A Beautiful Living Room Transformation!

One of the first questions I get asked when helping someone decorate their home is ‘Where do I start?’. I agree, it can be pretty overwhelming, especially when you have several rooms of your home that you want to decorate or re-decorate.

To create a cohesive look throughout your home, I suggest starting with the living room. It is usually a focal point of the home and the main gathering place for spending time with family and friends. Once you have your living room decorated and styled the way you like, it will make it easier to decorate and style the other rooms of your home.

Even though living rooms can be one of the more expensive areas to furnish, there are ways to achieve a beautiful, cozy and welcoming space that fits your lifestyle, personality and budget! 

In this blog post I will walk you through how I helped transform this living room into an inviting, warm, kid and budget friendly space in my client's home. 

Their living room was part of an open floor plan and they are a growing family with active twin toddlers. The goal was to create a beautiful yet functional space. The client wanted to add more earthy colors, especially green, which also happens to be my favorite! She also wanted to incorporate Magnolias. So with that in mind, I created this Inspiration Board. 

Here are several things I take into consideration when creating Inspiration Boards...

Focal Point – One of the first steps in planning out a room is to choose or create a focal point. A focal point is something that draws your eye into the room and helps set the overall feel and tone of the space. Since this living room had a large wall, we decided to create a focal point on that wall using a large three-piece entertainment center.

Picking Colors – Some people are drawn to cool colors, while others enjoy warmer colors. In this case we went with a warmer color palette – shades of green, gray, off white and brown.

• Decorator Tip - Choose a neutral color on larger, more expensive items (sofas, entertainment centers, rugs, etc.), and add in color with less expensive accessories like lamps, pillows, throw blankets and paint.

Curtains – I personally find that framing a window with beautiful curtains is the perfect way to soften and add coziness to a room. Blinds and shutters are good for providing privacy and blocking light, but there is no reason why you can’t add curtains too! Even non-functional, decorative panels hanging on the outside of the window help soften the space. I like hanging curtains above the window at least 6” to 10”. It helps lift the eye and accentuates the height of the room, especially rooms with vaulted ceilings. 

Area Rug – Rugs help make any space feel more cozy and comfortable. They also help a room look connected and cohesive. When measuring for a rug for your living room, make sure it is big enough to fit under the front legs of your furniture. The rug we chose for this living room has several of the colors in the color palette we were working with, so it really helped pull this room together.

Faux Trees & Greenery – Greenery, whether faux or real, add beauty to your home. I personally like decorating with a wide variety of plants and greenery in our home, giving it a cozy look and feel. In the client's home we needed something in the corner of the room to help add color and draw the room together, so we went with a tall faux palm plant. 

Chair & Pillow Covers - A cost effective way to add pops of color to your living room is by using chair, couch and pillow covers. The client was not ready to purchase new furniture, so I was able to find some coordinating green and magnolia floral pillow covers to add pops of color she wanted to incorporate into this space. Their chair was still in really good condition, just not the right color, so I found a budget friendly chair cover in a beautiful dark green, which helped bring it all together.  

Hidden Storage - The lack of storage space in most homes is a common problem, resulting in spaces looking untidy and cluttered. I personally like finding ways to add hidden storage to rooms, to help eliminate clutter. As I mentioned earlier, this family has toddlers so implementing hidden storage into this living room was a must. We did this by choosing an entertainment center with hidden storage compartments, a side table with pull-out wicker baskets, an ottoman with storage and a large sturdy rattan-style storage basket to hold toys.

Lighting - Good lighting makes a world of difference in the look and feel of any space. This particular living room has good light coming from the large windows and overhead lighting, but lacked in accent lighting. With active toddlers, floor or table lamps were not an option, so we decided on a couple of wall sconces on either side of the entertainment center, using battery-operated light bulbs. I also suggested using battery-operated lights inside the shelving units. This will allow the family to have some nice accent lighting when not using the overhead lights.    

Now for the Beautiful Living Room Reveal! 

We are thrilled with how this turned out! Having a satisfied client makes me happy!

Whether you are starting from scratch or wanting to refresh a room in your home and need help, I would love to work with you! You can find my Home Decorating Services and Packages listed on my website - J.U. Designs. 

Have questions? Email me at: judesigns@hotmail.com

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