Before & After: Family Room from Dark to Light

Claire Bock
Claire Bock
Claire lives in San Francisco by way of a SoCal childhood and 6 years in London. With a background in photography and interior design, her current creative obsessions include sewing, calligraphy, and anything neon.
published Feb 15, 2012
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Living room with stone fireplace, red chairs, blue sofa, and wooden ceiling, featuring colorful artwork and floral carpet.
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Wood panelling doesn’t always do great favors for a space and this room is an example of that. With heavy furniture this room was a dark and oppressive space, but with some brighter furnishings and white paint the room is completely transformed.

The wood panelling really brought down the mood of this room, but I do love the look of panelling on ceilings, so we kept that and painted it out white. With all of the wood, the stone fireplace really got lost in the room and with the new white walls the fireplace pops out. The panelling on the walls was removed and replaced with dry wall.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

(Images: Claire Bock)