In this new house we have a two story living room. I call it the living room but my kids think we should all call it the nook. It is supposed to be a living room in this house but it is 10′ x 11′ so not a lot of living is actually done in this space. Especially the way it is right now so I want to change that. I want to create an environment that invites you in and makes you feel like you want to curl up and read a book. That is probably all that can be done in this tiny space anyway, lol! So I think that when I am done, I will call it “The Library”. But for now, here is the plan for my Living Room makeover.
I had these blue walls and horizontal strips of contrasting trim all painted one neutral color before we moved in. Every inch of the house was a different shade of blue. Well, except for the master bedroom which was a shade of brown that I didn’t care for (think baby poop). I also removed these drapes. They are not my style at all. While the painter was in the house I had him paint all of the doors black. It was so much easier to have a professional painter paint the whole house at once before we moved in than for me to tackle it all afterwards. I usually DIY paint myself but this was a much better option for us this time. It was a whole house. And did I mention it was blue?
I have been working hard to change the flooring in here, too, and just finished installing 1000 sq. ft. of all new LVP flooring and all new 5 1/2″ baseboards to freshen up the entire main floor. The baseboards installed in the photo are 3 1/2″ and, surprisingly, the larger ones make such a difference! So, now I have a gorgeous, sophisticated, neutral palette to work with.
The plan is to take furniture I already have and combine it together to make an entirely new, massive bookcase on one wall (the wall you see when you first walk in the door). This will be the main focus of this space. I have gone through many paint samples to figure out the color I want to paint the whole thing. A really gorgeous charcoal color would look so pretty. Maybe a deep, rich gray/green would be beautiful. Stay tuned to see what I actually choose!
I have two tv consoles and two bookcase tops that I will combine together along with some cabinets I will custom build to fill in the left over space. It will take up the whole 10′ wall and will end up being a little over 9′ tall. I drew up a plan from an idea I had in my head one day and I am excited to see it come together. I am really nervous because sometimes DIY doesn’t work out exactly as you envisioned it would and it is a lot of work. But, I think it’s going to be fantastic!
I also have some electrical run for the three sconce lights that I want on the wall. Since the bookcases are completely see through on the three sides, I thought it would be pretty to see the sconce lights through the glass. I considered hanging them just for looks and not having them be functional, but I really wanted the soft glow on the wall at night for this room.
This new house (we moved in a couple of months ago) doesn’t have an office. So I am going to build a secretary desk and incorporate it into the bookcase wall as well as a file cabinet. I need a place to keep my computer, notebooks and files. Working from home means that I have to force myself to leave the work at the end of the day or I will find myself workin into the night if I don’t put it away. Plus, I want to avoid having to pull it all out and put it away every day.
There are a couple of things I like about this one from Pottery Barn. But with a $1900 price tag, I think I will just try to build my own!
I hope you will follow along to see how it will turn out. I will have it done before Thanksgiving for sure. But I am really pushing to get it done within the next week! To see the progress in action and to see all of the steps I am taking to create the bookcase wall and pull it all together, join me on Instagram to see my daily stories!
I will do a whole post on the journey to create this space and let you know how it turns out. Have a great week, friends!
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