Living Room

It can be hard to feel inspired when you walk into your newly purchased home’s living room and the windows (and fireplace mantel and furniture) are dripping in drapery reminiscent of a doily. But Lauren of Circle G Designs managed to design her Pittsburgh home with class and style, blending modern sensibilities while respecting the home’s 1964-era architecture.

Andrew Deming and Rachel Gant of YIELD Design Co. transform a drab 1950s living room into a bright and fresh sanctuary, incorporating their mix of modern and vintage design. The difference is astounding, and truly brings this midcentury home to its fullest potential. “When we bought our house last year, the living room was one of the worst spaces.

Marisa’s living room was feeling a little dark and dated. She knew the carpet had to go and had her ideal fireplace mantel in mind. With a few trips to the tile store and some help from her dad, Marisa was able to make her mantel dreams come true. From Marisa: When we first moved into our ranch-style home, between the old brown carpet and the dingy brick wall, the open concept layout felt dark and small. While some people love the rustic brick wall, I knew that it wasn’t for me!

Some thought Christina, who runs the blog Christina’s Adventures, was taking on a bit too much when she decided to buy and restore a 1902 Victorian house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with her husband. Not only was it quite dated and run-down, but they had a very young kid and another on the way! But Christina saw the potential in this house’s bones, and her restoration has created a modern, bright home with a family-friendly, farmhouse feel.

Dana took her time to truly make her living room reflect the personalities of the folks living there and make the most of a kind of funky layout. From Dana: After years of tweaking, rearranging, shuffling chairs, plants and window treatments, I can honestly say that I’m thrilled with where we’ve landed in our living room. While the kitchen is usually the center of the home figuratively, this living room is literally the center of ours.

At Apartment Therapy, we talk a lot about dealing with small spaces, but larger spaces can also present their own unique design challenge. When one Brooklyn family moved into their dream home, the oversized living room proved to be a bit of a conundrum — so they turned to a designer for guidance. Before, the family’s furniture — a single sofa and a small dining table — was a bit lost in the expansive space.

I know Annikki personally, so I was particularly excited when I found out that she and her husband were not only expecting a baby, they were also figuring out ways to get their new home ready despite their old furniture. Of big concern was the living room, where their “gloomy” seal brown leather wanted an upgrade. With one stroke, they needed to transform this room.

When Séverine Piller and her boyfriend Gianfranco first walked into this Milan apartment, they knew it was love. The place had great bones and was filled with lots of natural light. However, it doesn’t mean Séverine didn’t see room for improvement. An interior designer by profession, she made some simple changes that streamlined the living and dining area, creating a minimal, bold and graphic space that fits their modern aesthetic perfectly. The stair rail was removed.

Project by: Adam Bechtold of Adam Bechtold Interiors Location: Great Falls, Virginia Though the room above could certainly fit the tastes of plenty of people, to the young couple who bought this 1970s colonial-style house (their first home), it didn’t fit their style (and felt rather dated to them). So they enlisted the help of Adam Bechtold to take this room from traditional style to something more cozy and nature-filled.

Project by: Dana Reca of Circa Dee Location: Bucks County, Pennsylvania Have you ever faced the task of cheering up a dark room? If you’re looking for inspiration on how to transform a dreary space into a cozy, welcoming room (that you might want to actually spend time in), you might find inspiration in this professional project.

This little corner recess in my rental apartment living room had gone through many changes over the years. That is until I found this gel fuel fireplace that was within my budget. Once it was delivered and put in its place, I realized it looked very small and toy like. My dad built a small hearth for it to sit on and the bookcases to fill in the empty space on either side. I was quite happy with the outcome, at the time.

Our family room has a cathedral ceiling and a large, prominent fireplace. We wanted to make this room a standout, but our budget was more of a washout. By whitewashing the fireplace ourselves, and installing faux beams, we were able to make a big impact, on a not so big budget. We’ve always loved beams. But we didn’t love the prices. Luckily, we discovered faux beams, which sell for a fraction (like 1/5) of the cost of real wood beams. And guess what? They look real. Seriously.

My daughter lives in an off campus college house with three other girls. From the first time I saw this space, I wanted to give it a makeover! It had good bones, but was SO dark and dreary. It had dark paneled walls, and brown carpeting. To further add to the darkness, the girls were given black leather sofas and they hung dark green curtains. The girls and the owner of the house gave me full permission to make this space over. I started with painting the paneled walls white.

Our living room downstairs was transformed over to a playroom when my babies were little, and the room was a disaster. It was time to make that step and donate a big percentage of my kids’ toys and create a more grownup space in here. I was able to sell the furniture from the room, and that helped me with my budget for the makeover. I wanted to create a comfortable living room with lots of textures, layers and personality.

We spend a lot of time in the living room as a family, reading after dinner, celebrating birthdays, entertaining, playing board games on New Years, and it’s a space that needed a little editing to gracefully reflect transitions in our family life. As I simplified the room, my family instantly felt at home in the new space, and our new teal velvet sofa became a popular (and comfortable) destination.

There’s the picking out of the sofa. Choosing chairs. Deciding on a credenza. Arguing over where the television should go. There’s waffling over rug color and size. And there’s considering whether you should paint or wallpaper. But there are also a handful of things to think about that most people tend to forget when first setting up their living room. How does one come up with the optimum number of seats for a living room?

Rachel’s home hadn’t been updated since it was built in 1975, and it was evident in the dark fieldstone fireplace. Not having the funds for a full renovation, she got creative with paint—and boy, does it look great. From Rachel: We painted the 1970’s field stone fireplace. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and watered it down quite a bit which allows the texture and various colors to still come through.

As marketing manager for Eventbrite, Sara is a professional social butterfly. She’s fun, fabulous, and loves to entertain, but her apartment in Boston’s Beacon Hill didn’t exactly reflect that. And, since she works from home, she wanted a space that inspired her. Sara decided to work with designer Victoria Solomon to add some style and cohesion to her place.

Erica inherited a living room with a sponge-painted fireplace and an olive paint job. She had planned a pallet wall, but realized the time (and tools) it would take was not realistic. Until she found a quicker solution: From Erica: After hunting down a few pallets, I realized that the effort and time (and tools that we didn’t have) to find, dismantle, sand, wash, and then nail the boards to the wall just wasn’t worth it. I was downtrodden until I discovered Stikwood!

Minneapolis designer Jay Nuhring has another no-shopping makeover for us. This time, his client has a huge living room, three of the same sofa, and a wall of books that looks a bit bland. Jay applied the use-what-you-have motto and created a whole new space within a space! From Jay: This project was really easy and really affordable. Nothing new was purchased for this living room makeover. Everything was shopped and sourced from what the homeowner already had in the house.

While she was overseas with their daughter, Jeffery decided to surprise his wife with a total living room transformation. See the new room—and read about her reaction—after the jump! From Jeffery: My wife and daughter went to the Philippines for 3 months. I wanted to surprise my wife with a living room makeover, which I tackled in the two weeks before their arrival home. Our living room was boring. The last owners had a thing for wood grain and dull colors.

What to do when your place is a total blank space? Kristin overcame the unlimited possibilities of her white-and-concrete living room, and went big and bold with graphic wallpaper. See how it looks now: From Kristin: There are good things and there are bad things about moving into a house with white walls (not even a backsplash in the kitchen!) and concrete floors. The good: It’s a totally blank canvas.

Project by: Brittany and Justin Location: Springfield, Missouri The TV room in our 1930 bungalow is the room in the house that gets the least amount of natural light, so we wanted to create a bright space with a colorful touches to hang out in the with our three chihuahuas. The previous owners had installed several built-in pieces—including a desk, shelving, and a decorative room divider—so we started by clearing the room.

Project by: Harmony Weihs of designHARMONY Location: Bothell, Washington What to do when your living room is full of LEGO in plastic containers, slowly taking over your home? You get in touch with a designer who can give you both a great designed space and plenty of room for your LEGO! From the designer: We walked into this house on our first visit to find rooms and rooms and containers and containers of LEGOS.

Melissa’s living room wasn’t bad looking — it had perfectly functional, traditional-styled furniture and a lot of natural light. But it didn’t fit her or her husband’s style. So they worked together to come up with a look that would! From Melissa: My husband (lover of mid-century modern) and myself (a lover of modern, chic style) met in the middle and co-designed our space together.

Anna and her fiancé were like many couples who are just starting out: their first home was full of mismatched hand-me-downs. Even though there’s a big front window, the room never felt like it got a lot of natural light. And it was just small and cramped. Their goal: Make their living room lighter, brighter and look bigger! Here’s how they did it.

From Jamie: In truth there are still a few small things we want to change or tweak (one major project being the demolition of the drywall around the stairs to allow the installation of a modern, open handrail) but we are satisfied with how far it has come. We feel it is bright, cheerful, and modern while still meshing with the overall transitional style of the house.

This resident dreamed of trading in her 90s era furniture for a look that felt like it came out of the pages of magazines like Veranda and House Beautiful. She finally reached out to a professional designer who was able to see that the client was looking for rooms that looked polished but felt cozy, in a transitional style with a heavy dose of navy and white. Steal some of these ideas for your own magazine-worthy home!

You know how earlier today we shared real advice about how to be patient and take your time when decorating a home? This Before & After perfectly highlights that idea. See this living room go from full of uninspiring hand-me-down furniture to a living room that, after taking the time to discover their tastes, is now a sophisticated, lovely space that matches their personality!

For anyone who’s ever had a clear idea of what sort of style they wanted their space to look like, failed miserably, and thought they’d have to live with their failures forever, this before and after is proof that even big design missteps can be remedied. The designer who stepped in to refresh this space provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to how they got this design back on track.

Recently moved into, this home had a small room right by the entryway with great windows but no immediate plans for use. After spending time sitting on the floor talking or looking out the windows, the homeowners decided to move its remodel up on the list and transform it with bold paint and sturdy shelves into a cozy functioning room for chatting, reading or playing music. From Julia: It took us every weekend (and a few weeknights) for a month to make our vision come to life.

When she moved in, Diana had a lot of books but little else. Considering her tight budget and completely empty room, she faced quite the challenge. From Diana: $4500 sounds like a decent amount of money, but we started with no furniture, no linens, not even a rug liner. To shop wisely, we hunted for the largest pieces of furniture first. The sofa was the biggest challenge — we finally found a red sofabed for $500. We wanted the rug to make an impact so we found one from Urban Outfitters.

Last year, Manisha posed a question to the Apartment Therapy community about how to add some color to her living room. “It needs some oomph,” she said. “Right now everything seems to be grey, white and black.” Armed with your suggestions, Manisha added color in a few strategic places. Want to see what her living room looks like now?

Earlier this year, Samantha was hired by a newly-married Houston couple to transform their living room on a budget. Although they’d lived in their townhouse for about a year, they’d never really felt settled.  But with a baby on the way, the couple wanted to spruce up their space.  And spruce it they did!  Want to see it today?Despite their tight budget, they still wanted classic design that would reflect their growing family.

For most apartment and home owners, the idea of a dedicated media room is wishful thinking. Usually a basement, spare bedroom, or in this case, the living room has to be designated for home entertainment purposes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean having to settle for “as-is”.

Design Love FestEmily Henderson Color and light were important elements of this makeover, and it couldn’t be cheerier. Bri and Emily went with a mix of vintage, eclectic, mid-century and new pieces to create this lively and delicious space. The turquoise, fuchsia, gold and natural palette melds beautifully. The ample foliage brings the room together, softens the palette and creates such a calm and peaceful environment.To see more of the makeover, check out Design Love Fest.

Karyn, an interior designer, found the perfect island bungalow in Coronado, California. Of course, it needed a little sprucing up before it would be the entertaining and living space she dreamed of. Check out how she transformed this studio into a chic, multipurpose space: How gorgeous is this? We love the navy and white against the dark bamboo floors. From Karyn: I had just moved to the island of Coronado and had the perfect bungalow apartment in mind.

Jenna’s living room was filled with furniture that she loved, but that wasn’t working in her new home. Here’s how she transformed the space by letting go and bringing in some new color and pieces: From Jenna: Over the past 3 years since moving into my home, this space has been forever in transition. Much of the room was filled with furniture that was meaningful to us, but just didn’t fit.

I came across this project from a comment left in my recent post Brags! What DIY Project Are You Most Proud Of? It came from Julia from the blog Chris Loves Julia. They were looking to change up their living room for a more sophisticated yet casual look and Julia fell in love with some dramatic wainscoting images and got the bug to re-create it at home.It took them just a few hours over two days to put it up and then one day to paint it.

Joy and Corey loved their downtown Los Angeles loft, but its small footprint made finding storage space pretty challenging. So they figured out a way to take advantage of their 13′ ceilings by going vertical.From Joy: The whole project was inspired by the need to get stuff up and off the floor; with limited square footage, every inch counts. Also, I really wanted a way to consolidate all our media elements.

Samna flew out to New York from her home in Seattle to help her sister set up her studio apartment. With only five days and $500, here’s how she transformed the rental into a chic hangout.From Samna: Here’s what I had to work with: My sister’s apartment in a post-war building, 248 square feet of bedroom/living area and kitchen, $500 budget and five days to get it all done. This project is for all of the people who claim “I don’t have time.

When Charlotte and her family moved from New York to Connecticut, they fell in love with this 100 year-old house and its bay window. With so much white everywhere, it was a blank canvas. Check out how she transformed this living room with color:From Charlotte: We moved to the Connecticut suburbs from NYC into this sweet 100 year-old house. The previous owner had a love affair with all things off-white (carpet, walls, trim, window treatments).

A couple of years ago, a friend and I decided to invest in a home that we could fix up, and flip in a year or two. I also needed a place to live. I took on the role of general contractor, landlord and designer. I also took over one of the units on the second floor of this 4-plex. We found the perfect house in Roncesvalles, near shops, waterfront, highway and crown jewel, High Park. My unit was in a pretty rough state but I could see the potential.

Sheila was never a fan of the console that held her TV and other media equipment, especially given its size in relation to the awkward corner that housed the installation. Months ago she found the ideal solution to her dilemma and ordered an artist’s easel to convert into a TV/media stand. With just a little modification, she was able to transform the easel and therefore her living room.

One of the best things about Apartment Therapy is the community of real voices weighing in on real-life design dilemmas and challenges. No matter how (relatively) easy it is for me to dish out advice to others about interior decorating and layout, I find I can get stuck in a decorating rut when it comes to some of my own spaces.Sometimes, all it takes is getting fresh, new perspectives on a room to overcome design challenges, especially when it comes to layout and furniture placement dilemmas.

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.

Owning your own home means, for many folks, a myriad of DIY, improvement, and remodeling projects on your to-do list. This living room overhaul is an inspirational example of one woman’s journey in making her first home her own.Katherine Fugit is a contributing writer for Keep Smiling, a blog that offers encouragement “and other advice from first-time home buyers.” Looking at her personal blog, Me Machine, will give you a fantastic idea of her enviable eye for great design.

Jen and her boyfriend recently moved into this standard grad school apartment and immediately got to work making it their own. This before and after is a true testament to the fact than even the most boring of apartments can be spruced up with a bit of DIY know-how.It only took two weekends for Jen and her boyfriend, Tim, to put together this stylish living room.

How do you revive a dark and dated room without completely eliminating its original character? I gleaned quite a few ideas from the 2011 DC Design House where some of my favorite DC designers brought fresh sophistication to their spaces by simplifying and lightening — perfect inspiration for spring!• 1-3: The Pool Room: Erin Paige Pitts Erin was charged with the task of making the rather gloomy pool room into a functional and inspiring retreat.

When I posted How To Make a Block Print Rug Using a Welcome Mat, I promised a full reveal of my den’s before and after, and while ideally there are a few tweaks I’d still like to make, here it is. Since our budget was virtually non-existent — as in free— everything in it was borrowed from another room, salvaged, handmade, or secondhand.Ideally, we’d like to redo the addition where this room is housed.