by webmaster on February 25, 2009

POSH LIVING, LLC is a full-service design shop in Surfside Beach, South Carolina. Designers Layla Altman and Kerry Ann Dame specialize in homes that are warm, personal, stylish and practical.  Both love to travel and have been engaged in a variety of projects from South Carolina to Virginia; and in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and even Toronto, Canada.  

The Posh philosophy of Substance & Style places an emphasis on stylish but relaxed living, keeping in mind practicality and sustainability. We are proud to feature natural flooring, recycled products and American made furniture in our store. Sourcing locally and focusing on sustainable, fair trade goods has been a key part of our design philosophy for as long as we can remember - it just makes sense.

Slipcovered furniture is our specialty, and we are the only workroom in coastal South Carolina that makes true custom slipcovers. Our fabric department focuses on the classics - cotton solids and prints, linen and silk.

Posh Living was started in 2001 with the name Bungalow Heaven, by the Dame family. In spring of 2008, Layla Altman decided to join us and we changed our name to Posh Living.

We hope you’ll take some time to read about our products and services shown at right.

Expand your knowledge of design by reading our blog articles. The most recent are below, and there are more in our searchable archive.

You can see pictures of our work all over this site. Click on the images in the Flickr widget, on our Portfolio page, or see the pictures throughout the articles. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are by us, of our work. 

On the lower part of this page, you will see links to our product lines. Search for product by clicking a link, and we’ll be more than happy to place an order for you.

Thanks for visiting, and we hope to see you in the shop soon!

Have a question? Just click here to ask us by email!

{ 0 comments }

Summer is here, and with it a whirlwind of fun outdoor activities, but that doesn’t mean your decor has to suffer. With guests arriving, you may feel your interior could use a little brightening up. Here are some budget-friendly tips to help: Paint an accent wall a bright color - current colors are deep turquoise, bright indigo, lavender, fuschia, orange or yellow-green. Just paint one wall behind a sofa, or in a small kitchen you can paint the areas between and around the cabinets.

Slipcovered, yet elegant

Slipcovered, yet elegant.

[click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

From construction materials to furniture and cleaning products, our homes contain many toxic substances that affect our health. You can improve the quality of your health by making informed decisions about how your home is designed, what products are used to build it, what products you put in it and how you maintain it. Here are several tips for making your home healthier and safer for you & your family.

10 Steps to Creating a Healthy Indoor Environment

Step 1: If you have allergies, then carpet is not what you want for flooring. Carpet captures dust, dust mites, food, and mildew and gives it a place to breed and grow. This is what will irritate your allergies and make you sick. Replace your carpet with hardwood flooring or tile to eliminate the breeding ground. Hardwood and tile flooring is much easier to clean and maintain. It also has a longer life span than carpet and won’t need replacing as soon. [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

pillow collection

WHAT’S YOUR PILLOW STORY? Pillows are like jewelry for your sofa. They are to decorating what shoes are to fashion — it seems you can never have too many! They’re one of my favorite elements in a room, because I have such a passion for beautiful fabrics. The right collection of pillows is like the icing on the cake; it’s where the homeowner’s individuality really comes out. Beautiful pillows are a necessity for the fabric connoisseur. For a designer look, un-decorate your prepackaged room with throw pillows:

  • Toss the pillows that match your sofa — they’re a real waste of pillow real-estate.
  • Avoid chenille or heavy upholstery fabrics, they just don’t make nice pillows.
  • Use down and feather pillow inserts. They last forever and flatten nicely when you lean against them, so you don’t have to move them aside like those stiff polyester ones. They also sit heavily on the furniture which keeps them from tumbling onto the floor.

[click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Interior designer's finish board.

TIMES ARE TOUGH for most of us right now. And the large and small projects at home or the office still need to be completed. Why do you need a professional’s help when it seems like you can do it yourself for less? The reason you should consider hiring help is to make sure you spend your money wisely and that you don’t make a costly mistake. There are many important factors to consider when making the decision to hire an interior design professional for your project. [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

LeatherFloralLR

DECORATING THE FAMILY ROOM has long been a dilemma for families that want to have an attractive space that also functions well for everyone’s needs. Add to that the constraints of room size and budget, and it could be a recipe for disaster. What can we do to create the most family friendly home? By paying attention to the key elements below, your family can create a space together that meets everyone’s needs and looks great. [click to continue…]

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Living room with vintage and new; custom slipcovers on old and new furniture, vintage oriental rug, custom pillows from designer fabrics

WE’RE ALL LOOKING for ways to make our budgets go further these days, and decorating is no exception. The most fun way to save on your interior design projects is to become an avid do-it-yourself-er. Tackling new skills can be intimidating, but many projects are easy to learn. As interior designers know, planning and executing design projects is not only fun, but it can be rewarding in many ways.Instead of purchasing a pre-conceived look from a shop, do some research and put some effort into developing your own style. Putting your own stamp on things rejects the theory that there is a right or wrong way to decorate. It quiets that critical voice in our heads that tells us to follow the crowd. You’ll end up with a room that expresses your personality and has a more timeless style. No matter what the trends are, your house will always be primarily a reflection of you. When your home is constantly evolving, it will never need an expensive, top-to-bottom decoration again. [click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

What is Chinoiserie?

by Kerry Ann Dame on December 7, 2008

Le Chinois Toile

CHINOISERIE is a French word that means “in the Chinese taste”. It describes a European style of decorative ornament that was wildly popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and still looks great today. Scenes of the Orient abound on textiles, wallpapers, pottery, porcelain, and lacquered and painted furniture. Owning a piece of Chinoiserie (or, “japanned” furniture, as some pieces were called) was the height of fashion. The interesting thing about Chinoiserie is the tremendous range and variety of Oriental scenes and fantastical decorative details - Chinese people in elaborate robes with coolie hats, long pigtails and mustaches; intricately detailed pagodas with layer upon layer of fretwork, tassels, and bells; or monkeys, lions, and elephants in costume. Our endless fascination with exotic locales gives the designs relevance even today. [click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

Low curves and and exotic paisley would be right at home in Old Hollywood.

Elsie sofa - low curves and and exotic paisley would be right at home in Old Hollywood.

HOLLYWOOD REGENCY is getting all the buzz in interior design nowadays; it’s a style that looks fresh and can incorporate modern pieces, with some old-fashioned wit and vintage flair thrown in. Hollywood insiders know it when they see it; the movie industry not only permeates every aspect of the city’s culture but has directly influenced furniture and interior design for decades now. The glamorous looks of Hollywood set and costume designers have long trickled out of the studios, into the imaginations of designers and magazine editors, and eventually into retail shops across the country. For those outside the Hollywood culture, however, it can be difficult to recognize. What are the elements of Hollywood Regency design? To know this, we must first look back at Hollywood’s heyday. [click to continue…]

{ 3 comments }

W

ITH THE REAL ESTATE MARKET at a low point, most of us won’t be moving anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean we can’t indulge our desire to beautify our surroundings. Here are some tips. [click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }