Thursday, May 26, 2011

Living Room Redesign

Living Room Redesign.. doesn't that title sound so.. official?? Like I'm all business and professional and on top of it??

HA!

I have been dying to re-do our living room for ages. Basically it's a room that has gone unused the entire time we've lived in our house. (It's our second "living space" and the family room is right off the kitchen, so that's where we spend all our time). I mean, I can probably count the number of times I've actually sat in there on one hand. Sad. But it's the first room you see when you walk into our home, do decorating it was always important to me. Since our family has grown, I find the definite need to make use of all space that we have. Cue the room re-do!

My vision for the room and it's use is really to have as much floor space as possible. Evie will be crawling soon, and I just want space for her to get down on the floor and play. As you can see, this room had a huge sofa and coffee table that was taking up all the floor space.

These pictures are the before the befores. This is right after we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. The feature wall was painted when we bought the house. Basically we stuck whatever we had in here to fill up the space.

Two summers ago I painted the room blue (a Ralph Lauren color.. can't remember the exact name) and that monstrous red couch got a new slipcover/upholstery job that you might remember. I never bothered taking real photos of the room because I wasn't in love.. but here's a picture of the wall color:


This chair will also be getting a (second) makeover somewhere down the line.

So last week Salvation Army came and picked up the sofa and we've loaned my beloved coffee table to some good friends for the time being. This coffee table is arguably my favorite piece of furniture that I've ever owned. The best part about it is that it was completely free! A family I used to work for gave it to me when it didn't sell in their garage sale. And let me just say.. it's a high end piece and I would never have bought it for myself brand new!

So with those large pieces gone, the room immediately felt larger. Progress!

Last fall I posted a few inspiration images I had for the room. I have long loved gray and thought it would be a great paint color choice for the room. I always try to really live in our home and decorate/paint as I want, but in the back of my mind, I do know that we'll move in a few years, so I don't want to do anything too out there that we'll have to undo later. To me, gray is definitely a neutral, so that's what I went with.

Over Mother's Day Weekend, Spectrum Paint was having a Facebook Deal for buy one gallon, get one free on their Benjamin Moore Paint. Total score. After a few samples, I decided on Platinum Gray. Can't find the color on the BM website for some reason.. sorry!

Fast forward another week, and the room is painted!! Ahhh, better already!


A few things about the above picture..
  • The mantle is being painted as we speak.. er, type. It will be a crisp white, which I think will look fab against the gray.
  • Sorry for the mess, the entire room is in disarray.
  • You can see a sneak peek of our new rug!! More on that to come!!
I'm loving the color so far and am so excited about getting to decorate the whole room! Of course, everything will be done on a pretty tight budget. No major furniture purchases in my future.

Who knows when I'll be completely done with the room... But I'm hoping to share projects with you as I go along.

Have you painted anything lately?? Hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

4 comments:

  1. Love the gray paint....and against the white wall??? Heaven! I love the clean, stark contrast between those two colors. And, having a baby in the house, gray walls say "Look, I am still current and stylish, but if someone happens to smear this mornings breakfast eggs on the wall, it will be an easy clean up". Love it. Can't wait to see how it all comes together.

    The last things I painted? That would be faux finishing my living room. It's "better" per se, but (ssshhhhh, don't tell the husband) but I.hate.it. Way too orange. However, many, many days and a rented 14 ft ladder later, I think it will be here for a while. Hate it.

    Jane

    PS, Yeah, my trip to see The Oprah was with Katie. We were all so excited....so happy....so hopeful....until we were wronged. I will say the time wasn't all lost though. Katie and I did get to leisurely tour a flagship store for The American Girl Dolls. Amazing. You need to get one (or all) for Evie. Really. You 'may' be less of a mom if you don't. ;) (Funnily enough, I actually called Katie when they discontinued the Samantha Doll who was our fav and looked just like mini-Katie). Just sayin.

    Happy Weekending!

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  2. love it can't wait to see it all together!

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  3. Oh I love the paint color, and the mantle will look fabulous!! Can't wait to see the finished product:)

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  4. There is always time for makeovers. By the way, how's the living room progressing? The physical condition of a room should be quite a concern too, yet so is making certain that all elements keep on relating right, aesthetically as well as function.

    Frances Herrera

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