Living Room Before & After

All over the web you can see dramatic before and after pictures of rooms. But how do you really take a room from the blah before to an amazing after? Today, I’m going to show you how to do this in your living room (although the steps can be applied to change up any room).

Here’s our living room “before” picture:

As you can see, it’s a lot of beige. It needed some color and some personality. Note: I’m not changing any of the major furniture pieces in the room; in other words, the couch stays. (The arm chairs and coffee table end up in other rooms in the “after”; I explain why below.)

How do you add color and personality to your living room? Think about it in layers.

Get Inspired by Something

Start with an inspiration piece. It can be a swatch of fabric, a paint color, a pillow, a favorite shirt, art…anything. In our living room, my inspiration was this pillow:

What I loved about this pillow were the colors: teal, yellow-green, brown. I knew that it coordinated with our couch color, which was great because I didn’t want to replace the couch. (If you are considering replacing the couch or other furniture, check out this post.) It was perfect.

From this pillow, I could build an entire room.

Get in Focus

Every room needs a focal point. The focal point is where your eye rests when you first enter a room. It can be a fireplace, a window, or even a big TV.

In our living room, the focal point is the fireplace.

I love the contrast of the white and charcoal gray on the fireplace. I added more interest to the fireplace area by adding the big clock that looks like it’s made from reclaimed wood. I love the colors and the rustic feel.

Next, let’s look at the walls.

Pick a Paint

If you don’t like the color on your walls, now’s the time to pick a paint color. I’ve got my inspiration piece pillow and I’ve got the biggest pieces in the room, the furniture; from that, I can choose a paint color that coordinates with those pieces.

When choosing a paint color (check out this post about using paint to make the walls pop), consider the light in the room – both natural and from lamps and overhead lights. If you have a bright room, you can choose a darker color; if you have a smaller, darker room, keep the paint light. You want to make the room cozy, while making it feel as large as possible.

Because our living room is smaller, I left the off-white color on the walls (it was here when we moved in). It keeps it light and bright.

Once you’ve chosen a paint color and painted the walls, it’s time to consider the floor.

Hitting the Floor

In the “before” picture, we had a plain beige rug that wasn’t doing anything for the room. I swapped it out for a gray trellis-patterned rug from Mohawk:

The rug added some needed color and pattern to the room. It was also a neutral color, but not beige; the gray went with the olive color in the couch, the charcoal gray on the fireplace, and the beige-y paint color on the walls. It grounded the room perfectly without being boring.

Pillows that Pop

I had the inspiration pillow, so I used the colors in that pillow to choose coordinating accent pillows for the couch and arm chair in the living room.

I pulled the yellow, teal, and tan from the pillow and found these coordinating pillows. Make sure, when shopping for coordinating fabrics or pillows, that you take your inspiration piece (or a picture of it, if it’s too big to tote around) with you. That way, you can see how they’ll look together before getting everything home.

Time to Accessorize

Lastly, find some accessories that coordinate with your inspiration and room. I found the teal lamp and loved how it went with the pillows. I also added the off-white linen ottoman as our coffee table. The coffee table in the “before” room was just too big for this room, so I swapped it out for something that had a better scale with the other pieces in the room. (For advice on what size or type coffee table to buy for your living room, click here.)

When accessorizing, my best advice is to add what you love. I love my old ladder with the quilts hanging on it, so that was definitely going in our living room. Also, I framed architectural drawings of our house and hung them in the living room.

And all of the rooms in our home have a pop of red in them. It’s like my signature on the room.

I love this rustic bench – it’s from an old school where it sat in front of the principal’s office. The pop of red is perfect for this space, and it provides needed storage for books and games.

So, let’s review: to go from “before” to “after” in your living room, work in layers.

First, find an inspiration piece.

Then, determine and highlight the focal point of the room. Use decor, paint, or art to emphasize this focal point.

Then, paint the walls.

Add a rug or flooring that coordinates with the room and grounds it.

Next, add pillows with coordinating colors.

Lastly, accessorize with what you love.

You’ll go from blah before to awesome after in no time!

What would you change in your living room, if anything?