finally Matches Her Impeccable Style

Courtney BalestierSenior Writer, Creative Studio
Courtney BalestierSenior Writer, Creative Studio
Courtney Balestier is the Apartment Therapy Creative Studio Senior Writer. She holds a master's degree in magazine journalism from NYU and lives in Pittsburgh, where you'll find her doing DIY projects in her new house with her dog and cat (who are not being very helpful).
published Jul 10, 2025
Living room with a gray sectional sofa, wooden coffee table, and a large TV on a black stand, featuring large windows with sheer curtains.
Credit: The Design Network

Sometimes we look around our space and realize it doesn’t look like us at all. That was the case for fashion professional and content creator Nasteha Yusuf. Her Jersey City apartment is her second home base, where she spends two weeks a month working. But even though she films content there, the living room felt boring — a word you’d never use to describe Nasteha’s bold personal style.

On the latest episode of Apartment Therapy: From Plan to Perfect — our new series on The Design Network — Apartment Therapy Founder and CEO Maxwell Ryan and interior designer Mary Welch Fox Stasik helped make Nasteha’s living room a warm, eclectic space that better matches her vibe. Now it’s full of on-trend and interesting touches — and every single one of them came from Walmart!

Between her work and travel schedules, Nasteha hadn’t been able to decorate the way she wanted. Plus, her gray sectional dominated the small space, making it hard to imagine a new look. “My living room space is currently not reflective of who I am,” she said. “I would like to see some more fun elements that are more reflective of me and my style.”

With that in mind, Maxwell and Mary Welch used our new digital Room Plan tool, presented in partnership with Walmart, to visualize a more proportional layout. Room Plan makes experimentation easy: Just upload a room photo, watch as Room Plan erases its contents, then start designing! Choose from hundreds of beautiful, on-trend Walmart furnishings, mixing, matching, and rearranging until you find the look you love. Room Plan’s 3D rendering technology provides accurate size, scale, and perspective, making it easy to change things up with confidence.

Credit: The Design Network

Seating to Scale

Because the existing couch made the room feel even smaller, Maxwell and Mary Welch swapped it out for seating that better suited the space’s dimensions. A low-slung and impossibly plush soft sofa works much better along the back wall. Then they added more seating that mimicked its rounded, organic shape: an invitingly plump butterscotch accent chair and a slim but comfortable pillow top chair. This seating arrangement created a visual flow throughout the room, tricking the eye into thinking the space is bigger than it is.

Credit: The Design Network

Storage That Wows

Nasteha wanted aesthetically pleasing storage that wouldn’t overwhelm the room: Creative challenge accepted! After wall-mounting the TV to create more space, Maxwell and Mary Welch opted for two low dressers instead of a more expected living room piece like a credenza. With a sleek black midcentury design and pop of rose gold hardware, the dressers offered a big dose of storage and eclecticism. Maxwell and Mary Welch also repurposed an architectural bar cart into a side table with storage: The tiered shelving provides extra space, and Nasteha can wheel it around the room to suit her needs.

Credit: The Design Network

An Infusion of Color and Light

This room needed way more visual interest to get on Nasteha’s level. Inspired by her love of bold fashion and gold jewelry, Maxwell and Mary Welch created an intentional color story to add depth and brightness. They anchored the room with dark colors, placing the bar cart and dressers around the perimeter. In the middle, they chose earthy neutrals — like the beige couch, jute area rug, and oatmeal linen curtains — for soft brightness. Vibrant ambers, like the butterscotch accent chair and tortoise glassware, add depth and richness. And metallic accents — like that stunning gold drip side table — bring the boldness. Finally, placing at least three points of light around the room — from the table lamp to the ribbed glass lamp shade to the oversized candle — banished dark spots and helped the eye move around the space.

Now, when Nasteha walks into her living room, she sees her style reflected back at her: a warm and eclectic space where she can create, relax, and enjoy some solo time. And all these luxe touches — from the sink-right-in sofa to the blingy gold table — came from Walmart.

Use our new digital Room Plan tool to add furniture, rearrange the layout, and see what style suits your space best!

Credit: The Design Network

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With quality, on-trend designs for every aesthetic — and incredible prices — Walmart makes it easy to make any space feel more like you.