My plans to make our formal living room a more casual space that my family can relax in.
So if you’re a regular reader around here you might be thinking wayment {yes that’s how you spell it LOL} didn’t you give this room a makeover already?
{How perceptive of you}
The answer is yes. Last year I made over my formal living and dining room for the 2018 spring One Room Challenge. At that point, we’ve been in our current home for 4 months.
But, fast forward about 10 months since the makeover reveal and I realized I made a big mistake!
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The mistake, I did not design this room with how we live as a family in mind. Which is very relaxed and casual pretty much all the time!
The fact that we hardly ever use this space is proof of that.
Good design to me is not only creating a space that looks good. But, also functions well for the people who live there.
So while this makeover is pretty and a major improvement on what the room looked like before the
It just doesn’t work for us.
So I ask hubby and the kids why they never use the living room and the answers are as follows…
- It’s too “fancy” {they struggled to find the wording but that’s what it boiled down to}
- We don’t want to break anything on the shelf/ We’re afraid we might break your blue and white stuff
- I don’t want to mess it up
- I might spill my drink {although hot chocolate on the white couch in our family room is ok to them, make it make sense LOL}
- The’res nothing to do in there
Formal Living Room Refresh Plans
Keeping what my family told me in mind. I decided to take the formal out of our formal living room and create a more casual and relaxed space.
Now since this is a refresh and not a makeover, most of the big pieces are staying. And I will be relying on decor and
{BTW if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen me talk about some of these plans alread in my Instagram stories}
To get the casual look I’m after, here are the changes I plan to make.
1- Swap out the rug. I love the blue rug that was in our living room {I moved it to Kayla’s room for the $100 room challenge last month} but I definitely wanted a more neutral rug that will give me more flexibility with my decor choices.
REPLACE WITH: I plan to replace it with a natural fiber rug like that the one I had in our last house minus the fringe {does not work when you have a cat}.
2- Get rid of the shelves. Honestly, while these shelves are nice and worked great in our previous home. They’re a little overbearing in this tiny living room.
I only used them in the original makeover because I already had them on hand. Plus they apparently make the kids nervous about breaking stuff in here. So they’re getting the boot.
REPLACE WITH: The plan is to replace it with a console table {I will be using my navy table that’s currently in our family room for the time being}. With the addition of a large piece of vibrant artwork over it.
3- Add Some Greenery. To add some height and color to the room, I’ll replace the little brown
The only thing that’s still up in the air for me is the curtains. I LOVE THEM. But! They do add to the formal feeling in the room. I’ll need to figure that one out.
New Pieces I Plan To Use
So those are the major changes I plan to make. The rest of the changes will revolve around using decor I already own, maybe a couple of new pillows, and baskets.
I think these inexpensive changes will give our formal living room a welcoming vibe that hopefully encourages us to hang out in there more often without any fear we will mess up or break something.
Here are some of the pieces I’ve sourced so far. {click the photo for details}
I will share my progress as I make the changes I listed above.
So be sure to sign up for the newsletter so you can stay updated and follow me on Instagram because I’m sure I’ll be sharing behind the scenes stuff on my Instagram stories.
Here’s my WHITE-white trick. My two living-room loveseats were covered in bleach-white cotton canvas. Sure, I could throw them in the laundry, but then I’d have to IRON (shudder!) the ruffle, and skin cells do rub off and over time create a kind of dirty grey haze on loveseat arms & backs, mostly. To lengthen the time between washings, I tried spraying the grimies with Chlorox spray cleanser with bleach. Worked so well, I’m planning to cover all my RV furniture in white cotton canvas–WITHOUT rffles, tho’. Might even get away with washing ’em only twice/year.
Can’t wait to see how this turns out! Sooo I just bought a fancy couch but I’m trying to work reeeealllly hard to keep it super family friendly. We have a big heavy coffee table now tbat gets so much a abuse. So I’m hoping to replace it with something just as sturdy but a little smaller.
I just love that you asked the family why the room didn’t work for them! Can’t wait to see the room come together for all of you.
Linda you are absolutely right, if a room is not comfortable for your family then it is time for a change. I have been working hard to update our living room but also make sure that it is comfortable for the kids. Don’t want them to feel as if they are in a “fancy” room.
Super fun to see the changes you will be implementing. It’s always helpful to see what other small homes are doing, too! Thanks Linda… would love to have you link-up at Homestyle Gathering today! 😉
Thank you Julie! I linked up!
“Wayment” hahahaha that is totally a word! 🙂 Linda I love what you did with the first makeover of this space, but am with you on making it function better for your family!! Looking forward to seeing this room tweaking!
Linda the first version of the room was so pretty, and I don’t think that’s
what was “wrong” with it. It was all the breakable stuff. So I would
definitely leave those beautiful curtains. If your family felt they could
flop on the couch without carefully making their way around a fragile
coffee table full of porcelain, and then could put their feet up on something, without worrying about it, it would go a long way to feeling cosier. I think you could even have kept the rug. (You can always swap
it back later if you want to.) I guess what I am saying is that the “pretty” was probably not the problem. It was the “fussy” and breakable, and carefully placed objects. If you get a sturdy wooden coffee table and keep it pretty clear, and replace the glass shelving as you plan to, I think you could keep the happy colors that you get from the curtains and sofa cushions that you have now. The color really elevates the space. I think you can make it welcoming and cosy and unprecious without it turning into an ultra casual wreck-proof space. The room you created is just beautiful, and I know its next version will be too.
I agree! Nixing the shelves and re-evaluating the coffee table situation will likely solve the fancy feeling without losing the style.
Those curtains are lovely so I would hesitate to change them out until you make the other changes.
How do you plan to address “there’s nothing to do”? Or do you plan to address it?
Hi Jennifer! I plan to do exactly that, keep the curtains and see how it looks once I make the changes I shared. As far as “there’s nothing to do in there”, we are a big board game and cards family. So I plan to move the cards and some of the games in there {hidden away in baskets of course}. Wish me luck!
Hi Sojourner! I totally agree the breakable stuff was a major issue which is why I’m getting rid of the shelf and scaling back on the blue and white pieces. As far as the coffee table it’s actually very sturdy since its acrylic {basically thick plastic} so you can put your feet up on with no issues. I’m totally keeping the color in this space because it makes me happy 😊. Thank you for weighing in, I really appreciate it.
Thank you Lisa! Yes wayment is totally a word LOL.