Easy Living Room Updates

As I shared yesterday, once we changed things up in the kitchen we had to change things up in the living room too. It’s all part of living in a home with an open floor plan. It’s not that the room was bad, per se but this was one of the rooms that needed a lot of attention.

You notice the fireplace as soon as you walk through the door. It’s one of my favorite features of the house but as you’ll see windows surround the fireplace. The placement of the furniture in the living room is also pretty tricky, given the only place for the TV is the wall it’s already on. Couple all of that with brown furniture and an understood “no more painted furniture zone” and even a beautiful rug could not save the dissatisfaction known as the living room.

In a dream world I would have white slip covered couches and completely different chairs but this is real life and I have financial priorities just like you do. I really thought I should bring more white into the room but it took months to convince anyone that would listen I should bring the white bookcases that were in my office out into the living room. These are the things I would hear, maybe they sound familiar…”White, really?” “What are you going to keep all of your junk on?” “I really don’t think that is going to look good.” “Are you serious?” “Are you kidding me?” and my personal favorite “But I like brown. Brown is awesome. It’s way better than white. Everyone knows that.”

I may have had to bide my time for a few months but I never gave up on the fact the living room needed more white in order to complement the rest of the house. So, I waited until my Mom came to stay with me last week and I seized the opportunity. It took some convincing before she agreed it might look nice but after much discussion regarding the changes planned for my office, she helped me move the bookcases into the living room.

This is how the living room looked before

and after.

I know, right? It’s hard to believe that by adding more furniture to the space it actually looks bigger but it does. The best part about this whole makeover is that I didn’t buy one new item. Not one.

The chair came from one of the bedrooms. The cabin inspired pouch pillow came from my friend Angie. The antique radio was buried in the same closet as the watercolor of the barn that now sits above the coffee station. The worn duck is actually a pipe holder and family heirloom. We found the mason jars at a yard sale last year and they’ve been featured from the mantel to my office to the dining room.

The clock is also a family heirloom. The horse picture is a thrifted find. The shaving cup, brush and scale are all estate sale finds.

We even gave the door turned console table an update. It used to hold all of the scales but it started feeling like too much so we toned it down with this little $4 typewriter vignette. The words on the page read, “Do not fear the future. Where He guides, He provides,” and it’s one of my favorite reminders.

The black and white photographs surrounding the TV are all from Florida. Think women in long dresses picnicking on the beach. We are so lucky it’s appropriate to wear shorts and bathing suits now. It’s 98 degrees here with humidity of what feels like 98%.

The minute we finished this room, I swear I felt my spirits lifting. It has long been a trouble spot for me and I’m so glad that we were able to use what we already had one hand to give it a fresh look. Giving this space an update was on my 2015 Home Goals list and I’m so excited I can cross it off now.

See you guys back here tomorrow. I’m sharing a rarely seen bathroom that got an update too.

Many blessings,

CoCo