My Colourful Eclectic Living Room Makeover!

You know when you start one project, and then that project turns into an entirely new venture? That’s exactly what happened when I decided to redo the floors throughout the main areas of our house. New floors turned into knocking down decorative columns, which turned into me redoing the entire room.

Here is my very “blah” before shot. This room never really had much of a purpose. It is the room that you see when you walk up the stairs of our front foyer, and technically is supposed to be our dining room, but I always thought it would be weird to walk straight into a dining room. Not to mention the fact that we don’t “dine”. We are definitely a sit-on-the-couch-and-eat type family.

When I started decorating it 5 years ago, I was a little obsessed with french style antique furniture and all things turquoise and mint… can you tell? Over the years, it sort of became this boring collection room of antique finds and we never really used it.

After we tore out the carpet, laid the new flooring, and knocked out the decorative columns, the space seemed HUGE and I knew that I wanted to make better use of it. I imagined an eclectic, modern “library” type room where I could just chill out when I wanted to and read a book. I Photoshopped up decor plans over and over again until I came up with one I loved. This is the result of my plans:

My first task was to buy new furniture to fill the space. I was tired of my old antique stuff so I decided to just keep the essentials (a sofa, matching chair, and some small items) and then I headed over to AllModern to browse their selection. I love this store so much. I purchased the rug that can be seen in my office makeover from them and knew that this time I wanted to go all out.

I knew I didn’t want to have to paint the room again, because that job took forever the first time around being that it is such a huge room. Instead, I decided to work with the colour and get accent pieces that would compliment it. Yellow and orange seemed to do the trick and proved colour theories right. I found these amazing Clyde Arm Chairs by TOV Furniture and fell in love with the colour. They were the perfect mustard shade!

Next, I needed a rug. This was probably the hardest decision, because I wanted to brighten up the flooring and add a little character, but I didn’t want anything too busy. I found this polka dot Maroc Tan Area Rug and needed it. It ended up working really well and I like how it adds more brightness to the room.

To add a pop of orange, I found this Flynn Pellet Hassock Ottoman by Chooty & Co that worked nicely, and I made some pillow covers for the sofa. The rustic stool that sits between the chairs is by Woodland Imports, and although it’s more green than blue like in the photo online, I think it still works well.

The bookcase is a collection of Billy bookcases from Ikea with one extension unit added to the top to fill the height of the wall. Being that I wanted this to be a “library” room, I knew I needed a giant bookcase, and this one works perfectly! I measured the space beforehand so I knew which units to purchase and how high I needed it to be. The ceiling dips down here and has a bit of a decorative bulk head above this sitting area as you can see a few photos above, so the bookcase sits nicely right in this area.

The cats claimed these chairs as soon as I pulled them out of the boxes, so I’m glad that it’s a space we can all use and enjoy ;).

I am so thrilled with my new room and all of the pieces I got from AllModern. It turned out exactly how I had imagined and totally encompasses the feeling I was going for. If you are looking to purchase home decor and furniture that is stylish and affordable, definitely check out their site. They also ship to Canada, which is a HUGE plus because not many online furniture stores do, let alone ones that have a massive selection (trust me, I’ve searched)! I hope you like the look of this new space as much as I do!