Living Room Before & After

4.03.2013

I have a confession: I'm a terrible decorator. I try but I never get it right and I just don't pull rooms together well.  I had a hard time admitting this!  But I finally had to, I've wasted way too much money decorating rooms 3 times over.

My living room is the first room you see when you come into my house and I was tired of it being ugly. So I asked my girlfriend (who has more style in her pinky finger than I'll ever dream of having) to design it for me. I'm so glad she agreed!  I love it! She's so talented. Sara, you're fabulous! Rachel helped out too, she has impeccable taste, love you girl!

First, let me show you the inspiration and textiles.  (I feel so fancy saying textiles for some reason.) I loved the checks and Sara recommended some bold pops of color.


This room provided some inspiration as well.

via
I'm so embarrassed to show you a before but here it is, a hodge podge of hand me downs and stuff we didn't know what to do with.
Before:


After:


Before:


After:



What we did:
  • Moved the couch
  • Replaced carpet with hardwood (my husband did this himself, so handy)
  • Made drapes (I made those, thank you very much)
  • Purchased a hide rug (copying Sara of course)
  • New coffee table painted Graphite by Annie Sloan (my husband made the coffee table, I really wanted a round one and couldn't find one)
  • Bought 2 new chairs from PD's in Franklin (locals love this place)
  • New mirror (Home Goods)
  • New lamps (Home Goods)
  • Made throw pillow covers in chosen fabrics
I'm so happy with it y'all. I love to sit in this room with a hot cup of tea and read. It is also our family game room; I wanted a room that was pretty but also served our lifestyle. I still have to style the coffee table with some cute stuff and decide on artwork (and my family's antique piano is going in here at some point) but overall it's nearly finished!

What projects are y'all working on?

Linking to The House of SmithsA Bowl Full of Lemons, DIY by Design

33 comments:

  1. Wow Courtney - it looks absolutely amazing! Love the colors - your friend did an awesome job :)

    Annie
    The Other Side of Gray

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  2. Wow, what a transformation! You should be really proud of yourself! That first after photo is magazine quality!

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  3. Gorgeous, Courtney! It hardly looks like the same room. I love it and love that you do too! And I'm super impressed with the DIY - the coffee table, hardwood floors and the drapes all look super awesome.

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  4. Oh my word Courtney. What a gorgeous transformation. Want to come do my living room? xx

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  5. Courtney, that is ahhhhh-maaa-zing!!!!!!! Beautiful!! And I love your tre-ceiling!!! Love everything about this room!

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  6. Wow!! Your new living room looks amazing! I could only hope that I can make ours look that nice once we move.

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  7. WOW!!! This is an amazing transformation! You should be so proud :) I love everything you did. Especially that your husband made the coffee table, so cool.

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  8. It looks absolutely gorgeous Courtney!! I love that you and Mr C made so many of the new additions yourselves too!! I can just see you enjoying a good book and tea in this room! I wish we lived closer and could spend girl time chatting there! :)

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  9. OMG!! That looks absolutely amazing! I cannot even get over it!

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  10. WOW! Looks fabulous!! I agree with a previous commenter -- totally magazine worthy!

    I also struggle with 'pulling it all together'. I get overwhelmed with all the options and end up trying to imitate rather than come up with original style. My bicycle wallpaper was really my first bold attempt at decorating! Anyways, hoping I can pull together our next house like your living room!!!

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  11. Holy moly!!!!!!!! This look AH-mazing!!!!! I love every single inch of it...the layout, colors, accents....I want a room like this!!! I bet you just sit in there in stare...

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  12. it looks great! You should so do a gallery wall (where sofa used tobe) of your great pictures!

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  13. Looks fantastic! Love the neutral with the blue walls! I think you need a long sideboard where the sofa used to be and agree the Fletcher about the gallery wall!

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  14. Wow what a transformation! I had I ever walked into your house I would have said your before was cute, and nice but that after...wow! It's beautiful!!

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  15. Wow what a gorgeous transformation!! Your friend is amazing! Love the colors and the new lay out it- the room just pops so much!

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  16. Amazing transformation! Absolutely beautiful.
    Teri
    www.abeautifullittlelife.com

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  17. This looks amazing!!! Love your new chairs and I love mine ;). Love all the colors and textiles. I need some help over here. I still haven't hung anything on my walls. I am terrible at walls. I can't commit.

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  18. Gorgeous! Love, Love! I agree that picture is magazine worthy and noticed that one of my friends pinned it.

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  19. What a transformation! I love the new colors and patterns. Can you come over to my place and help us out? :)

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  20. OMG! I LOVE what you've done! So beautiful! I love it all! One question...what's the paint color? I'm in love with light blues and from what I can tell, it looks like a beautiful light blue on your walls. Enjoy your new, beautiful, stylish room my friend!
    Cheers,
    Sara

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  21. Absolutely gorgeous! Looks like something from a magazine! I love it!

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  22. Absolutely gorgeous! Looks like something from a magazine! I love it!

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  23. It looks amazing. I love the fabric on the pillows - I had drapes made in that fabric until the drycleaner shrunk them. Thanks for sharing at DIYByDesign.

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  24. It does look amazing! You really did a great job on it!

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  25. Absolutely gorgeous. I will be featuring this tonight at my Swing into Spring party that opens at 8pm EST. Please stop by and pick up an I've Been Featured button. Thanks.

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  26. This is gorgeous! I love the soothing color palette. Thanks for sharing and blessings to you, Patti

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  27. Oh my goodness, this is so beautiful. You totally transformed your living room into something so beautifully elegant and inviting. Love your colors. I would love for you to link up to my Inspire Me Tuesday party that is ongoing. - - -http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2013/04/160th-inspire-me-tuesday.html

    I think this is totally inspiring and amazing. Hugs, Marty

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  28. OMG! So beautiful Courtney! You and Sara did such a great job!! Okay, I have to know too what color the blue is? Great job....hope you are enjoying it!

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  29. Absolutely beautiful Courtney! You and Sara did such a great job! It looks so warm and inviting....hope you have been enjoying your new space. I have too have to know the color of the paint!

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