Before & After: A Living Room Gets a Clear Style Vision
When Amanda moved into her boyfriend’s home, she brought the furniture from her college apartment along with her: a bunch of mismatched hand-me-downs that didn’t fit the new house. After a year of making no progress, Amanda came up with a new plan and transformed their random living room into a dreamy escape that feels like home.
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From Amanda: When I first moved in, I used what I had from my old college apartment and tried to make it work for a while, despite the fact that it was mismatched and the scale was off. As I was looking for new pieces for our living room, I was overwhelmed with all the options and didn’t know what to get. I’d end up randomly picking up things while shopping, but it still felt like a hodge-podge with nothing really working well together. I didn’t have a sense of direction or a clear vision of my style. After about a year of making no progress, I decided to take a new approach.
I had recently experimented with capsule wardrobes and loved the simplicity and how everything worked together, making shopping easy. I decided to take a similar approach to decorating our home.
The very first thing I did was find my decorating style. I always knew what I liked and had an idea of what my style was, but I couldn’t articulate it and that was my problem. I couldn’t figure out how to decorate a room that turned out the way I imagined in my head. Once I found my style I knew exactly what designs and colors it consisted of, so I knew what to buy that fit within that.
Next, I made a plan. I figured out everything we needed for our living room and created a detailed list. This made shopping so easy because I knew exactly what I was looking for and I felt confident in my decisions because I had it all planned out.
I sold or got rid of almost everything from our living room to make room for new pieces. I carefully researched and planned out each new piece so my they all worked together and I felt confident in each decision.
The built-ins were a DIY we made from two IKEA shelves and two stock cabinets from Home Depot. They helped create a focal point the room needed and really transformed the space. Our new sofa from Article is another favorite piece. It’s less big and bulky than our previous one so it fits the room much better.
Knowing my decorating style helped me so much as we transformed our living room. It gave me the clarity I needed so I knew what to buy to achieve the look I was going for, but it also gave me the confidence that I was choosing the right furniture and decor. But best of all, our house finally feels like home.
If you need help finding your decorating style, this free 3-day mini course by Amanda will teach you how to find it step by step.
You can see more of the space on Amanda’s blog.
Thank you, Amanda!