My New Living Room: From Dark and Dated to Light and Modern

I know, surprise, surprise!  So many of you thought you would never see this post.  I started this new redecorating project of my living room WAY back in February with this Inspirational Post.  In that post I shared inspirational pictures of what I hoped the room would like and also what I wanted the purposes of the room to be.  However, everything took a lot longer than we thought it would (we waited a month and a half just for our furniture to arrive!) and we had one frustrating issue after another.  It truly was a re-decorating nightmare!  In the end, I did not get everything on my wish list, but overall I'm pleased with the room.  Let's begin our tour and I'll tell you all about it!  First, here is the "Before" picture.  It was a very dated, dark, small, cluttered room.

BEFORE

And here is the "AFTER" picture taken from the exact same spot as the "BEFORE" picture.  What a difference, eh? Looking at these pictures it's hard to believe it's the same room.   It is no longer a dark, cluttered space.  Now it is open, bright, and cheerful.

AFTER

 

The most obvious difference is the wall color and new floor.  Gone is the dark, blue-green color on the walls and gold/brown rug.  The wall color was replaced with "Colonial White" in a semi gloss.  The ceiling and trim were painted in Ultra White High Gloss.  Because my house is over 100 years old, there are a lot of small rooms.  When I first purchased my house 20 years ago, I painted all the rooms dark colors because HGTV said it would make my small rooms "cozier".  Ugh!  Big mistake!  It only made the small rooms even smaller and darker.  Light colors, especially whites, open up and brighten a room!  

Finding furniture for this tiny room was a challenge as it not only is very small, but there is virtually NO wall space.  I think I went to every furniture store in town and looked on-line,  and I just could not find anything that I liked or would fit.  Finally, out of total exhaustion and frustration, I just "settled" and purchased a recliner and a leather chair.  The leather chair did not work in the room at all so we moved it to another room.  Even though we measured before we went shopping, once the chair was in the room it just seemed too dark and heavy and overwhelmed the space.  (You can see the leather chair in this post HERE if your interested).  The recliner on the other hand, I didn't mind.  The fabric had a pretty sheen to it, and it seemed to fit the corner nicely.  Although it's not my preferred style of furniture,  it's very practical, especially as I age.  It is also a "Heat & Massage" recliner, which is a big bonus to me.  I can't tell you how many times I've enjoyed sitting in this chair after a long day in the garden!

To lighten up the dark chair a bit, I added a pretty throw by Vera Wang to the back of it.  The pillow is one of my old gold pillows that I just covered with a silver pillow cover from Hobby Lobby.  Pillow covers are the most economical way to update old pillows.  They cost half as much as a pillow.  This one only cost around $2.50 because I purchased it during a half-off sale.





Once we knew we were keeping the recliner in this room, the next issue was a table to put drinks on and hold our remotes.  A table would not fit in any practical spot near the recliner where one could easily reach for their drinks.  So my husband built this floating shelf out of distressed shelving.    I also needed a place to store all our extra blankets, so I added this basket from Home Goods.



It was very important to me to not have anything in this room that doesn't serve a purpose (except for my one small corner of knick knacks, which you will see when you read on).  I really wanted it to be easy and quick to clean.



I added a basket to the top of the shelf to hold all our remotes, my eyeglasses, and hand lotion.  Now everything I need is at easy reach, yet out of site.  A pretty orchid arrangement from TJMaxx completed the look.

Once all the heavy drapes of the old room were removed we marveled at all the beautiful sunlight in the room.  Why did we ever have the windows so covered up before?  The room has a southern exposure and great views of the garden below.  At first we we weren't going to have any drapes on the windows at all.  My husband put more trim on the windows and we wanted the large windows, and the light and view to be seen.  But after I lived in the room awhile, I felt the room was incomplete without window treatments.  So we just put one white panel on each end of the windows.  This way, the window frame, and the view, can still be seen.

This window faces east and has the most gorgeous morning sunlight.  My husband surprised me and said a hanging plant would look great in this window.  I was surprised because he normally doesn't let me put real plants in any room but the sun room.  He thinks the water spills ruins floors and furniture.  But I found a ceramic hanging pot from Ross that does not have holes on the bottom so it won't leak.  The plant sits in a plastic liner inside the ceramic pot.  The macrame plant holder I found on Amazon for less than $10.00.  I love that macrame is making a comeback, don't you?

The bead board ceiling and wood stove area were left unchanged other than fresh coats of paint.  The inspirational picture is from Hobby Lobby.  We did change the sconces from the gold "funeral parlor style" ones we had before to these Tuscan beauties.

View from southern window.

In the corner opposite the recliner, next to the wood stove,  I created a little reading corner.  After wasting a lot of money on furniture, I could not bring myself to try again, so I just slip covered my old wing back chair.  Yes folks, that's a slipcover.  They don't make them like they use to!  I had a friend over to the house last week, and she couldn't believe this was a slipcover.  She thought I bought  a brand new chair.  I purchased it for $50.00 on sale from SureFit.  It's like I got a whole new chair for only $50.00!!!!!

The slipcover is a stretchy jacquard damask material.  It forms beautifully to the chair and is secured underneath with Velcro straps.  I chose blue instead of white or grey because even though "all white everything" is "in" my husband and I both like a little contrast between the furniture and the wall.  Blue, especially this color of blue, is very trendy right now in home decor too.  To keep with the modern trend of "all white everything" I simply added a white pillow and throw to the chair.
The white pillow (Home Goods) and crochet throw (vintage) soften the blue and help blend it just a bit to the all white room without losing the color.



When I initially designed the room, I wasn't going to have any rug in the room at all.  One reason is that we loved the new floor so much, we didn't want to cover it up.  The second reason is that this is such a high traffic room because you have to walk through this room to get to the upstairs bedrooms.  Any rug we ever put in this room before always got worn very quickly.  But, my husband and I both felt the reading corner needed be distinguished from the rest of the room and what better way to do that than to anchor it with a rug.  The round rug was a perfect choice, because it never gets stepped on  when walking across the room to get to the staircase.  I purchased it from Amazon.  The colors go great with the room colors.



This is a view looking down into the room from the staircase.  Some of my readers may remember me writing about the footstool.  I love the crochet footstool.  I feel it adds a contemporary touch to the room and needs to stay to balance out all the more traditional elements.  My husband on the other hand hates it and wants it to go.  But it's past the point of no return now, so it's staying!  At least, until it's worn or I find a better one for a good price.  When shopping for footstools, I was shocked at how expensive they were.  I found this one at TJMaxx for $40.00.



As always, I had the hardest time finding a table and lamp for this room.  Every time I redecorate a room, these two items are always the most difficult for me to find.  I couldn't stomach spending hundreds of dollars for an end table;  especially the ones that were heavily distressed and looked like they came from a rummage sale.   So I hit my local thrift store and found this one for $25.00.  I'm trying to decide whether I should chalk paint and distress it.  My hubby and daughter both say "no" but my friend says "yes".  What are your thoughts?

The lamp I purchased at Ross for $15.00.  I liked the neutral color and burlap shade.  I framed one of my favorite pictures of Alethea and I with a new frame from Kirklands.  The color and style of the frame went perfect with the boho look I have going on in the room.  The colors in the picture also go well with the rest of the room decor.  Two baskets were added, one for the top of the shelf and one to hold magazines on the lower shelf.  And lastly, I added a coaster to protect the table top surface.

This picture was the only item left from the previous room.  I thought the design and colors went beautifully with the new decor so I kept it.  I simply moved it from the opposite wall to above the wing back chair.

Right side view of living room as seen from inside the adjoining dining room.  In addition to painting living room "Colonial White" this winter,  I also painted the dining room and office the same color.  The office is right next to the dining room (not shown in this post.  I will do another post showing all three rooms later).  I love how my semi-open floor plan seems even more open now just because all three rooms are painted the same color.

Left side view of living room as seen from dining room



I really wanted to keep this room clutter free and minimally decorated as possible.  I didn't want a lot of nick knacks that I have to dust.  As I have been going around my house, updating and redecorating rooms,   I try to keep my old age in mind.  I want the flow to be unrestricted, nothing to trip over,  and I want the rooms to be easy to clean.  But when all was said and done, this room seemed a little too minimalist to me.  So I went and bought this corner shelf from Hobby Lobby ($55.00) and filled it with just a few nick knacks.  There use to be a round table in this corner, which really tightened up the space.  The corner shelf on the other hand, is so minuscule, that it still allow plenty of room for foot traffic at the stair case landing.  And, I have a little spot for my nick knacks.  What can I say?  A Granny has to have a spot for her nick knacks.

On the top shelf,  I put a modern blue glass vase (Home Goods $5.00).  On the second shelf I placed a Dollar Store bird canvas on an easel and then I added a succulent planter that I made myself.  The third shelf is a picture of our entire family at my daughter's wedding.  I thought the teal dress I was wearing coordinated perfectly with the other blues in the room.  I then added a teal vase with white faux flowers next to it.  I painted the vase teal myself (post coming soon).  The bottom shelf was a tricky one as it is so close to the floor I couldn't put anything breakable on it.  When I found this lantern at Aldi for around $6.00 I thought it was perfect for the spot.

View of living room as seen from back wall of dining room.

View of living room as seen from staircase landing.

I really needed a TV in this room as it is right off the kitchen.  Often when cooking, I like to sit down and watch TV when something is in the oven or simmering on the stove.  The other living space is too far away for that.  So, we then mulled over how to put a TV in such a small, awkward space.  It used to be in the corner, where the wing back chair is now.  But I never really liked it there because of the windows.  So we decided to move it and put it between the two windows.  The size of the TV fit perfect there.  At first, we we were going to purchase a new entertainment center.  We couldn't just put the TV on the wall because we have components.  But again, price sticker shock affected me.  I just can't believe how much furniture costs these days, can you?  So I started looking at thrift stores for something I could alter.  But then hubby said "Why do we need an entertainment center?  We don't need the storage for Cd's or videos anymore.  All we need is a way to hold our components."  So he came up with this ingenious idea of creating another floating shelf.  The TV sits on the top shelf, and the components sit on the second shelf. We hung a black cloth to hide the cords and the rest of the cords inside the molding on the lower left window.  The window curtain covers up the bottom portion of the cords that go into the basement.

It was a brilliant idea!  The floating shelf has a clean, modern look, yet, the distressed wood shelving keeps with the character of the house.  Above the TV I hung a boho style architectural piece.  We felt something was missing above the TV but we didn't want to put a real picture there because we felt it would compete for attention with the TV.  Because it is white, and blends with the wall, the architectural pieces fills the space without overwhelming it.

And before I close, I should also mention we replaced our old stair case runner with a new one.  I had to go through old post archives to find a picture, as I forgot to take one.  But that's OK because now I have my precious Alethea in a picture!  The new runner is a beautiful grey and white with flecks of blue in it.  It matches the round rug very well.

Well, that's it.  Sorry it took me four months to post the final results but we had a lot of struggles, frustrations, and waiting periods till it was all done.  Even though the room didn't exactly turn out like my dreams,  I'm pretty pleased with it.  What do you think?

Summary of Room Remodel Costs:

Flooring:                                                                                                                                    $500.00

Paint:  Free, with rebates

Lighting:                                                                                                                                     $75.00

Rug and Runner:                                                                                                                         $125.00                  

Furniture:  (I'm not including the cost of the leather chair as we did not use it in this room)  $525.00

Wood For Shelves, Trim:                                                                                                            $125.00

Window Treatments:                                                                                                                    $50.00

Decorations:                                                                                                                                 $245.00

                                                                                                                                                    _______

Grand Total:                                                                                                                           $1645.00

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Living Room Redecorating Project Update

Last month in THIS POST I shared with you that my husband and I were redecorating our living room.  In that post I showed what the room looked like before and I also included pictures of what I hoped the room would look like when we were all done.  Well, fast forward one month and let's just say things have not exactly gone as plan and we are doing a complete 180 with this room.

With the exception of the staircase, I finished painting the room with a Colonial White paint.  I also gave  the ceiling, and all the trim a fresh coat of Ultra White paint.  Ignore the tv and furniture in the following pictures.  None of those items will be in the final room.

My husband put in a new floor.  I love the color and the way it turned out.  I would have loved to have done the entire house in this new floor, but we did not think it was a wise financial situation;  so the dining room, kitchen, and office have the old cherry wood floor.  I chose Amber Hickory because it blended with the old floor of the dining room the best.  I'm thinking of placing a small space rug between the dining room and living room so that the difference in the two floors is not so obvious.

The only painting I have left is the stair treads and spindles.  I can't paint them till I pick out a new stair runner as the old stair runner has to come off to paint the treads.  The steps are so slippery without a runner,  so I want to paint, and then be able to put on the new runner asap for safety reasons.

Is this floor gorgeous or what?  I love it!

I did purchase new wall sconces, but they did not work out, so I had to pick out new ones and they haven't been hung yet.  The first pair I chose hung too low on the wall.

I did paint the dining room too.  It's the same color as the living room.  When I finished painting the living room, it really clashed with the red dining room.  I love how fresh and clean it all looks now.  I already decorated the dining room for spring. I didn't see the point of putting the winter decorations back up for only 20 days.   I'll show you my dining room spring decorations in a future blog post.

Now to explain all the issues we've had with the room and why it's taking a complete 180 from my original design plan.  I really wanted neutral furniture in this room.  But I also wanted comfort.  Remember, I'm trying to keep my old age in mind.  It's less important to me that my house looks like a magazine cover and it's more important that the space works for me and is comfortable.  So I started looking for furniture on line but the reviews scared me.  I was nervous about ordering furniture I had never sat in.  So then we went furniture shopping.  I sat in the all white Ikea furniture everyone in blog land raves about.  I thought it was uncomfortable.  And frankly, I thought it had a "sloppy" look.  Well, after about ten more furniture stores, and being tired and cranky somehow I ended up coming home with a grey recliner and a leather chair and ottoman. 🤣 Hmm, I wonder if my exhaustion after shopping all day had anything to do with this decision.

I do love the leather chair, but never in my life would I have thought I would buy anything leather.  But I saw this piece, and I was instantly drawn to it.  I wish I had another picture without my husband sitting in it, but I don't.   He's covering up a lot of the gorgeous detail.  It has a warm, Carmel colored threading in it (you can see it on the footstool).  That unique detail really drew me to this chair and I decided to buy it and make it the focal point of the room.  It's super comfy too!  It'll be the perfect reading/blogging chair!  I plan on putting it in the corner where the tv is now.  You will be able to see it right when you walk in the front door as it's visible from the dining room.

We did have a recliner on our wish list for new furniture.  My husband has wanted one for years.  For now, we will tuck it in the corner along the staircase wall.  You won't be able to see it from the dining room, you literally have to walk into the room and turn around to see it.  Hubby said if it's been there awhile and it still makes me want to barf every time I walk into the room, we can move it into the family room.  🤣 I absolutely love to sit in recliners, who doesn't, but I hate the way they look.  We looked at some of the more modern, stream lined recliners, but they were no way near as comfy as the plush one we bought.  

So now you're probably wondering why the huge 180 from my inspiration pictures.  One reason was that after we painted the walls and put in the new floor, the room developed a very cozy, warm feel.  All white furniture didn't seem to go with it anymore.  Hubby was also worried that all white furniture against all white walls wouldn't look good, even though I kept telling him that's what everyone does now.  But I also worried about the practicality of all white furniture.  I read one blog post (quite a funny one too, you must read if HERE!) of a woman who bought the all white furniture from Ikea and said it was now a room everyone was afraid to sit in.  Her husband would only sit on it if he covered it with a blanket first.  I don't want that for my house.  I want people to feel comfortable.  We also had issues finding white furniture in the stores.  Other than Ikea, none of the stores carried it.  Everyone was selling recliners, sectionals, movie theater seating, etc.  It seems everyone is about comfort these days.  All white furniture looks awesome in magazines, but is it livable?  And finally, because of the awkward space of the room it was hard to find anything that would fit it right.  

So back to the drawing board I went, or my Pinterest Board I should say!  I looked for furniture with leather pieces in it and I found a treasure trove of ideas.  Turns out, leather is pretty "in" too.  The hints to incorporating leather into a room is to use only one leather piece (with me it is my chair), light colored pillows and throws, and basically keep everything else in the room light.  Here are some examples:

Once my leather chair arrives (it's not available for pick up until April 2nd! 😭) I will have a better idea of the look of the room and hit the stores for a white cotton throw, white pillows (preferably with an abstract or textured patterns), lights, and art work.  I don't want to buy anything else for this room, till I get the furniture in place and see how it looks.  So, sorry this Re-decorating project is taking a little longer than expected.  I never thought I'd have to wait an entire month for my furniture.

So what do you think?  Did I make a huge mistake or should I have bought the white Ikea furniture?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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A New Redecorating Project: My Living Room

Guess what I'm doing this winter guys?  I'm redecorating my living room!  I have lived in this house since 1998 and during that time this room has been re-decorated three times, and this time will be fourth and final time I redecorate this room!  Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, we've been going through our home room by room redecorating and remaking the rooms suitable for this new stage in our lives.  

This is the room BEFORE:

You can see more pictures and different angles on this post HERE when I first redecorated it.

As you can tell by the picture, the room is very dated...in nine short years!  The wall color, the drapes, the rug, are all out of style now.  But the main reason we're re-decorating it is that the room doesn't work for us anymore, and there were some things we never did right the first time because of financial constraints: the hardwood floors are in very bad shape and the windows need to be replaced.  

Now, other than wanting to update the decor and fix the floor and windows, whenever I re-decorate a room I always ask myself the question "How Do I Want To Use This Room?"  This is a room that is very small and comfortably only seats about two to four people, so it not used for company.  We have two larger family areas for company.  The main purpose of this room is a passageway to get to the third level of the house.  It also holds our wood stove for the older portion of our house.  I use this room only in the morning, when I'm getting my computer work done because it's close to the kitchen where I can grab another cup of coffee.  I may also use this room while I am making dinner and I don't want to be too far away when something is cooking yet I don't need to be in the kitchen at all times.  It's too far of a walk to go to another part of the house to sit while something is on the stove and I need to periodically check on it.  And finally, during some parts of the year my husband and I need to use this room to relax in during the evening because of heating/cooling issues.  For example, if it's early fall and it's too warm to use two wood stoves we only use one, the one in this room.  The other part of the house is too uncomfortably cool, so we huddle down in this room.  The same goes for summer;  although my one window air-conditioning unit really does keep most of the main living space cool, if there is ever an extreme heat wave, I close off the door to the new addition, and only cool this part of the house.  

So now that you know all that "How Do I Want To Use This Room"?   

1)  I want a comfortable reading chair with a small table so I can sit and do my devotions and work on my computer in the morning.  I must have a place for my coffee mug that's in easy reach.

2) Because this room is basically just a passageway and not used by a lot of people,  I don't want it to be cluttered like it is now.  I want minimal furniture, and lots of open space.  I'm always keeping in mind my old age as I renovate my house room by room for one last time.  I don't want anything I can trip over or so much furniture that ease of mobility through the room could be an issue.  

3) I want another comfortable chair or loveseat for those rare cold/hot days when my husband and I need to use this room instead of our large family room.

And now, here are some "Before" shots after the drapes have been taken down and most of the furniture removed.  I have already started spackling the holes in these pictures.  These pictures will give you some idea of the "bones" of the room.

The walls will be repainted "Colonial White" by Pittsburg Paints.  I've already repainted the wood stove alcove so you can see what the color looks like.  I had to repaint that section this past summer because obviously I couldn't get near it now.  The black and white chalk painting behind the wood stove will stay.  Since this room is the room I have my morning devotions in, I thought it was appropriate.  Plus, it matches my wood stove.

The hardest challenge of redecorating this room is furniture placement as there is little wall space, and the room is not large enough to move the furniture away from the walls.  One wall is open to the dining room (which also is outdated and needs to be redone), another wall contains the wood stove, the third wall is a wall of windows, and the last wall is a staircase to the upstairs.  I would love to hire a designer to see what they would do with this space, as my husband and I have wracked our brains and still have yet to figure out any layouts.  I am more than open to suggestions from my readers! Please comment below if you have any.

There were outdated gold sconces on the wall that were taken down and will be replaced by more trendy ones.  I also painted the gold chimney flute the same color as the wall so it's not so noticeable.

The ceiling fan will stay, even if it's a bit dated.  It's needed for heating and cooling.

This is the view of the living room as seen from the dining room.  Occasionally we like to leave the TV on while eating, so we would like to be able to see the TV from the dining room.  We will get a new Smart TV.

This is the staircase wall.  I'm thinking of putting my comfy reading chair in this corner with a table on the end.

You can see how close the kitchen is to this room in the picture.  The kitchen is actually right behind the staircase.  The entry to the kitchen is right off the dining room, in the middle right side of the picture below.  That is why I prefer to use this room while cooking as the kitchen is only a few steps away.

Since writing this post I've given the ceiling a fresh coat of paint, and one layer of "Colonial White" on the walls.  I am blown away by how much larger this room looks with all white walls.  My husband and I still haven't figured out the layout of this room.   I think a large part of that decision will be what furniture we can find.  We will go shopping next week and maybe we will have a better idea then.  In the meantime, here are some looks I love from Pinterest.  Keep in mind, the space is the photos is very different than my space.  The pictures are just inspired looks I'm going after.

I love the idea of "his and hers chairs", and the table in the middle is great because both occupants have a spot for their drinks.  I'm just not sure this style of chair would great for TV watching.

These chairs look a lot more comfortable for lounging! I also love how color was brought in to the rooms with drapes, pillows, and blankets.

Ideally, I would love a chaise lounge for myself and just a regular chair for my husband (I'm a sloucher, and he likes to sit up straight in a chair).  I'm just not sure a chaise lounge would fit in this small room and still allow plenty of space for a walk way to get upstairs.

This room is similar to ours in that it has a staircase plus a wall of windows, but it must be quite a bit larger since they can just pull the furniture away from the walls and create a nice sitting area for four.

This room is actually someone's entry hall but it most closely resembles my awkward space.  I pinned this because I liked the idea of putting the chair closer to the stair case landing and the table where there was more wall space.  I never considered that option before I saw this picture.

Another room with no real walls, so they pull the furniture away from the windows and doors.  Isn't that light fixture fun?  And I love how they are mixing furniture pieces today.  I'm very open to that in my new living room.

My husband and I also talked about getting a small sectional and putting it in the corner where all the windows are.  We'd then add a lamp just like this behind the sectional.  The problem with that idea, is the sectional would cover up the windows a bit, plus, we'd have to move the TV and it would no longer be visible from the dining room, not to mention the hassle of moving all the TV cables.  So, that's probably a "no".

I know I don't have a gorgeous fireplace like this in my room, but I love the look and feel to this room and would love to find a way to incorporate it into my room.

So now that I've shown you the room "Before" and given you a few pictures of the "Look" I'm going for, what do you think?  Is it possible?  Or am I only dreaming?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.

I will post weekly updates on the room as it progresses, so come back every Sunday to see more!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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