My living room looks over the span of almost 20 years. Style isn't innate. It's cultivated over a lifetime. Like a bonsai or a bunion.
The reason rooms designed by professional interior designers or decorators look so good is what they do is really, REALLY hard. And it takes years of practice.
I seriously feel the need to hail the professional designers and decorators of the world. They are not given the credit they deserve, especially nowadays. With the invention of Pinterest and Instagram people think that decorating is easy because EVERYONE is doing it, but it isn't. I repeat. Great design isn't easy, it's HARD. Decorating a room that's so perfect you want to just stare at it? That's as difficult as painting a picture you want to do the same thing with.
And in terms of skill level, most of us (yep, even lifestyle bloggers) are at the paint-by-number level compared to professional designers who are whipping out masterpieces.
Decorator: def: a person who decorates home interiors by choosing colours, carpets, materials, and furnishings. Schooling required to call yourself a decorator? No.
Designer: def: a person who designs home interiors (including structural elements) by choosing colours, carpets, materials and furnishings. Schooling required to call yourself a designer? Yes.
It's only in the past year that I've got my dining room and foyer to the point that I really like them. I'm sure I'll change things at some point. Maybe new chairs in the dining room or redoing all the bookshelves in a different way but for now I smile every time I walk through it as opposed to having a 5 second long anxiety attack when I make my way through it from the hall to the kitchen.
The foyer? Same thing. I like it. It works. It could use some more layering (a trick that actual designers and decorators are particularly skilled in). It took a long time, a lot of trial and error, but other than having to recover the two chairs in it, I'm really happy with it and love looking out into it from my living room every night. One place you'll never find me is in the foyer looking fondly into the living room. For the 20 years or so I've lived in this house I've never been happy with the living room.
I kind of hate it.
Let's take a moment now to take a look at what I've done with my living room in the past. From the beginning shall we?
Living Room Looks
2001: I think the word we're all looking for is YIKES. K. I didn't really have my style down at this point in time, lol. Nor did I have any money. Every cent I had went into the custom tight back red velvet couch with a single down cushion. Everything else in the room was flea market, garbage or family cast offs. I actually really like the lamps and wish I'd kept them. The vibe I was apparently going for was "My house is old, I like old stuff, I don't like shopping at Sears."
I wish I could say I was channelling my inner Bunny Mellon but I didn't know who she was at the time. Plus I don't think this room would be Bunny Mellon approved.
Special shout out to the Fred Flintstone television to the right of the fireplace which I kept for a lot longer than I probably should have.
This is actually a shot from a newspaper feature. Once a week the Toronto Star (I think it was the Star) would feature the home of a celebrity and this week I was the celebrity. This was pre-blogging, during my television career.
What I like about this room? Well it certainly had personality.
What I don't like about this room? It had a personality disorder.
2009 I finally stopped trying to make all of my old crap work and bought actual furniture from furniture stores. In fact if you haven't read about it, in 2009, I got rid of pretty much EVERYTHING I owned and started from scratch. The redo of my house started with buying the couch which was a floor sample. Looking back at the room now it isn't bad but it's a long way off from the look I've evolved to now. It's pretty bland and I was SO excited about having new, contemporary stuff instead of found in the garbage old stuff that I went a bit overboard with it. The coffee table, the sofa table, the lamps on the sofa table, the Ikea gooseneck light ... all sleek and modern. It's not a terrible room - it just isn't there yet.
What I like about this room? Having a rug in it.
What I don't like about this room? The rug could use more personality and should either be bigger or smaller.
2015: Enter the gallery wall. Looking back on it, I'm realizing this is my favourite incarnation of this room. From this angle anyway. Gallery walls were having a real moment 5 years ago or so. Because there was so much going on with the walls, I pared back the tops of tables so it didn't quite make your head spin when you walked into the room.
Looking at it now I can also see that I like the low contrast of the whites and taupes but with some really impactful colour on the walls. And black because every room needs some black. And a rug. I desperately need a rug in my living room again. I had to get rid of this Costco shag rug that I bet about half of you owned at one point. It was just a smashed disaster after being down for a few years.
Also it was my only option at the time in terms of size, but I can't say I'm in love with the wicker laundry basket with a piece of glass on top acting as an end table but I like the texture it brings to the room.
From the other end of the room looking towards the fireplace it was a bit hectic with the gallery wall and the bookshelves, but that could be solved by minimalizing (is that a word?) the bookshelves. Or even getting rid of them entirely and putting chests, tables or just large pieces of art there.
What I like about this room? How the gallery wall makes the room feel bigger and the ceiling higher. I also like that it feels cozy. It's sophisticated and kind of worldly without feeling stuffy or formal. A good mix of casual and comfortable without resorting to a pair of puffy La-Z-Boy chairs with a built in cooler in the arm. Which we can all admit we'd secretly love to have. It's O.K. You can admit it. This is a safe space.
What I don't like about this room? The curtains but I dealt with that issue when I built my interior wood shutters last year.
2019: This is my living room as of last week. There's no rug. I need a rug. Also getting rid of curtains, no matter how awful they were took some much needed texture and softness out of the room. I need to remedy that. The couch is pushed back much further than it was in the "gallery wall" picture because I got rid of the sofa table behind it. It's not bad and still feels much better than how it started out 10 years ago. There's art but it's not a gallery wall which feels calmer. Also I hate that coffee table. I LOVE it as an end table but hate it as a coffee table for some reason. The room is nice but it's missing texture and layering. It doesn't feel like it's wrapping you in its arms and that's the feeling I want.
What I like about this room? The floors are beautiful. Yay to ripping out and refinishing my orange floors! I like that there are a lot of things that I love in the room like my old riding boots, my barn beam bench and a huge vintage antler.
What I don't like about this room? It only feels halfway done and the whole thing just doesn't feel right. Not like my dining room and foyer and kitchen. I don't have it figured out yet. I'm not sure when I'll have it figured out but I do know the "inspiration" folder on my laptop is soon going to explode.
Seriously. I'm cultivating my taste like a madwoman over here. And my bunion.
→Follow me on Instagram where I often make a fool of myself←
Stephanie
A while ago you were toying with painting your fireplace black - what about painting not only it black, but the back walls of your built-ins and the shutters - that would add some life to the walls without adding curtains back in. Your walls also need more of that art brought back in, and a rug, definitely the mentioned rug. For the rug, I am about to say the name Ikea, but they brought in a couple years ago the redone and re-dyed deep teal-ish coloured Indian rugs - I saw them featured on a show and still think about them - that would add a gorgeous pop of colour to the room, and if you brought back one or two of the rugs you picked up for the front hall room, they'd tie into that as well. Speaking of the back wall of the built-ins, what about keeping the bottom storage portions and removing the shelves and adding sconces or art in there (with the black paint of course).
terri
The floors are so lovely I would hate to see them covered with a big rug. The room needs more black to balance the warmth of your room. Maybe an industrial style wooden coffee table with black iron hardware to replace the glass/chrome coffee table?
Barbara Simmons
I Love the barn beam bench... any DIYs for that? I have lots of barn beams, but I am in dire need of a bench by the front door!
Karen
Well it's literally just a barn beam cut to length and screwed together (pocket holes) with bolts. :) That's it. Nothing fancy. ~ karen!
Lynn
You may want to play with a strong wall color to get that “wrapped in its arms” feeling.
I wanted my living room to feel like a warm hug, so I went for a shade of teal with bright white trim and curtains. With the avocado green accent wall in the dining room there’s a deliberate peacock effect, which actually looks nice. The proper shade of teal ended up being bluer than I had wanted due to needing to complement the green, but it’s still a cozy, warm effect.
A tapestry of some sort may help with the softness lost with the curtains. A vintage quilt, old blanket, store-bought throw with a chicken on it - the possibilities are endless!
Thank you for inspiring me! I can’t wait to get to work this morning, which is rehabbing my first little condo for sale.
Enjoy your day!
Madiline Bauer
Great floors, worth the work. I think maybe taking out the shelving on either side of the fireplace and adding windows with window seats. It will open up the room and make it feel bigger, add seating and light.
Karen
Windows? That'll make going to be bathroom in the room on the other side of the fireplace quite an event for everyone in the living room. ;) ~ karen!
Kristi
Ok chickadee-time to Do or Die! It’s been 20 years of anxiety looking into this room. You have spent twenty years of your life fighting this room. TWENTY YEARS. 20. That’s one more than the year we are in. That’s an entire generation!
Decide what purpose your room will have.
HIRE a damn designer or decorator or whatever it is, tell him/her what feel you’re going for, and let them do it!!! Turn a few tricks to afford it, if you must. If you decide you still hate it, it’s time to board up the room and plaster over it. Then your new obsession will be decorating over the new wall space where the doorways used to be...
Or add a dog?
Marna
"Like a bonsai or a bunion." LOL! I always enjoy whatever you do! Loving the looks over the years! I just bought a new coffee table, hope it works, waiting for it to be delivered. It's nice to change things, even little things now and then. Thanks as always for sharing! :)
Kim
Yes. I see what you mean about the room not “loving you”. Maybe try this:
Every time you go into the room say:
“I love you living room.”
And the same thing every time you leave. And then eventually you will.
This is my professional opinion. People pay me to boss them. 😏
Actually I did have a townhouse once that I hated entirely and ended up being sad to leave after simply deciding to love it.
Or you could try the two cups method and try switching timelines. 💁♀️ So many esoteric choices.
❤️
Mary
I agree with the other posts, you will get it worked out, Karen, and it will be beautiful. An idea to replace the coffee table: They're probably out of date, but I've always liked those big round ottomans for adding softness to a room. When you finish decorating/designing your house, I'd love your help with mine.
Karen
I also like ottomans as coffee tables! But in this room I think I'm already going to have a lot of fabric so I think I'll probaby need that element of wood or marble or whatever in the room to offset all the fabric. If I keep the Eames chair (which is leather and wood) I would be able to consider an ottoman. :) ~ karen!
Meg
Trends and taste change over time and designs are mutable. Basically means everything is changing all the time. Coming up with something you really will love for a while? Very hard.
As a professional artist, the 'good design is hard' was nice to read. Usually I'm hearing quite the contrary. Things that work really well usually only *look* effortless. Being able to identify and articulate what's going on currently with something - and how to fix it - is difficult and takes practice. What you're paying for when you buy those services is the experience. You want to know how to fix something fast? It didn't take that designer a week to do it. It took years and years of school and practice to get to that point. (The same thing with engineering etc too, but "art" is one of those things that gets shuffled into the "well anyone can do THAT" category more often.)
Seeing how your rooms have changed over time is really neat and the lists of what's working - and what's not - is awesome. Your posts over the years (and photos of the same spaces with different treatments) have helped hone my sense of design, too, as my experience is mostly in film and I never get to do interior decorating!
I love that you keep sharing what you're thinking, what you're attempting, and even what you *can't* do and *haven't* figured out yet. Keep being amazing!
Karen
Thanks Meg! I'll figure it out. ~ karen!
Elaine
I really like the 2015 photo, Karen, but with your 2019 shutters. I love shutters! The only thing I would have changed would be: remove a few pieces of art from the area closest to the bookshelves (on the left of the fireplace) so a bit of bare wall gives the eye a chance to “rest” before enjoying the interesting displays on the bookshelves. You have a good eye and do such a fabulous job; I know I’ll love your finished living room. I don’t think decorating is ever done, however, and that’s what I love about it!
jo foster
Karen. Fòr some reason I can't see the comment posts? And I should by now I would thi k?
Dana Studer
IKEA has fabulous shag rugs. I got one a couple weeks ago for $50 in the as-is dept.
I know how living rooms can change. We got rid of the dark brown chenille sofa and loveseat & and got the white slipcovered sectional and chair from IKEA about a year ago.
Karen
Nope. No more shag rugs for me. They're cozy but they get squished and ucky looking plus there's too many spots for centipedes to hide, lol!! ~ karen
Jacquie Gariano
We did wood floors a couple of years ago in the LR, DR, & FR and are really happy with them. We did put back the oriental rug in the DR that has been there for years and are very happy with the look. Warm, colorful and finishes off the look. There is also a med size area rug in the FR that helps define the area.
Jo
What is the big white thing above the antlers on the wall? Please and thanks
BUnguin
Rabbit in a snowstorm?
Noreen McKechnie
I was wondering the same thing. It’s cold, hard and massive (telling what I really think) you can laugh at me but I just did a gallery wall of a sort in my newly refurnished dining room.
Jan in Waterdown
I've asked that question in the past and received no response, so without any evidence whatsoever, I've lept to the only reasonable conclusion available that there's something awful or illegal hidden there. A secret Elvis on black velvet? Or maybe dogs playing poker?
Jaimee
WHAT, I missed gallery walls? I aspire to gallery walls, that some day I will have them throughout my house (or at least one room). I guess that's why I still like 2015 best. Oh, and the red couch, I liked that too. I guess it's just as well I can't afford a designer. Agree you need curtains. And that pom pom throw? FABULOUS.
Karen
I don't think I'll do curtains, but I'll figure something out for warmth. Maybe I'll hang the pom pom throw on the wall, lol. ~ karen!
Anakit
I think you know this, but you won't be happy till you have a new sofa. And an oriental rug. I miss the gallery wall, but the pom-pom throw is the shit!
Karen
Oh yes! The sofa is going. Most everything is. But not until I know what I'm doing. :) ~ karen!
Laura
omg you should see the images of my living room over the years. I really liked it each time which is crazy!! I can’t wait to see what you finally figure out. You are great at figuring out spaces- in addition to the foyer, dining room & kitchen there is the coop and the backyard!
Sabrina Campbell
I'm useless when it comes to this kind of thing. But my fave look for your living room is the 2009 version. Love the sofa and the natural trunk side table/stool. I saved a hunk of wood like that to make a table like yours, but that hasn't happened!
sheryl powell
You're right. No arm wrapping. It feels a bit cold. But let me tell you. That cabinet in the kitchen and the accessories on/under it is the most fabulous thing I think I've ever seen. Keep at it and you'll get there with the living room.
Karen
Oh I know I'll eventually get there. Maybe. I think. I have no idea. LOL! ~ karen
Maggie VanSickle
Loved the chair by fireplace 2001
Jackie Dooley
Yes, get rid of the coffee table, add a rug. Maybe a hump top trunk for storage, where the coffee table is. Or maybe a long footstool with storage, and a wicker tray for magazines...