It all started with something as innocent a coffee table…
Ever since we moved into our beautiful house in Old Town, Casey and I have worked hard to make this a warm and inviting space that makes us happy. Working from home, we spend a lot of time in our house! Maybe it’s the fact that I’m antsy from being laid up for the past two weeks, or maybe it’s our turning-30 crisis – but we’ve been talking a lot lately about wanting to replace some of our old junky furniture with nice “adult” pieces. Clearly an expensive project that would need to be done piece by piece over time.
Yesterday afternoon Casey posed the question, “what would you say is the worst piece of furniture in this house?” Without even thinking, we both immediately knew the answer – the coffee table. If you can even call it that. We had two cheap glass-topped side-by-side tables that I hated the minute we assembled them. No matter what we tried, the glass was always filthy and the tables were always out of line. They drove us crazy. (I see glass-topped tables everywhere – HOW do people keep them looking sparkly and nice?)
We decided it was time to invest in something nice, something made of real wood. After a LOT of online shopping, price comparisons, and phone calls all around the DC metro area, we found ourselves at the Tyson’s Corner Pottery Barn last night, purchasing this beauty – the Hyde Coffee Table.
And of course as I talked circles around Casey discussing the ten million different options for what we could change in the room, we decided we also needed something on the wall behind the TV. A trip to Z Gallerie later, two gorgeous wall sconces were heading home in the back of our car…
Can I just add that it is really nice to have a husband that actually gets involved with decorating? For the most part I get to make the final decisions, but I love that he actually shares opinions and make suggestions. It makes the whole experience so much more fun!
Now I know it probably seems like we just moved in and decorated our new space. But the truth is, we’ve lived here almost two months now. I think with any new space, you have to set something up, feel it out, and adjust it to work better as you grow into it. From our first living room tour, here is the before image with the dirty glass tables…
And here is the gooooorgeous after shot! Complete with new coffee table and fantastic wall sconces above the couch.
Perhaps you are thinking, wait a minute – what happened to those DIY wall hangings that they made for the empty spot over the couch?
It turns out the sconces looks much better there than the wall hangings, so we swapped them out. Don’t worry, you’ll see where they ended up in a minute! Now the living room makeover isn’t totally done yet – we will still want to get a few colorful couch pillows and some decorative coffee table items, but I wasn’t willing to wait another day to show you guys.
Once we brought in the coffee table and the sconces, we were totally in love…with the left side of the room. Having such nice, pretty furniture on one side really made our Ikea bookshelves stick out like a sore thumb on the opposite wall. We still liked the shelves, but the color and texture contrasts were just too much with the new setup. We started thinking about ways to mix it up. Here’s the before…
And the AFTER! Ahhhh I am in love with this space! And the best part is that with the exception of the tall floor vase, we made-over the TV area using only items we already had.
Here is the before shot of the bookshelves and TV, as you would see them from the couch. (Bookshelves were repurposed upstairs in our bedroom!)
Aaaaand the AFTER – clean, creative, and much more appealing. The wood structure is actually the bench to our dining room table, which we are currently using in the office as a double desk. The painting came from our bedroom, and the floor vase was an awesome find in the sale section at Z Gallerie (great store).
As for the books, this was an idea that we played with for quite a while. To be honest, I don’t think the pictures quite do it justice – I absolutely love it. We took all of our books and cookbooks and laid them out like bricks, overlapping in rows that were relatively even in height.
Because of the overlap, they are actually pretty easy to remove individually without disrupting the whole layout (because after all, books are for reading!). I tried to keep the ones I reference most often towards the top to make it easier.
Our cable box is cleverly perched inside the wall of books (with just enough room to ventilate), so that you don’t even really notice it. We’re planning to get some sort of wooden shelf to hang above the TV, but other than that I think it looks great! Our original intention was for the wall sconces to be on this wall, but we quickly realized they were much better suited behind the couch.
One more angle from before…
And now AFTER!
And do you see the old wall hangings still tying into the living room scheme?
They are bringing some life to our staircase now. Cascading up the steps and bringing a wave of color with it…
Looks great looking down from above too.
So there you have it – our living room makeover! A few pillows, a shelf, and a few table items will make it perfect, but for now I’d say it’s pretty darn close.
The older I get (can you tell 30 is creeping up on me?) the more I realize what a homebody I have become. I think having a warm and peaceful personal space is so important to feeling calm and centered.
I’m pretty new to playing around with decorating and design, and I definitely still have so much left to learn. But I do know one
thing – I have smiled every single time I’ve walked into my new living room today. And for today, that is enough. :)
104 Comments so far
Leave a comment
It looks great! I really love the coffee table and the scones. Great job!
[Reply]
It looks great! I really love the coffee table and the scones. Great job!
[Reply]
Gorgeous room! It’s warm and inviting, with a classic/contemporary feel! Love it!
[Reply]
Gorgeous room! It’s warm and inviting, with a classic/contemporary feel! Love it!
[Reply]
Oh I LOVE it! It’s got a nice warm feel to it and I wanna come hang out on your couch with a cup of tea now!
[Reply]
Great look and nice coffee table! I can tell you don’t have kids yet though – I swear I spend half the time trying to keep my child from face planting into ours (she got a black eye last month hitting the edge of a coffee table.) I reeeeally want a round one now – at least there are no corners!! :)
[Reply]
Wheee! Very pretty
[Reply]
It’s beautiful! I’m totally envious. We need some new pieces for our place badly!
[Reply]
Great job! I love cozy spaces. We just got a run to cozy up the family room and now I am trying to talk the Husband into getting some warm color drapes to add to the room as well!
[Reply]
I love decorating! I recently updated our living room too… maybe I should post about it :)
The candle wall decor is GORGEOUS!
[Reply]
Love it! This room looks totally different than the before pictures, and really makes it feel “homey” :-)
[Reply]
Nice! I’m only 23 and I love love LOVE to do this stuff. Every once in awhile I’ll pick up a couple of decorative items, and re-work what I’ve got at home to come up with a new look.
[Reply]
Love it! It’s so much fun to decorate, and I haven’t changed anything up in my house in ages, other than swapping out some wall stuff.
[Reply]
Nice! Love the wall scupture with the candles and the table is gorgeous!
[Reply]
Wow it looks so nice! And I LOVE your amazing cookbook collection! I’m building mine at the moment :)
[Reply]
My favorite part is the staircase!
[Reply]
We just got wall scones and are talking about getting a new coffee table! The place looks beautiful. I can’t WAIT to see it in person.
[Reply]
Oh my gosh I have always wanted one of those big sconces with the candles!!!
[Reply]
Wow, I love what you have done with your place!!!!
[Reply]
It looks awesome!!!!!!! Great job- love sconces, and those ones are really cool. Looks so homey.
[Reply]
That’s such a cool way to organize your books! I might need to try it myself – do you find that it’s a better utilization of space than the traditional way? (I have a lot of books!)
[Reply]
I love the new wall piece, it is stunning! I can’t wait to move to old town in just 7 weeks! Ah! I love DC.
I agree though, having a comfortable homey space is so relaxing.
[Reply]
I love it! I’m pushing 50 and STILL struggle to find my style in decorating my house.
[Reply]
Just gorgeous! It’s so much more homey now. Consider me jealous! :)
[Reply]
LOVE what you have done! My hubs + I just recently decided that we needed to do a bit of redecorating ourselves (well, I was really the one who decided). I mean, we’ve been in the house 4 years and still have nothing hanging on our walls! Ha! I might have to steal a few of your ideas though… too cute!
[Reply]
Your new look is wonderful! So warm and welcoming. And you did it without purchasing an entire new room. Well done!
[Reply]
Loving the new space! It looks great!
[Reply]
zomg. Those wall scones are amazing! Everything looks great!
[Reply]
Agh! You make me want to nest!
[Reply]
LOVE what you did with your books. The whole room looks great…
[Reply]
Looks nice, I especially like the three striped pieces in the staircase now.
[Reply]
oh my – you guys have such a great ‘eye’ for design!!!! I have to get myself organised when we move into our new place!!
[Reply]
a. your living room/house looks AWSOME.
b. i’m so glad it brings you happiness! love home makeovers! don’t you feel so accomplished
c. you are SO lucky to have a husband who gets his hand in your decorating!!!
d. love it!
[Reply]
Looks great! So clean and cohesive now. Another suggestion – scoot the rug around so the front legs of the couch and chair are on the rug.
[Reply]
The decorating looks awesome!!! Its amazing what just a few simple changes can do to the essence of an entire room.
Looks beautiful!
[Reply]
You have great taste, dear!
[Reply]
Pretty…and a little pricey. Love what you did with the books. Very creative.
[Reply]
Love it! I agree, it makes such a huge difference to have a living environment you feel good about and comfortable in.
[Reply]
Dear Emily, please come back for a visit and decorate my house. I have no taste and yours is awesome! Love, Jen
[Reply]
Emily Reply:
October 28th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Agreed. I would love an Emily makeover! (and a wealthy benefactor to provide the resources :)
[Reply]
Looks incredibly warm and cozy. I love the new wall decoration/candles :)
[Reply]
I really like how it looks lit up. Decorating can become so addictive; since we’ve gotten our 2 big dogs we’re constantly working on more dog-friendly decor that’s still cute. I think it just never ends.
[Reply]
Looks great! I have a glass topped coffee table and side tables. I like that I don’t have to use coasters. The lights in the living room are low enough so I can’t see the dust and watermarks. :)
[Reply]
The new look is incredible. Great work :)
[Reply]
Beautiful work Emily! I love home decorating and am finding that I am starting to put more and more time into the ‘nesting’ cause as well :P
[Reply]
Smiling is a true sign that your new additions are a success. It looks warm and inviting and the stacked books have my mind racing as to where I can implement the idea in my own home, love it!
[Reply]
I LOVE IT!!! Especially especially especially the sconces! I thought your living room was pretty cozy and elegant before the new stuff but now it’s even better.
Are the candles in the sconces real?
[Reply]
I love the books under the bench. What a cool look! I actually also really like the rug under the coffee table, though I know that wasn’t part of the makeover! Where is it from?
[Reply]
Hmmm, you say you’re not the decorating type, but this sure looks amazing!!!! So jealous of that gorgeous coffee table. It looked great before but looks more “adult” now for sure. I love it. I also LOVE and WANT that bench for a table and I reallllly like the cookbook idea. Way to get creative! The fabric hangings are also perfect in the stairs. I’m impressed!
[Reply]
Looks great. I totally understand the whole turning 30 decorating thing. We just bought our house five months ago and are slowly phasing out our old furniture hand me downs.
[Reply]
I love the sconces but if those candles are real, I would never feel comfortable sitting under them. :-(
[Reply]
The simple changes you made had a big impact–looks great!!
[Reply]
Love it! I’m so excited for you! I absolutely love when we revamp a space in our house. It always feels so fresh and homey:)
And three cheers for involved husbands! My husband is sometimes more into decorating than I am, and I’m pretty sure he’s better at it. It’s so fun to do everything together.
Question: where was your cable box when you had your TV on your Ikea bookshelves? And do you not have a DVD player? We need a new stand for our TV so bad, and we’ve considered using our Ikea bookshelf, but we can’t figure out where our cable box and DVD player would go bc the spaces aren’t big enough!
[Reply]
Reading about all the bloggers making their houses cute is really inspiring me to make mine cuter!
[Reply]
i LOVE it! especially the books. did you know that there’s a library that made the reference desk out of books? such a great idea!
[Reply]
Those wall sconces are so pretty! And those pictures look awesome going up the stairs. I have to admit, I liked the black shelves and the way they were set up before better, but the colour of the bench does match the coffee table better. I love the fireplace too!
[Reply]
I so badly want to decorate my own future apartment! I’m living with my parents this year to save money for grad school and will be moving out come next May/August and I canNOT wait. I’m sucha design/home improvement junkie.
Love your changes! Side question, is a big pain in the butt to light all those candles? ;)
[Reply]
It is crazy how a couple items can completely change a room!
I l-o-v-e it.
[Reply]
It looks sooooo cool and calm in there!! It might be fun (if the book sizes work at all) to arrange them by color! This flickr group shows some stunning bookshelves!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/96822943@N00/pool/
[Reply]
Once I start get bitten by the home remodeling bug, I am a goner! It starts with something innocent like a coffee table and before you know it I have completely changed my color scheme!
[Reply]
Those sconces are out of control. So awesome! I have never seen a setup like that before. My gosh, all lit up at night, it’s like a lodge or something. Just pour me a hot chocolate and hand me a book. :-)
[Reply]
Oh it’s beautiful! It wasn’t that bad before, but the new style is definitely better! I’m a total homebody and I need it to be a warm and comforting place!
[Reply]
I think your place looks awesome! One question though – which I think someone else asked – is it a pain to light all those candles? AND related, do you think you will really light them all that often, or will they mostly stay unlit? I would think lighting every day and blowing them out every time you leave the house would get to be a pain!
[Reply]
Don’t forget overstock.com….can get some great deals on rugs, curtains, tables etc…that look good too :-) Plus shipping only $2
[Reply]
I love the wall sconce! It’s so beautiful! I want something like that for my house! :)
[Reply]
You have vision! It looks like it was meant to be that way. Such a cute townhouse – and I love the area. Glad you are feeling better. Have a great weekend.
[Reply]
it looks great! my fav is the wall sconces. way to go!
[Reply]
Everything looks so good, Emily! Great job. We are in the process of replacing hand me downs and college pieces with “adult” furniture but also have to do it piece by piece.
[Reply]
It looks great Emily! I love playing around with design. We just redid our office in ’50s steel case furniture and I love it. I don’t think I am from this time period at all especially when it comes to fashion or design…
[Reply]
Love it, it looks so nice and cozy, which is just how a home should be.
[Reply]
I love that candle holder thingy (…yep, I’m going to describe it as that) above your couch now. It’s stunning! I’m very happy to see that you still are using those DIY artwork in the stairway… I gasped as first when I saw you replaced the artwork with the candle holder thingy… LOL.
I have a glass kitchen table and although I love it to death, ill never get another one because it is so hard to keep clean.
I can’t wait to see other changes you make!
I think its important to love your house. Oprah always says your house should “rise up to meet you” and I completely agree with her!
[Reply]
Very nice job! May I ask what type of nails did you use to hang your candle wall hanging? I had the same item (which comes without required hardware). After several failed attempts at hanging it, I ended up returning it.
[Reply]
Looks great! You two are so creative. I am sure it is nice to have Casey involved. We are homebodies too and I love going home at the end of the day to my nest :)
[Reply]
I think it definitely looks cozier now and has more of a country/class mix! Nice job :)
[Reply]
*classic
[Reply]
This is great! I love redecorating:)
[Reply]
It’s beautiful Emily – Nicely done! I look foward to the day that i can decorate my space as well. it really does make a difference in your mood when you’re at home!
[Reply]
Oh my gosh. This is one of the most amazing re-do’s I have ever seen! The sconces are gorgeous! I love how something simple with candlelight can bring warmth to a room! This definitely looks cozy.
Also the “bricks” with the books – genius! I am bookmarking this for when I get my own place!
[Reply]
Oh my goodness that wall sconce is BREATH-TAKING! Great taste! :)
I hope you’re feeling a bit more your cheery self. And don’t fret over 30. My 30s are pretty rockin’. I just married the man of my dreams and life is so fun. I don’t miss my 20s an ounce.
[Reply]
love it! i think the wall hangings look great in the stairwell too. :)
[Reply]
Looks fabulous!
[Reply]
I couldn’t agree more about the glass tables. I have them in my living room and dining rooms and I can’t wait to get rid of them! They are such a pain to keep clean. I love the new look of your living room though! Great job!
[Reply]
I love re-purposing peices from one room to another! It gives the peice and room a fresh look! Very creative with the dining room bench :)
[Reply]
It is amazing how changing simple items with color makes such a difference. It looks amazing.
Why are you not hanging the TV on the wall. I see this a lot. I am trying to decide if I want to hang my TV or not.
I LOVE that you hung the wall hangings on the stairs.
I have to say, when I first saw that you stacked all the books on the floor, I was like, wow, why did she do that. After seeing the closeup picture on how you bricked them and getting a closer look, I was like Wow, Emily sure has a great eye. I might try that look on one of my bookcases.
Watching a house become a home is beautiful.
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 5:03 pm
We have mounted the TV before, but I hate how the cord hangs down. NOT worth it!
[Reply]
What a difference itty bitty changes can make! Your home looks really beautiful. I really like the sconces. Where did you get them?
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Z Gallerie!
[Reply]
WOW! Gorgeous picks! Everything looks so earthy and classy. I love it!
[Reply]
I love the wall sconces. And the wall paintings up the hallway.
I would think about getting flameless candles for the sconces. They look so nice lit up, and just thinking of fire hazards, seems like an easier way to go.
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 5:01 pm
The candles are enclosed in glass votives, so they are very safe.
[Reply]
I LOVE the new look. You guys did such a good job!
[Reply]
I love it! So inviting and warm!
And P.S. I know the antsy near-30 feeling. I turned 30 TODAY and the closer I got to the big day, the more reflective I became. :-)
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 4:56 pm
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
[Reply]
Looks great!! I love the brick stacking book idea…..great use of piles of books!
[Reply]
I love it!!! Very creative :) I really want to hang wall sconces on our bedroom wall (the kind with candle holders) but Jason is worried about them falling and catching everything on fire! Was this a concern for you? I think it’s great Casey puts in his two cents! It’s much more fun when it’s a team effort :)
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 4:52 pm
The candles are all in glass votives, so there is no chance of dripping or accidental arson. :)
[Reply]
Your apartment looks great! I’ve loved wall sconces like that since I worked at a coffee shop with smaller versions.
My husband and I are finally living without roommates so when we moved in August we really made a point to buy more decorative items. And a whole new living room set. So much better than our hand-me-downs! Now I just need to find photos to fill the frames we bought…
[Reply]
Your place looks amazing!! You have such great taste.
[Reply]
I know I’m a bit late responding to this post, but I saved it in my RSS reader to come back to later. I loved the bookcase brick layering so much that I didn’t want to forget. Did you guys come up with that yourself or borrow some inspiration from somewhere?
[Reply]
Emily @ The Front Burner Blog Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
We came up with that one ourselves! Thanks!
[Reply]
Your couch looks awesome! Where did you get it?
[Reply]
[...] Glad you guys like the office makeover! I promise to talk about food again soon – please indulge me for one more home decorating moment. In the last year or so, we’ve been trying to save money and look for deals – replacing our old worn out furniture with nice quality pieces one by one. Most of our efforts so far have been concentrated in the living room. [...]
[...] set up a camp in my living room, along with my laptop so I could tweet furiously through the race. (Side note: aren’t my [...]
[...] When we moved into our place in Old Town, we had NO furniture for our living room other than the TV. We sold all of all our old things when we left Charlotte, and eventually piece by piece built a really cute living space. [...]
Leave a comment