Living Room-Option 1
One of our best friend's just bought a house down the street. In it's former life, his house was a beach house on Pawleys Island, but has since been moved inland to enjoy a new life with our friend. The house came furnished but left something to our imaginations. It has good bones and oozes with the kind of charm that only and old and much loved beach house can. Unfortunately this furnished "as is" house was a little too kitchsy and stodgy for our friend and for me. This is where I stepped in and begged him to let me help in his redesign. My charge: nothing. My only rule: he can disregard any and every thing that I say about his house and do what he wants. No exceptions! This rule is very important when you appoint yourself the interior designer of your friend's house before they actually ask you to be! Below is an inspiration board for his new living room. Once again, my coastal chic design can be seen, only this time reincarnated in a more masculine form 
I like the idea of using a sectional to maximize seating in a small space. He loves to surf so I think vintage black and white surfing pictures would look really good on the walls. You may notice that all of the furniture has exposed legs, this is to trick the eye into thinking the space is larger because it's not broken up by heavy furniture and you can constantly follow the floor. The floors are a light colored wood and the walls are buttery yellow. He'd like to work around those two colors.
After showing him the inspiration board, we made a few changes. He'd like to use the color red more and has picked the Seabury sectional (pictured below) from Pottery Barn in suede instead of the Crate & Barrel option above. The lines are really similar and this one has a very versatile appeal. This way he can take it with him to his next house if he ever moves. Hopefully that will not be any time soon unless it's even closer to us!
I'd like to put another inspiration board together now that we've discussed a little more about what he likes and wants in the room! Stay tuned....
Image found via Pottery Barn