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Living Room Makeover {Resources}

 

[RESOURCES] for the Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

disclosure: I collaborated with a few of my favorite companies on this makeover including Minted, World Market, and Valspar Paint.  I reached out to them & I am truly thankful that they believed in me to showcase their awesome product(s) for this room redo!  All items were chosen by me and all opinions are 100% my own.

Happy Monday – You guys are awesomely sweet!  The outpouring of kind comments over the new living room space was over-the-top.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You’ve seen the pictures, so now let’s get to the nitty-gritty details of the makeover.  Pretty pictures are good and all, but let’s get down to what you really want to know… where I bought it all!

Resources >>>

[RESOURCES] for the Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

1 – DIY: $70 freestanding bookcase with moulding to create built-in, Amazon [tutorial coming soon]

2 – Life Does Not Have To Be Perfect To Be Wonderful sign, World Market

3 – Globes, World Market and Target

4 – DIY: Drop Cloth Panels with leading edge [click for tutorial], fabric: Geo Maze Coral / Bamboo Shades: Payless Decor, Tibet

5 – Canvas, Ikea

6 – Caged Accent Table, Target

7 – Carved Wood Accent Table, World Market

8 – Acrylic Coffee Table, CB2 / Geometric Lattice Tray, Target

9 – Emerald Lindsey Chair, World Market

10 – Hemnes TV Unit, Ikea – DIY: turned Campaign-Style with handmade knobs + “L” brackets

11 – Side Chair, local furniture store

12 – White Leather Pouf, Amazon

13 – Sheepskin Rug, World Market

14 – 7’6 x 9’6 Ikat Rug, Rugs USA

15 – Basket, Target (similar to this style)

[RESOURCES] for the Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

16 – Framed Prints, Minted

> Down Under the Brooklyn Bridge
> Snow Dancer
> Blaze
> Calculation
> Gesture
> Let’s Get Lost
> NYC Map (gold foil)
> Bits

17 – Arc Floor Lamp + Shade, World Market

18 – Pillows

left to right
> raspberry ikat, Homegoods
> teal geometric, Target
> black & white (Lappljung Ruta), Ikea
> Solid with Tape, Target
> black and white square, Target – no long available
> Blue & Turquoise ombre, DIY creation
> White Faux Fur pillow, Amazon

19 – Charcoal Sofa, local furniture store

[RESOURCES] for the Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

20 – DIY: Window panels (roadside rescue) turned picture frames

21 – Work Lamp (Ranarp), Ikea

22 – Eames White Molded Plastic Chair, Amazon

23 – Parsons Desk, West Elm

Paint Colors >>>

Changing of the wall color was as much important as the elements that went into updating this space.  The orange wall @ the fireplace was pretty dramatic before, but the black is just as eye catching + dynamic.  To balance the deep, dark hue, I chose a lighter color for the other walls in the space.

These are the new paint colors…

Proposed living room color palette

Fireplace Wall (soft black hue) – Valspar Black Heron V120-3, flat

Other Walls (light gray/blue hue) – Valspar Silver Thistle Down V120-1, satin

Trim + Fireplace – Valspar New Ream V148, semi-gloss

And that’s a wrap!  If you haven’t seen the finished space, pop on over the {reveal} post.  There are a whole lotta pictures + inspiration…

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color - emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue.  Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

I want to give a HUGE shout-out and THANKS to the following companies who chose to partner with me on this room makeover.  I reached out to them & I am truly thankful that they believed in me to showcase their awesome product(s) for this room redo!  Thank you to Minted (who provided the amazing framed artwork), World Market (who supplied some of the furniture + accessories), and Valspar Paint (who supplied the paint).

So what’s your favorite new element in my living room?

 

Living Room Makeover {Reveal}

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color - emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue.  Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

I hope you are having a wonderful week.  I am in pure bliss at the moment.  Between the amazing 60 degree sunny days we’ve been having + finishing the living room, I am incredibly delighted.  plus my little guy is going to be turning 9 in a few days and that just makes my heart happy…

So yes, the living room makeover that I’ve been working on for the past 4 months is FINISHED and I am overly joyed to finally share details of the makeover + the big reveal!

The evolution of this space has been quite long + slow.  And I am perfectly content with that because we’ve gotten the chance to “live” in it to know what works + what doesn’t.

When we moved in to our home about 5 years ago, it started out like this…

welcome to our new home – ugh, ok not so pretty. 

before living room

We needed color right away, so we painted the fireplace wall a deep burnt orange hue, while the other walls were covered in a warm-beige, cardboard brown tone.  Furniture from our previous home went into place and we were happy to have a space for our family of 4 (at the time).

before living room

With some minor updates + layers, eventually the space started to feel like “us”…

before living room

That’s how our living room looked until this makeover started.

Over the years, I knew the furniture didn’t work “right” for the room, but because of the emotional connection/attachment to our beloved sofa + the lil’ budget we had, it stayed as is.

Then late last year we got the bug.  Even the Mister who hates change & is content with most any ole’ space, was thinking the room needed some new life.  And it all started with the TV…

Here’s a quick storyline: The Mister wanted a larger flatscreen, which the TV cabinet wouldn’t be large enough for.  That got the ball rolling to get rid of the oversized TV cabinet [you can see what it looks like in this post].

Once the cabinet was gone, the sofa followed along with it, and rearranging the furniture so the TV would no longer be opposite of the windows because of the sun glare made the most sense.  it was near impossible to watch tv during the day because of the sun filtering in.  In the end, a friend bought most of the furniture and we were left with a big empty shell!

This was the new layout I created for the space…

Living Room Floor PlanMy creative juices started to flow and this was what I envisioned for the room. [click to read my original plan of action for this space]

collage and inspiration photos for our living room makeover

After some project fails & loss of momentum along the way, here is the result of our new living room…

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

That is the main view of the room from the kitchen & dining space.

To the right is a desk nook where the kids do their homework & keep their art supplies.  I made some styling edits when I photographed the space, but typically there is rolling cart next to the desk that holds their coloring books, notebooks, and art supplies.

Last Fall a local photographer took family photos of us, which we get to treasure in window panes (that I found on the side of the road) turned photo frames.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Above the desk is a recent handmade sign creation that I shared about the other day.  No stencil or silhouette was used to create it, but instead I used chalk to “transfer” the letters.  It was a fairly easy process and the “chalk transfer” technique can ultimately be used for any design onto any hard surface.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Continuing around the room, I decided to put the TV stand + new flat screen TV (the element that sparked the redesign) in front of the window.

When I shared my original plan for this makeover, I got some comments about the TV location – “you’re putting the TV in front of the window?” – but honestly it really works in this room.  The windows are really large + there are skylights above that bring in lots of light.  The location of this space is also in the back of our home, so no one from the outside is looking in.  I questioned the placement at first too, but we are really enjoy seeing the outdoors (ie: many snowfalls) at the same time we watch TV.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

The TV cabinet is from Ikea and to make it unique, I added similar knobs to the china cabinet (that I transformed last year) + ‘L’ brackets to make it like a campaign-style cabinet.

The window panels are the same as those previously in the room, but they too got spiced up with new fabric on the leading edge [the material is drop cloth and here is original the tutorial].  Layered behind the window panels are bamboo roman shades – same as they were before.  When I painted the mouldings wood to white a few years back, this window with the layered window treatments took on an entirely new life!

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Isn’t that new chair fabulous?!  It’s new and it’s daring and I love it.  I’m going to share all the sources for the new room in another post, but I have to spill the beans.  This fabulous emerald chair (yes, it’s a true emerald green color) is from World Market and it’s really a great bang-for-the-buck.  At first, I had another chair in it’s place and it wasn’t dynamic enough.  I nervously ordered this chair unsure if it would be too bold for the room.  It arrived and there was no other green like it in the room.  I thought about it and lived with it for a few days and fell in love.  Now I feel it truly makes the room!

The new black focal wall is a show stopper.  Many people thought I was crazy when I said I was going to paint this huge wall black, but it really works.  The black is a soft, charcoal hue, so it’s not harsh.  The walls flanking the fireplace were always tricky to style and since we never have enough bookcases, we built these beauties – more on that in another post.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

The shelves of these new bookcases hold lots of our books, magazines, and accessories + some of the kids toys.  This is a living room for our family of 5.  This is the #1 space we hang out in, so when designing the new layout, it HAD to be kid-friendly.  The older 2 kids have a lot of their toys in their rooms or in the basement, but some of their smaller things are now in baskets on the shelves and are easily accessible.

I have a few more stylish baskets in the living room that also hold the baby toys. I love baskets and when they’re pretty, it doesn’t matter what’s inside. [Here are more savvy storage solutions using baskets]

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

As you continue around the room, there is a second bookcase to match the other, which holds more books, family photo albums, CDs (yes, we still listen to CDs even though it seems archaic to some), and a large basket that houses a few comfy blankets.

As you make your way around the space, the sofa now sits opposite of the window and a blank canvas above was turned into a beautiful art wall with a bit of old and touches of new.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

The new deep charcoal sofa is heavenly.  It’s beautiful against the light blue wall + picks up the tones of the black focal wall.  It was hard to see our other sofa go (but I still see it often because a good friend of mine is now enjoying it), but this new one really fits the room so much better.  We chose a sofa with a chaise on the end, which gives extra seating + a spot to put your feet up and lounge.

The rug really is the statement element in the room and that was the one piece that started the design.  I was drawn to it because it has so many colors from other rooms in our home.  This space now truly feels cohesive with the rest of the house!  The coffee table is another piece that I love.  It’s there, but at the same time, totally disappears, allowing the rug to “speak” it’s beauty.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

Creating the art gallery wall was fun, but challenging.  This wall is almost 20′ of open canvas, so it definitely took some planning [read more about the planning + creating of the art wall] but the extra steps to get it right was worth the effort.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

One of the issues with the old space was the lack of lighting.  We have a decorative ceiling fixture in this space, but it’s somewhat harsh on the eyes.  Personally, I like soft light from table lamps and floor lamps.

I didn’t want to go matchy-matchy on the sides of the sofa, so instead I chose to use a table lamp between the chair & sofa that sits on a side table and an arched floor lamp (which provides a lot of soft light) to the right of the sofa.  Now when the lights are turned on in the evening, the 2 fixtures provide the perfect ambiance.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

It was very important to continue colors from other areas of the house into this new space.  Because our first floor is all open where each room flows from one to the next, bringing in elements to make it feel cohesive was the only way this room would work and feel like an extension of what’s been created elsewhere.

From this view, you can see how the china cabinet painted in a deep raspberry color is in the adjacent dining area.  It now all flows and feels like one.

Living Room Makeover with bold black + pops of color [emerald, raspberry, coral, and light blue] Design by Jenna Burger Design, www.jennaburger.com

And just so you know we are a real family who absolutely use this space.  Here’s my crazy clan of 3 in action…

From sunrise to sunset (and beyond) we are 100% enjoying this new living room space.  Even though there were a few ups and downs to creating this new haven in our home, we are overjoyed with how fresh it feels & how much it reflects our vibrant family!

I’m sure you are interested in knowing where I found all the awesome pieces for our new living room.  Next post will be details on all the sources.

DIY Hand Painted Wood Sign (using chalk transfer) #LOVEYOURHOMECHALLENGE

Hi there!  Today is a very exciting day.  Not only am I going to share an awesome, easy-peasy DIY project + tutorial, but I also have news about an incredible + talented person you might happen to know.

First to the latter… my sweet + uber-talented friend Melissa of The Inspired Room wrote a book which is being released today called Love the Home You Have (< affiliate link).

Love the Home You Have by Melissa Michaels

It is the first of many that she’s got lined up and it’s less about decorating and more about falling in love with your home & what you have now… today.  Some of the topics include: taking care of your home, finding beautiful in the simple things, finding balance between beauty and mess, using what you have to decorate, arranging furniture, decorating with things that mean something to you, finding contentment, and so much more.

If you recall back to last years Creating a Meaningful Home blog series: Year 2, Melissa started off the series with a bang and shared her poetic + inspirational words.  There is not a person more deserving to share thoughts of such meaning and beauty.

To kick off the launch of her first book, Melissa has put me to a challenge along with a bunch of other Blogger friends and has asked us to showcase a project using the 31-day LOVE YOUR HOME CHALLENGE section in the back of her book.  So fun!

31-Day Love Your Home Challenge from the new book Love the Home Your Have by Melissa Michaels of The Inspired Room

Similar to Melissa, I feel that our belongings should honor and reflect who we are, where we are from, and what we love.  A house is the shell, but it’s what we create in the shell that makes it a home.  For my home and the homes that I work on with clients, I always strive to create something that is a reflection of who resides there.

As I am slowly making progress on my living room makeover, I want to adorn the walls with not only prints that I love & have special meaning, but also DIY art that I create.  When this ‘challenge’ came up,  I knew it would be the perfect time + opportunity to share with you a recent creation…

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

The previous owners that resided in our home, had a pool table in the basement.  While making some changes to create a basement that works + functions for us, I came across a cue stick holder that was tucked away in a closet.  Aside from a few cobwebs in the corners & screws hanging out, it looked like something I could totally make into something else.  An upcycling project was calling my name!  I left it in it’s place, but never forgot about it.  DIY ideas flurried through my head over the months and then I had an ah-ha moment while creating the new room.  It would be perfect for a big ole’ sign & with the 3″ lip, when hung it would create a ‘ledge’… almost like a knick-knack / chachka shelf to display collectibles from trips… we always grab a little something from places we visit to remember our experience – something cute to continue ‘our story’.

I thought and thought about the perfect quote to create on the cue stick holder-turned-DIY art and then Good Morning SUNSHINE came to mind!

Every morning when the kids wake, I always say “Good Morning Sunshine” in this over-the-top, probably annoying-to-them voice.  But it’s just what I do and it’s become a ritual.  I just feel like it’s a great, cheery way to start the day.

how to make a HAND PAINTED SIGN USING CHALK

1. To start, I used a new Word doc and created the words to a size I desired (about 4.5″ high), then printed them (I used gray scale on a fast printing setting so I didn’t waste too much ink)

These are the fonts I used:

> GOOD – Pottery Barn font

> MORNING – Honey Script font

> SUNSHINE – Century Gothic font

Once printed the words, I cut around the edges…

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

2. Before placing the paper on the wood, I flipped it over to the back and rolled on the chalk from edge to edge so the letters on the other side would be covered. A colored chalk, like red, works best!

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

3. Then I positioned the paper on the wood and taped down the edges so it stayed in place.

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

3. Using a pen (I found it was better than a pencil because of the hard tip), I traced over the letters.

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

And voila, when you lift the paper, the outline of the letter (or design) can be seen…

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Here’s the overall design embossed on the wood…

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

After that, it was time to paint.

Because each word was a different font, I didn’t want to go crazy with different colors as well, but at the same time I didn’t want all one color, so I chose to create an ombre effect with the words starting with a very pale yellow for GOOD, then a light yellow hue for MORNING, followed by a vibrant yellow for SUNSHINE.

I used basic, inexpensive craft paint – wall paint or anything similar would also do just fine – along with a thin brush to be sure to stay within the lines (as much as possible).

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Perfectly in the lines wasn’t important…  Imperfect actually is perfect!

From start to finish, the overall project took about 2 hours to create.  This is who it looks done & hung on the wall…

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

Keepsakes from our travels sit on the ledge of this once cue stick holder, now hand painted sign.

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.comI love how it came out and it truly makes my day a bit sunnier, right SUNSHINE?!

Along with the cute wood sign on this wall, I also added a few of Melissa’s illustrated quotes from her new book + website, and hung them with colorful washi tape.

DIY tutorial: HAND PAINTED SIGN using CHALK to transfer design onto wood.   An easy + inexpensive technique to transfer letters or a custom design.  Easy-to-follow step by step by @Jenna_Burger, www.jennaburger.com

If you’re interested in seeing what other Bloggers created for the #LOVEYOURHOMEchallenge, here is everyone that is included and if you head over to visit Melissa there will be links to all the projects.

Love the Home Your Have - #LOVEYOURHOMECHALLENGEIf you’re interested in joining in on the fun too, Melissa would love to have you share your own Home Love challenges on her new community site Home Love Stories.  If you’d lik, use the hashtag #LoveYourHomeChallenge to follow along and/or share your story.

The new revamped living room is really coming together – finally – and I can’t wait to share the reveal with you very soon!

Planning + Creating an Art Wall

It’s been over a month and there’s been nothing but crickets on the progression of the living room makeover (2 months to be exact).

I guess you could say that I lost my momentum with many other things going on…  By this time last year, I had tackled a slew of diy projects + 2 room makeovers.  All while pregnant. This year, I shared details on the proposed living room space and then nothing – FOR 2 MONTHS. Whether it was nesting or not, this year my game is totally off.  It may be non-motivation with this wicked weather, but honestly I think it’s more distraction and lack of time.

February was an overly busy 28 days. Not only was I in full-swing with 2 client projects, but I was also working on styling + producing my first 2 stories for Do It Yourself magazine. The experience was awesome and I hope to do it again, but it wasn’t just physically exhausting, but emotionally challenging too.  I felt so much pressure, self-induced like always.  And I won’t even go into my lack of time with 3 kids, one of which is now a full-on crawler…  Hello time sucker.  Her pure cuteness is just utterly distracting.

Anyway, as we say by-bye to month 3 and head into April, I am getting my butt back on track and finally getting this living room back-in-business and finished.

So the new charcoal sofa I ordered was delivered last week {squeal} and against the lighter gray/blue toned wall, it’s a striking contrast.  With the slanted ceiling which is 8′ at one side, and rises to 12′ on the other side, the wall behind the sofa is vast.  And vast begs for drama!  A few pretty pictures won’t do…

I was truly challenged with this blank wall!  There were so many ideas racing through my head – go symmetrical?  how about a family photo collage (but we have SO MANY photos already around the house)?  one large print?  multiple random prints?  DIY something – a map. maybe?

So many ideas, but what would look best + be meaningful + give the drama this space needed?

After much thought & planning, this is my plan of action

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

For my new art wall, I chose to turn to Minted, an online art shop filled with creations by independent artists.  To put it best… “Minted uses technology to allow consumers to discover great creative talent, making Minted a place where artists can learn, gain exposure, and build their businesses.”

Custom art is unattainable for many because of budget + resources, so Minted connects artists with those looking to fill their walls with beautiful, meaningful custom creations.  A nice bonus is that many of the prints are limited edition art so they only run a certain amount of prints – so you & your neighbor won’t have the same decor on the walls.

This is what the sea of wall currently looks like…

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

After going through the Minted site over and over and over (no joke, it took me days) finding what prints I loved most (goodness it was difficult), I then figured out what sizes would work best & in what configuration.  After some time, I created this mockup…

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

I also used my AutoCAD program to get the sizing + proportions just right.  This is the drawing I created…

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your homeIt was time to make these ideas a reality… 

Using brown kraft paper, which I had left over from Christmas wrapping, I cut out the sizes of the proposed prints. Wrapping paper or newspaper could also work – no need to buy anything, use what you have on hand.

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

Then I arranged the kraft paper on the wall (yes, a few looked a bit wonky) as I worked it out on the mock up…

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

Once I put the standing floor lamp in place, I realized the shade would really block the large print, so I decided to reverse the design…

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

Yes, better!

I didn’t actually remove the paper from the wall, but when the prints arrive and I am ready to hang them, I know I will make some tweaks including reversing the design, adding a bit more breathing room between the prints, and hanging them slightly higher on the wall above the sofa.

To be honest, I have never did a mockup like this before, but if I hadn’t gone through the exercise of doing it, I don’t think I would have nailed it (hehe, no pun intended) the first time.  Mistakes would have been made, which results in more time spent!  By creating the mock-up placement of the prints, I can see how the art collage will layout best & hopefully save on time and wall repair.

Once the artwork arrives and I hang it, here is how I envision the wall to look… we shall see.

ideas & tips for Planning + Creating an Art Wall in your home

Interested in these prints?  Here’s the info…
Down Under the Brooklyn Bridge
Snow Dancer
Blaze
Calculation
Gesture
Let’s Get Lost
NYC Map (gold foil)
Bits

My tips for creating an art wall you will love.

> Start with one large piece to be the ‘anchor’ for the art gallery wall

> Bring in other art in varying sizes & orientation – not all one size, not all horizontal or vertical!

> Keep at least 3″ between art for breathing room

> Create a continuity/common thread with the art, but mix it up by using 2 or 3 different frames

> Balance the art on the wall – don’t visually hang all ‘heavy’ art on one side & smaller on the other.

> Have fun. Display the unexpected.  Showcase what is most meaningful to you.  Let your art tell a story!

Other posts on creating a gallery wall that may be helpful:

> Gallery Wall Ideas to Transform Any Room
> Useful Ideas and Layouts to Create a Photo Gallery Wall
> Creating a Photo Wall Display

Recap…

IDEAS + TIPS for Planning & Creating an Art Wall in your home.more on the living room makeover coming soon… I promise!

Disclosure: Upon reaching out to Minted, I am thankful that they chose to work with me since I love their limited edition print selection so much.  I have been provided with product, but as always I was not told what to write and I only feature companies on my blog that I truly love and believe in 100%.

Living Room Makeover: Black + Bold + Budget

Happy Wednesday my friends!

I am so excited to share that another room makeover is on the horizon.

This time last year, the focus was on the 2nd floor spaces (master, kids rooms – boy & girl, bathroom), but now it’s time to head back down to the first floor to give the living room a freshening up.  You might be thinking that we are always changing/updating the rooms in our home, but actually the living space, where we hang out as a family, hasn’t been touched since the day we moved in.  And no it’s not the blue room as I was asked by a friend the other day when chatting about my plan of action, but instead the orange room (the tall space with the orange accent wall & taupe fireplace).

Here is what it looks like now…

Living Room before

This room, our family’s everyday hang out spot, is a large + open + bright space. There is a big window on one side, a focal point fireplace centered on the far end of the space, and a large opening opposite of it that connects to the remainder of the first floor spaces (check out how the kitchen, dining, and living spaces are one large open flow in this picture that I shared at Christmas).

The burnt orange wall has been the backdrop of many mantel creations & Christmas displays, but as I’ve been transitioning our home to more cooler colors (check out all the paint colors of our home) over the years, the warmer hues in this room are feeling dated & non-cohesive.  Additionally I’ve had ideas flowing for a long time on how this room would function better with different furniture.  All of the elements in this room came with us from our previously house.  As much as we love this sofa, it was a great fit for the room it was purchased for, but never fit right in this space.  Having a hard time letting go (yes there is sentimental attachment to many of the pieces we own), we knew it was time to be passed on and one day the perfect opportunity fell into our laps…

Earlier this month, a dear friend of mine  was moving into an apartment and was in need of everything. lightbulb moment I have lots of furniture!  Longstory short, we sold a bunch of our furniture to her including the sofa, rug, and large TV cabinet from this room.  Boy, did it feel liberating.  We were holding on to material things, but living in a space that we weren’t 100% loving + wasn’t functioning the best way possible.  So…  Once the furniture was out, the plan started coming together!

Of course, the new design couldn’t begin without a mood board…

Proposed living room mood board: black + bold + budget for this new space.

And this is the proposed floor plan…

Proposed floor plan

The sofa will be on the opposite wall that it is now and the TV which will no longer be in an oversized cabinet will sit on a new media stand under the window.  This new layout is a lot more open making the fireplace the focal point of the space.

Onto the new paint colors on the walls…

If you checked out the title of this post, you may be wondering about the word BLACK.

As much as the new living space is going to be light  + bright, it’s also going to be dramatic and black is the answer!  The orange focal wall is going to be covered in deep, dark, bold black.

On the sides of the fireplace will be two new white bookcases which will contrast the deep black hue, similar to the inspirational picture above, and the mantel (which was taupe) will go white as well.   The transformation is already underway which I shared on Instagram over the weekend.  Here’s a peek…

Painting the wall black - the start of the transformation

Painting the wall black - the start of the transformation

The black paint color is Valspar Black Heron V120-3 in a flat sheen.  It’s not jet black, but more of a chalkboard, deep charcoal black.

Valspar Black Heron V120-3 in a flat sheen

The taupe colored mantel is covered up with the new color of Valspar New Ream V148 in a semi-gloss finish.  I first used a Kilz stain-blocking primer, then 3 coats of the new hue for full coverage.

Valspar New Ream V148 in a semi-gloss finish for the fireplace

The other 3 walls in the living room that were previously painted beige are going much lighter.  I chose the color Valspar Silver Thistle Down V120-1 in a satin finish, which will be a beautiful contrast to the dark fireplace wall.  Here is the color palette…

Proposed living room color palette

Of course, if you know me & my design aesthetic, I would never have only neutral colors like black, gray, and white.  There will absolutely be color, layers, and a whole lotta bold in this new living room space.  My design approach is to choose basic + neutral elements that are expensive & you don’t want to change in a short time, THEN add the color + texture + bold with layers – pillows, pictures, tables, lamps, etc.

These are a few more elements for the new space…

Layers + Accessories for the proposed Living Room makeover

+ I will be incorporating an amazing new rug that I just snagged at 75% off from Rugs USA.  Even though there is carpet already in the space, a rug will ground the furniture and the layout.  I chose this Ikat patterned rug with colors of deep + light gray, turquoise, red, and pink.  It  is going to tie in beautifully with the china cabinet that sits in the adjacent space.

New Rug

The other aspect of this makeover is the budget.

It’s slim, but I want to make smart purchases especially with the key elements like the sofa and chair that will get used and abused daily by our family of 5.  We are planning to purchase the sofa + side chair from a local furniture store and even though they’re a little more expensive than others we’ve seen online, the comfort + durability are important to us.  These 2 items are the big splurges of the makeover.  As for the other items, like the side table, lamps, accessories, etc I will be using my designer-on-a-budget cap to either find deals or high-end look for less items.  And of course, there is no room makeover – in our homestead – that isn’t complete without a few DIY projects!

So that’s the plan of action  + direction for this new makeover that is just underway.  We shall see where it goes from here… I hope you will follow along & as always, be inspired!