Our Living Room Makeover – Before & After

When we moved to this house, the former owners had painted each room a different color. I would have been totally ok with that if it wasn’t for the fact that the colors went terrible together. We are talking purple and red walls in the same room. But we saw beyond the imperfections and broken windows, we knew this cape had potential, it just needed some retouching.

As we worked around the house to make it more homey, I’d always known my biggest project would end up being the living room. We didn’t want to renovate it completely, because the process of taking down walls and such just wasn’t for me. Especially with our two little kids always tagging along. I had envisioned a boho chic room that looked inviting and minimal (easy to clean, yeah?!). In the process of making the room of my dreams come together I did a lot of research on what would work in our small space, also pinned my most favorite furnitures that wouldn’t break the bank but were still stylish. I’ll show you guys the pieces I picked and the best part is that they are of great quality – like high end retailers’ quality – but the price wasn’t out of our league.

I went for mid-century modern mixed with bohemian style for the final look. Which means I was looking for wicker baskets, wicker chairs, neutral rugs, mid-century legs for furniture, mud-cloth patterns, etc… Our budget was $2000,00 for everything and I was able to stay within that budget towards the end. I had been pinning inspiring places for about two years before I finally brought the new living room together. Shopping consciously feels so liberating, because I got to pick exactly what I wanted rather than rushing into buying items on sale that wouldn’t have been what I had hoped for. Two years later we have a place we really love. Dave likes to say he loved the transformation as much as I did, according to him it made me really happy. “Happy wife, happy life” – his words ha ha.

We picked our couch from Burrow because I had heard great things about. Their sofas are completely customizable, you can choose to have low or high arm-rest, you can pick your own size and color. We picked a three seater, but we can add another seat to it in the future and turn it into a four seater if we want. I love that you can click the seats together, their modular design allows your couch to become bigger or smaller when you need it to, and it disassembles really easily. Plus it’s stain-resistant! Since we bought it Levi already spilled his drinks on it a hundred times and it has not stained. My old couch covers were constantly being washed and that was being time consuming for me.

For furniture, after doing extensive research, I found that Sauder USA had the most affordable and stylish furniture out there. I ordered a bookcase and a coffee table online and both arrived within three days! It took me a few hours to assemble the pieces, Levi even helped me put the table together – which he calls the “picnic table” hehe.

Our living room is quite small, therefore we leave the coffee table by the window during the day so the kids can run around freely. At night — after they’re in bed — Dave and I bring it next to the couch so we can set our movie snacks on top of it. I love the table top’s marble finish and especially love the mid-century legs to the bookcase. Hands down my favorite piece of furniture in our entire house! I had been looking for the right book shelf for that corner and I’m so pleased that the one we picked fits just perfectly. It’s really sturdy and it was only $235,00! Can’t beat that 🙂

I’ve always wanted to allow my kids to wander and play freely around the house without having to worry about spills or accidents. Having a home where I could see style and a safe environment for play at the same time was my goal from the beginning and it truly makes me so happy that after a lot of work we were able to achieve that goal. It’s been a labor of love for sure. I would have done it all over again though, it was all worth it.

Okay! Enough with all the talking. Let’s see the transformation! Here are some pictures of what it used to look like before… oh and please don’t mind the cheerios on the floor 🙂

Then, after we painted the walls ivory white…

Finally the new look:

// Price List:

Burrow Couch – $1390 // Rug – $95 (on sale) // Sauder Coffee Table – $120 // Sauder Bookcase – $235 // Wicker Baskets – from $15 to $35 // Decorative pillows (see links below) – from $45 to $90 // Wicker chair – $98  // Organic Sheepskin: $110

// Details:

Couch: Burrow

Bookcase and coffee table: Sauder USA

African Modcloth pillows: The Ivory Gull

Colored pillows: Loloi Rugs

Leather decorative pillow: KaeKoo Shop

Wicker chair: Anthropologie

Rug: Rugs USA

Sheepskin: East Perry