A Living Room Reveal

So, a long time ago, I wrote about helping my friend Hope with her living room.  She was eager to make the room reflect her personality better, and she really wanted a space that felt breezier, fresher, and more inviting.  It whole thing was a process instead of an overnight venture because Hope, like most of us, had a budget and a hectic life.  Well, this morning, she sent me pictures of the room how it looks today, and I thought I would share.

First, just as a reminder, this is the photo Hope ripped out of a magazine as her inspiration.  She loved the green, blue, and yellow all together, the pictures over the couch, and the farm-fresh feel.

White slipcovers were not an option with four little boys, but we did manage to capture a more casual feel in Hope's house.

Here is the fireplace before...

and after:

Before, the dark colors competed with the yellow walls, and the blue curtains seemed out of place:

... but now everything works so harmoniously:

Before:

After:

Check out that gorgeous photo gallery wall!!

Isn't it fantastic?  I think we're going to move the photos down a little bit and leave room for a gallery light above them, which would just be the icing on the already-delicious cake.  

The tan love seat you see in the foreground is an awesome story.  Hope had these two dark chairs that are not that old, but the filler was falling out of them.  She called Macy's to ask if there was anything they could do, and they promised to send new cushions free of charge.  That was good because they were expensive chairs, but the bad part is that the chairs did not at all fit the design of the room, and we couldn't figure out how to make them work.  

At least with new cushions, Hope could justify the cost of slipcovering them, which she was considering.  However, that was still going to be costly, so we were sort of ignoring them for the time being.

Then, a few weeks later, Macy's called her out of the blue and told her that they no longer made the correct inserts for that chair, so they were just going to give her a store credit to use instead.  Enter the new loveseat!

We were limited by the amount of money Macy's offered and the selection they had, so we chose this very neutral piece that had the same shape to it as her existing couch.  It clearly doesn't "match" the room, but it blends in beautifully.  Now I just need to look for perfect pillows to tie the loveseat to the other furniture!

Besides the obvious couch and picture frames for the gallery wall, the other new big piece was the fantastic rug.  I was ecstatic when I found it.  It ties the blue, yellow, and green together perfectly and brings the whole room together.  Plus, it is soft and able to be vacuumed.

The other changes included new throw pillows, new, inexpensive lamps, and a few white accessories (including several picture frames that got a facelift with spray paint).  

All in all, I'd say that Hope's version of country chic came together perfectly for this beautiful family of six.  What a joy it was to help someone else fulfill a vision and feel more in tune with her surroundings. I know I, for one, will smile every time I sit in that room enjoying a cup of coffee.  Love you, Hope!