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Modern Living Room Makeover Before/After

Last week I teased one corner of our updated formal front living room, and today I’m back to share the full reveal. We are still waiting on new curtain panels to flank either side of the two windows in this space, so please ignore that detail for now (you probably wouldn’t have even noticed if I hadn’t said anything, huh?!), but the rest of the room is looking oh-so-sweet to me, and I’m just too excited to wait any longer before sharing it with all of you here on the blog.

Before: Mid-Century Ranch Home Renovation Mid-Century Ranch Home: Before/After

Those photos above show what the room looking like on move-in day. The walls were painted a pastel green color picked by the previous homeowners. John actually loved the green, and I did live with it for quite a while, but I ultimately knew that I’d want to try my own hand-picked paint colors to make the space feel more officially like ours. I’ve been through several different paint colors, in fact. I painted the entryway and two facing walls inside the living room a dusty pink color (“Likeable Sand” from Sherwin-Williams), the perpendicular facing walls were painted “Origami White,” and the fireplace wall was done with “Homburg Gray.” After living with that combo for a while, I painted the entire room that latter dark blue/green color. Before and after photos are below in case you need a refresher.

Honestly, I’ve loved every single iteration so far, especially when the whole room was painted fully in “Homburg Gray,” but you guys know better than anyone that I love change when it comes to home décor. I get such a thrill walking into a room that’s been transformed with new paint or a new furniture arrangement. It sounds cliche to say, but I truly mean it when I say that new paint makes a room look brand new!

I had lived with the dark green for long enough, it turned out, and I was aching for something lighter, brighter, and something that felt just a little fresher as we head into the colder months of the year. I thought through a few options and tried a dozen or so paint chips up on the wall, finally settling on “Parlour Taupe” from the HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams line at Lowe’s. It’s a soft warm off-white color with just a hint of pink in it that perfectly ties in the paint and wallpaper in our entryway.

In addition to the new paint color, I also wanted to switch things up by removing the floating shelves that I had installed soon after we moved in. I genuinely loved those, too, but the look was admittedly sort of busy visually, and I was looking at the shelves every single day while watching TV in our living room. I wanted to simplify things, so the shelves went into storage, and I ordered a new, more enclosed bookshelf to house all of our décor treasures, as you saw last week.

Of course, if you looked closely at that first photo in today’s blog post, then you know we didn’t just go with a new paint color. We also hung up new wallpaper from my exclusive collection with Fancy Walls. I’m absolutely in love with the 1960s-inspired bonsai print in this space, and can’t help but think that it was made for that “Parlour Taupe” paint color I chose (it wasn’t, by the way). I plan to share a full blog post on this particular wallpapering project next week, so make sure you check back on September 25 if you want more information. Can I just quickly point out, though, how well the wallpaper covered that dark paint color without it showing through?! Fancy Walls wallpaper really is the best.

Did you notice that I left the fireplace painted dark blue/green? I do still adore that color, and I thought the richer tone would help the fireplace mantle pop against the new wallpaper. I think it ultimately did exactly that, so it’s here to stay. Would you have left it dark? Or would you have painted it a subtler color to blend in with the walls more? I’m curious!

Like I said, we still need to hang curtains (spoiler alert: here’s the pattern we chose), but I absolutely love the new look so far. It looks so much brighter now with the light paint color and wallpaper, and I think it also feels slightly more mature. I’ve seen original listing photos from this house way back when, and this living room was painted a creamy tone of off-white, so it’s almost like we’re taking the space back to its roots, which feels good. Let me know what you think of this makeover in the comments, and if you have a favorite paint color in your own home to share, please do.

*Today’s post was made possible by LuxenHome, and features gifted product for the purposes of a candid review. All opinions are my own.

In case I haven’t mentioned it here on the blog, I’m actually in the final stages of a living room makeover behind the scenes. As is typical for me, I got tired of the dark paint color in that space. It was a lovely color (and, consequently, “What’s that paint color?!” is the most frequently asked question I get on social media), but I just felt like making a change, so the room has since been repainted and I also put some of my wallpaper up on the fireplace wall.

I’ll be diving into those changes in a full reveal next week, but today I’m offering a quick sneak peek of one corner of our living room so you can hear all about two new pieces of furniture that I added to the space from LuxenHome. It’s a new-to-me brand, but one that I’ll be coming back to over and over again now that I’ve had the chance to test out some items from their collection. Keep scrolling for my reviews.

Tia Barrel Accent Chair:

Inevitably, our formal front living room is where our guests tend to gather when we’re not congregating over snacks in the adjacent kitchen. It’s really important that we have a wide variety of seating options in this space so that everyone has a place to land for conversation and football-watching come fall. The Tia Ivory Barrel Accent Chair With Wood Ball Legs was my choice for this updated corner of our living room to serve just that purpose.

I was really drawn to the contemporary shape of the chair since we tend to opt for more classic mid-century silhouettes. I find that adding something more trendy or edgy alongside our antique furniture makes the room look more dynamic. The layered back and arm supports on this chair look so cool, and really level up the look of our living room, I think. The seat is firm, but the low lumbar support at the back makes this a great chair to relax in while chatting with friends and family. Can you believe it costs just $350 (and right now it’s even 20% off of that)?

Anton Bookcase:

I was really anxious to find some good storage for our living room since I opted to take down our floating shelves for this makeover. With those shelves missing, I had tons of books and décor displaced that needed to find a home, and the Anton Wood Finish Bookcase With Cabinet Storage was the perfect solution. This piece may not look like it, but it’s a beast! It somehow managed to fit all of the décor that used to live on those eight floating shelves. I’m impressed.

The open shelves within the cabinet are great for displaying my book collection and some favorite keepsakes, while the hidden storage behind the two doors allows me to stow away out-of-season décor that I’ll use another time. I love how the wood tone of the bookcase blends in with our other wood tones, too, including the cool wood ball legs on our new accent chair next to it.

It’s currently sold out, but I encourage you to sign up for notifications for a restock. The piece was really straight forward to assemble, and you can’t beat that $260 price tag. I highly recommend this one!

I can’t wait to swing the camera around so you can see the rest of our revamped living room, but I hope this small sneak peek gets you excited for now. The new paint color, by the way, is called “Parlour Taupe.” I love how it brightens this room, and the new color also seems to give the space more of a mature look. It matches the more formal vibe of this front living space, as does our two new pieces of furniture. Hop over to LuxenHome here to see more from their collection, and let me know in the comments which piece you’d pick for a furniture upgrade in your own home. Next up on my wish list? This gorgeous oak finish coffee table.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission when you purchase products that I recommend at no additional cost to you. This allows me to provide free creative content for you to read, save, and share. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.

Repainting Our Living Room (Yet Again!)

Styling A New Mod Bookcase And Chair

Tia Barrel Accent Chair:

Anton Bookcase:

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