Elsie’s Living Room Tour (Before + After)

Grab a coffee because today I’m sharing MY LIVING ROOM TOUR! Some blog posts take 45 minutes to write and some take a year. This is one of the big ones… so please buckle up for a lot of photos. Welcome to my tour, friends!

Let’s start out with the before and after photos! I love before/after photos, don’t you?! There’s something so satisfying about seeing what a year and a half (and some white paint and plants) can do.

This is the view when you are standing in the entryway looking into the living room. As you can see, we got to keep the piano (we negotiated it into the sale of our home, and Jeremy plays it daily!), and we still love the white beams, but everything else is different. We decided to get rid of all drapes in this room. We may consider adding new ones in the future, but for now I am really enjoying the extra light that pours in. Since this huge window looks out into our backyard, privacy is not an issue.

Still pinching myself that we found a home with such incredible windows and natural light.

(to the left) This view really inspires me. The door to the right is the sunroom and the left is the dining room. We added a little side table and a HUGE mirror and then in the back of the room, our bar cart.

(to the right) In this view you can see all of my favorite things! The sofas (I’ll talk more about them below), the 8 foot cactus, palm plant and the coffee table OF MY DREAMS. I love this simple, cozy spot in our home.

(and the view facing the entryway, if your back is to the big window) When we moved in, I initially wanted to fill that back wall with floor to ceiling bookshelves. And while I still love that idea, I realize now that we already have two giant bookshelves in our home, so I’ve just kind of been waiting for the right idea for that wall. For now it’s a good home for our bar cart and a fun rattan chair I scored at a local vintage shop.

See the rest of the before photos here.

Here’s the view looking into the living room from the entryway. I’m really happy this is the first room you see from the entryway when you walk in the front door! (here’s a link to those cute wall planters)

I love that Jeremy plays the piano so often. He’s really into classical music and likes to always be practicing the pieces he performed in college. It’s kind of a cool party trick, I’m not going to lie. And my grandma LOVES it.

On the coffee table I’ve been working on a little mineral collection. I tend to keep the accent colors light and neutral in this room because of the bold turquoise floor. I feel like when you make a crazy design choice like that, it’s good to keep the rest of the room real chill.

Alright, let’s talk about this sofa! This is the Sven Charme Tan Sofa from Article. Since I posted about them for the first time last February, I have received countless private messages and emails from readers asking me about the quality of this sofa. I’ll tell you here what I told all those people (and this probably goes without saying, but I am not being paid to say any of this).

I love these sofas. I picked them because my friend Katie has one and said it’s the perfect sofa for kids. We don’t have kids yet, but it’s something I’m starting to consider with major purchases or decor commitments (like the cowhide rug below this—easiest white rug EVER to clean!). It also appealed to me that these sofas come already looking a little bit worn. If they were too perfect, that would scare me with our dogs (we let the dogs come up on all our furniture). The other thing about these sofas I love is they are big and comfy. You can totally take a nap on this sofa! They’re a good happy medium between structured and mid-century and comfy cozy. So anyway—I completely love them.

Our live edge coffee table is from Anthropologie. I spent way way way too long trying to find the perfect one for this room, and I am hopelessly in love with this thing.

The two things that I always want my rooms to be full of are texture and plants. Since I stuck with a lot of white for this design, those are the elements that really make it come to life and feel both fresh and cozy.

The quilted cowhide rug I got on a super sale from Anthropologie. I like cowhides because they are durable and easy to clean. These can last for a lot longer than other white and light colored rugs.

Big mirrors can be miracle workers. They make a room feel bigger and more open. Mirrors are a little bit like rugs, if you get one that’s too small, it can look really off and it’s always better to err on the bigger side if you can. You can find this mirror here.

The past few weeks I moved all my plants in from the outdoors. That really tall Peruvian cactus was in my sunroom all summer.

Our color washed floors was one of the riskiest design moves in this house. They’re only in this one room, and I’m beyond happy to report that a year later they are holding up perfectly (seriously perfectly, and I do NOT use the word perfect lightly), and I still LOVE THEM.

That door molding. This is original to our home (built in 1972 I believe), and it’s one of the things that made me fall in love when we first viewed it. This molding is on almost every door in the house. I love them!

Thanks for coming over for a tour! It really means the world to me that you guys have followed along throughout our renovation so far. Your encouragement has motivated me endlessly!

Oh yes, and I wouldn’t leave you hanging. Here’s a FULL list of sources for all the furniture and decor in my living room.

Furniture: Sofas/Article, Coffee Table/Anthropologie, Rug/Anthropologie (I got it on clearance, but here’s a similar option), Rattan Chair/vintage, Bench behind sofa/Gus Modern.

Decor: Mirror/CB2, Pink Buildings Print/UO, Plant stands/Modernica, West Elm and DIY, Wall Planters in Entryway/West Elm, Bar Cart (painted it white), Pillows/Anthropologie (similar), Throw/West Elm (similar).

If I forgot something, please let me know! Love you guys! xx -Elsie