Living Room Progress

When it comes to design my mantra is…..”it’s a marathon, not a race.”  If you’ve been around Our Fifth House for any length of time then you probably already know this.  I’m pretty sure I’m the slowest diy design blogger in the blogiverse.  I prefer a collected look and the truth is, you just can’t manufacture that kind of look in a weekend.  Rooms with a collected feel need time to evolve.   When I try to force spaces to take shape I end up dissatisfied with the result.  So as hard as it is sometimes to just sit tight and wait to find those just right pieces at those just right prices…..or to give my brain some time to really think about what I want a room to look/feel like….. taking my time and enjoying the design process rather than rushing to “finish decorating” a room is what ends up yielding rooms that are loved for much longer than a season or two.  Today I’m sharing a little more of the progress and the design process of our living room.

We moved in late last July, just a couple days before August.  Here’s what she looked like on move-in day……..a nice clean slate.

living room before move-in day

Great bones with good natural light is a great place to start in any room.  We brought our favorite pieces of furniture with us from the last house.  This included our distressed leather sofa, brass trunk and my favorite curvaceous reading chair.  Though even with the leather couch and chair I felt like we needed more seating in this large space, so I hit up a sale and snagged a blue velvet sofa (read my review of it here).  Here’s how she was looking a few months after move-in day.  Yes, months.

living room before

Once I had the main seating players and layout in place it was time to address a few of the key design elements.  A neutral, beige wall color isn’t bad at all, but I wanted something a little lighter with less brown undertones.  The room felt a little too brown – brown sofa, brown wood floors…..you get what I’m saying; so I chose a soft, light, almost white, grey color – Shoji White by Sherwin Williams – for the walls.

living room design process

I also decided to anchor the room with a little more drama by painting the bookcases a dark charcoal grey, Urbane Bronze (also Sherwin Williams), and for texture I lined the back of the bookcases with grasscloth wallpaper (the same paper I used in our entry foyer).  Bear in mind that our bookcases looked like this for months…..just books piled up haphazardly as they were unpacked.  I knew from the start that I would want to either paint the bookcases or paint the backs of the bookcases, so I didn’t see the point in styling them before painting.  This hot mess was definitely good motivation to get moving on this project.

living room bookcases before

painted bookcases urbane bronze and grasscloth

Once the walls and bookcases were painted I hung curtain panels which really added a great deal of wow factor to the room.  They made the room feel cozier, and they injected some much-needed texture and pattern to the space.

living room curtain panels

In addition to curtain panels I also snagged a great deal on a larger natural fiber rug at HomeGoods.  The rug I brought with me from the last house was a little too small for this living room, so when I happened to find a larger one at a great price I jumped at the chance to bring it home.  Then as luck would have it I stumbled upon on gorgeous vintage rug for $50 at a local consignment shop!  I love the look of layered rugs and knew this deep red would add a nice dose of color to this mostly neutral space.  This same consignment shop is where I found this lucite base glass top side table for ………$75!  I literally hit the jackpot that day!

living room curtain panels

Then just before Christmas I finally hung some art on the wall behind the leather sofa, creating a gallery wall and giving White Beauty a home in our new house.  Clearly, she felt very special and festive.

living room gallery wall

You might also notice that I decided to move the brass trunk to the side of the sofa using it as an end table rather than a coffee table.  The small rectangular shape as a coffee table just wasn’t really working in the space, but using it as an end table is perfect.

During the holidays I hit the pause button.  And even after the new year it took me a little while to regroup as I’ve been working on other spaces. But recently I’ve made a couple of quick changes in our living room that I’m loving.  One is that I’ve painted the back door the same dark charcoal grey as the bookcases (and as the interior of our front door).  I really love the look of dark doors, and with kids and dogs the camouflage effect a dark door provides for dirt, smudges and fingerprints is kind of hard to beat.

blue velvet sofa

I love simple changes that bring major visual bang for the buck!

living room black door

living room black door

I also recently found the perfect reading floor lamp for the other side of the couch.

living room floor lamp

living room floor lamp bookcase

living room progress

And the most recent change that I am head-over-heels in love with is this new Haiku Home ceiling fan!

living room design progress

Ceiling fixtures are such key design elements in a room.  While they can be costly, they are the simplest elements to change, and they instantly make a huge visual impact on a space.   I wasn’t crazy about the fan that came with the house.  It was a bit too traditional for my taste.  In addition to that it was also really small for this large of a space.  Here in Charleston summers are hot and humid, and we realized very quickly last summer that the fan that was in this space was not getting the job done.  Even when we had it on full speed it hardly made any difference at all.  This new Haiku ceiling fan fits so much better with the overall style I’m going for in our living room.  I love the sleek, modern yet simple look, and I really love this large size.  It’s 84 inches of awesomeness!

living room progress haiku fan

It not only visually fits the room better giving the whole space a more modern look, but it also functions one million times better as well.  We knew a Haiku fan would be a smarter choice for our living room here in the new house because we had one installed on our screen porch at our old house and absolutely loved it!  (In fact we loved that fan so much we negotiated with the buyers to bring it with us and it’s being installed on our screen porch here after I paint the porch ceiling! ) Haiku ceiling fans are hands down the best ceiling fans on the market.  They are price-y but well worth every penny; and they travel well, so if you move, pack your fan like we did!  Apart from the fact that in the world of ceiling fans they blow the competition away on looks alone, they also lead in technology.

living room new haiku fan

Guys, I’m not even kidding, but I think our new fan might be smarter than my standard schnauzer.  And for those of you who aren’t familiar with schnauzers that’s saying something.  This Haiku H Series fan not only has 10 settings, 7 speeds, a timer and a remote; but it also by some kind of crazy magic knows the temperature in the room and comes on automatically.  Plus it’s quiet as a mouse.  I asked my husband to explain this fan’s technology to me and my eyes glazed over, but y’all I’m telling you this fan is so awesome I literally feel like Jane Jetson!  Now if someone could make me a Rosie, life would be pretty darn near perfect.  😉   (You do remember the Jetsons right?)

So now with this new Haiku fan I’m ready to meet this upcoming Charleston summer head on…..bring on the heat and humidity!  This fan is like the cherry on top of our living room design.  Now all I need is for the coffee table I ordered to arrive……..but it’s on back order.  Womp, womp.

living room progress

Other plans for this room, that probably won’t happen any time soon but have me super excited, include adding beams to the pitched ceiling.

Design takes time and patience, but the joy is in the process.  Sometimes inspiration strikes quickly like when I found this pillow and immediately knew this was the color palette I wanted to use in this space.

living room color inspiration - pottery barn ikat pillow

And sometimes it takes months and months just to figure out what paint color to go with for your walls and/or bookcases.

living room bookcases urbane bronze and grasscloth

The point is to have fun with the process and enjoy the progress as it comes together.

living room bookcases

Slow but steady…….just like a marathon.

Good news for all of you……..tomorrow there is going to be a Big, Huge, Ginormously Awesome Giveaway right here on the blog!  Y’all, I’m so excited about this one I’m literally about to burst!  So be sure to come back tomorrow bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for your chance to win BIG!

*Thanks so much to Haiku Home, a division of Big Ass Solutions, for sponsoring this post.  I may not be a Lexington local any longer, but I will always support Lexington…..and will always cheer for the CATS!   I only ever partner with companies I love and believe in, and Haiku Home is one of them.

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  • This looks beautiful, Carmel! Hopefully you will show a pic when your coffee table arrives. I’m curious to see what you have chosen for this space! I love your comments about enjoying our decorating projects and not rushing to complete…..I have a tendency to want to get to the finish line and need to take time and enjoy the process! Love your blog! 🙂

  • Your room looks beautiful! I love all the color and the layering of the rugs! And by the way, it takes me forever to finish a room as well! I thought about joining in on the One Room Challenge this week but I did it once before and remember how stressed I was forcing myself to make decisions! Hey – we do what works best for us. Anyway, love the room!
    Shelley

  • Love it! I also moved last July and am taking my sweet time decorating our forever home. I completely agree on taking your time to make a room something you truly love.

  • If I ever did that challenge it would have to be a small room – like a laundry room or powder bathroom. NO way I could do anything else in just 6 weeks without pulling all my hair out! Ha!

  • I love the way your living room looks! I like the use of color while it still seems neutral. I’m a neutral lover but have been wanting to add in more color to our house and this is a great inspiration!

  • Thanks Kristen! This house has a really open floor plan so using a neutral base keeps the flow between rooms and allows me to play with doses of color in each space.

  • Thanks Joyce! I love that armchair too! It’s from Arhaus and it’s one of my favorite furniture purchases ever!

  • If you are the slowest DIY design blogger in the blogiverse I don’t know WHAT that makes me! 😉 The room is looking gorgeous, I love all your layers and it definitely has your rich, saturated, beautiful signature look.

  • It all ties in so well. Beautiful. There is a wooden vase on your mantel (seen best in last shot) that adds such a nice texture. Is it a Target find?
    Thanks.

  • Carmel, your new home is evolving beautifully. I love how you incorporate color into your home. The living room looks so comfortable and inviting just as your enty way pleasantly welcomes you home. Thank you for your inspiration and sharing your lovely home.

  • What is the the large rug you have layered underneath? I am looking for something to go under a cowhide.

    And how do you care for your natural fiber rugs with dogs?

  • I love the geometric throw paired with the colorful pillow. Do you have a source?

    I love your use of deep, rich colors in our neutral world!

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