Living Room Reveal

I finally got around to capturing the transformation of my living room and kitchen so I am here today delivering some fresh home decor content.

As you can see, I’m not afraid of colour. When I came to look at the condo with my realtor, the space was crowded with oversized brown leather couches and dull with a palette of browns and beiges.

BEFORE

AFTER

As you can see, I actually have more furniture in the space now but the space actually feels larger because the pieces I’ve used are better proportioned. A rug really helps pull the room together and defines the living room from the home office area.

Painting out the builder white walls with a serene blue was the very first change I made before I even moved in.

Actually the weekend I moved in coincided with the big tornado that hit parts of Ottawa in September 2018. Almost every set of street lights was out do to power outages caused by the storm – which made getting from my parents place in Nepean to the downtown location of my condo pretty interesting.

Luckily, the condo has a back-up generator so we didn’t have to lug furniture up 20 flights of stairs.

BEFORE

AFTER

Most of my furniture has traveled with me from home-to-home for the past 10 years but I’ve done my best to compile a curated list of similar items so you can shop the room.

SHOP THE ROOM

The rug and floor lamps were Ikea finds about 6 years ago. The blue swivel tub chairs came from Canadian furniture-maker Mobilia, the chartreuse chair was from Zone Maison but I’ve linked a similar style from West Elm. The couch was a great deal from Urban Barn but there are plenty of similar examples from CB2, West Elm, and other stores.

The ceiling light was probably the biggest singular transformation in the space, the before photos strategically cut out the hideous, dinky light fixture that was there originally. It was a minuscule flushmount fixture with three bulbs pointing straight down, spotlighting the chartreuse wingback. Is woefully undersized for the space and looked like it was intended for use above or beside a bathroom mirror.

The media console is the oldest piece of furniture I have – I think I sourced it from a small furniture store in Milton back in 2007. I’ve updated it with two wallpaper samples to cover over the brown wood slats in the circular openings.

I swapped out my pillows recently because I wanted to incorporate the velvet trend into my living room but didn’t want to commit to a full velvet couch. The pillows are from Toronto maker, Tonic Living.

My favourite possession in my entire home is the original piece of artwork above the couch. My parents picked this up for me for Christmas years ago. It’s by Toronto painter Judith Geher, unfortunately she’s no longer making art.

The “canvas” for this piece is simply a piece of wood and her rough sketch marks add dimension to this work. I love the romance of it and it brings a smile to my face whenever I look at it.

The image below is probably the best angle to appreciate just how bland and brown the space was before I moved in. The “after” image gives you a little preview of the kitchen transformation which I’ll be sharing soon enough.

BEFORE

AFTER

I’m undecided about whether to paint the interior of the front door the same blue-grey of the kitchen cabinets or if I should leave it as is. Otherwise, the only other project I’m considering undertaking in the living area is to replace the massive sliding door dividing the living room from the bedroom with something more stylish.

I’m thinking about something with a more stylish track, either in white or pulling in the chartreuse accent colour and inserting two fluted glass panels to allow more natural light into the bedroom while still maintaining privacy.

As it stands, I’m really happy with how this space turned out and love living in this cozy little space I’ve pulled together. I’d welcome your thoughts or questions in the comments below!