This is a post for my people. It’s for those who have been around for a while and have seen the overall transformation of my home through decluttering.
It’s not a post about how to decorate a living room.
I’m not a decorator.
I’m actually a little scared of decorating. Hence, the waffling for more than a decade about whether I should paint.
I say all that in hopes that you’ll be kind. I’m so incredibly pleased with my newly decorated living room, and was a little in shock when I asked my blog assistant to dig up a photo of how it used to look.
I liked it. But I love it now:
Mostly, the brightness.
And the fact that I can have a blue rug. I always (always always) gravitate toward blue, so I’m beyond thrilled that it happens to be an “in” color for decorating right now while I’m actually decorating.
Not that I recommend waiting a decade to decorate until your favorite color comes back into style.
I’m going to share a little tour around the room, but a few things first.
I had help. My friend had recently painted her fireplace and I loved how it looked. After I had the walls painted last summer, I wasn’t happy with how my fireplace brick looked with the new wall color.
She was happy to help me paint my fireplace, and then I also asked for some decorating help. She called on another friend who LOVES helping people decorate, and together they made the real changes.
They love decorating. I don’t. They’re confident about making changes. I’m not.
Their advice and excitement made me feel so much better about making changes.
I did have to be pretty adamant about there being such a thing as a Clutter Threshold and that mine is low, and I had to explain that while I absolutely love my friend’s decorating style, I can’t have the kinds of displays she has because mine would morph into clutter.
Rearranging makes a huge difference. I couldn’t believe the difference they made, just on the first visit, simply by rearranging the furniture.
Also, rearranging what I already had on my shelves. I had my books (including the Polish and Chinese translated versions), on my shelf, but they made them look so pretty just by stacking them and putting a little blue glass vase (that I already had) on top.
They told me to caulk the cracks. I will someday.
How Have I Done With Keeping It Up?
Honestly, we’re at week four, and I feel like the purposeful placement of each little thing that comes with actually decorating has made maintaining the room easier.
I’m scared to say that, but so far I seem to more easily notice when things are out of place. I also have a defined goal of how the room is supposed to look when we pick up. That seems easier (and more satisfying) than just “picking up.”
Here’s what it looked like this morning:
Here it is less than 20 minutes later:
That 20 minutes likely would have taken 5 on a normal day. I’m two weeks post-hysterectomy and I was moving slowly after a weekend of quite a bit of pain from overdoing things the minute I started to feel a little better last Friday.
Also, my family taking care of laundry while I couldn’t means we temporarily have a Clean Clothes Chair again. They haven’t yet embraced the magic that happens when you fold clothes as you take them out of the dryer and put them away immediately. I choose to be grateful.
A few other spots:
My friend’s friend went shopping. I told her my dream was to have something globe-or-map focused for the wall. I couldn’t believe she found the absolute perfect thing.
I love that I can hide my dog-water-hauling device behind the curtain.
After they insisted on a basket for our remotes, I partially got over my basketphobia and started using one for my dog’s toys. So many times, I’ve taken an after photo of my living room with a dog toy out in the middle of the floor. Now that they have a HOME, my brain realizes I’m not actually done if there’s a green squeaky bone in the middle of my living room.
I also like how it’s hidden from being seen easily from most of the room. I may paint it if I get really brave.
Other spots that make me happy:
Sorry about the rogue microphone.
The friend-of-a-friend who helped decorate makes the book thingies. I don’t watch This is Us, so she’s going to make one with three books that says “No Place Like Home.”
Also, I’ve had that scruffed up piece of furniture for years, covered with something. They uncovered it and declared it worthy of being seen.
A decorating blogger would cover the plugs. I’m not one, so whatever. But I did have to share this spot. I have had these nesting tables for at least seven years, and I never knew this is how they were supposed to be displayed. Now, every time I see them, I feel happy.
A few final thoughts:
I’m not sure how I feel about the greenery. Some of it I love and some of it I don’t. Mostly, my Garden Clubbin’ Mama has turned me against the s-word (silk is the s word), and even though these aren’t made of silk, and even though I can’t possibly keep real plants alive, I feel weird about it all. I’m keeping them now, but we’ll see.
I’m pretty sure at least one of the chair legs is supposed to be on the rug, and maybe the rug could be straightened, but those things are outside of my reality right now as I’m restricted to not lifting anything heavier than a gallon of milk.
My mom loves the painted fireplace. I was worried. She was worried. But she’s so happy that it still looks like brick, just a different color of brick. Phew. Not that it really mattered since I just did it without telling her, but it’s nice that she approves.
I recorded a podcast about this process and about my fears of decorating. You can listen to it here.
The lady who helped me decorate has an instagram account called Decorating Dirt Cheap. You can follow her here. She shares all sorts of bargains she finds at places like Marshall’s and Ross and more. She paid 3 and 4 dollars each for the throw pillows and lamps. She also makes cool stuff to sell like the book stack.
I love to decorate and I love this transformation!!
Where did you get the rug?? I’m in desperate need of a rug! You’re transformation is awesome!
I am thrilled for you!!! I love it! ( and also terrified to make huge changes)
It is beautiful.
I would love to know more about how you transformed the fireplace, instead of just painting it white.
Yes, me too. It looks fantastic!
Wow! I love it. Thanks for the before & after pictures.
Your “old” living room was perfectly serviceable and welcoming. But I was surprised how dated it looked next to the new one, which is totally fresh, bright and airy. I love the fireplace, and the clock above it. What a great redecorating project, without going over the top. Hope you can all enjoy it for years to come.
Oh, my goodness. The transformation is miraculous. I had to look back and forth to see that the trim work on the wood walls was there before you painted. It is shown off so well now. I usually don’t like painted brick but this looks so modern and fresh. (I can’t wait to get home and check to see if I have the exact same fireplace screen. I think I do.) I would not have believed this was the same room. Congratulations.
Wow, your room looks beautiful. Such a fabulous transformation. Hope you are enjoying relaxing and recuperating in such a calm, peaceful, beautiful setting
This looks incredible. I need some friends like yours! Such a pretty space now.
I LOVE your room! It looks so very, very nice. I also don’t know how to decorate yet I can tell when a room looks “put-together”. The best part is they were able to use items that you already owned. Enjoy!
I LOVE your fireplace. That’s one beautiful paint job.
Holy MOLEY, Dana, it’s gorgeous!! I’m so impressed!!
I love the color of your rug! That is my favorite shade of blue. I would also focus my decorating around a rug like that. 😀 I love the ease of cleaning up that you showed.
Apparently research says our brains are happier around greenery, and it doesn’t matter if the greenery is real. Apparently our brains don’t know the difference. Nice decorating!
Looks beautiful! Great job on the fireplace!
Your living room is gorgeous and I am so happy for you!!!
We have thos walls, too. When i say
paneling, people envision 1970s paneling, not like judges paneling with real wood. In some ways I hate it because it is *so* limiting but I also kind of like it because it is different. I am too chicken to paint over it but it really darkens the space. So i just live with it because you cannot undo it after you paint it. It isn’t like drywall.
Every single thing you said is exactly what I said for ten years!
BEAUTIFUL💕!! I particularly love your family photo canvas and the Be Still and Know sign (been looking for one just like that myself) and have always been a fan of blue. Honestly, if that was my lounge I would never want to leave😍!
WOW! This transformation is amazing! I LOVE how light it looks – the room looks bigger too. The fireplace is fire! LOL
Well done. It looks really great!
I have to say, the old look helped me feel extra at home on your site. It looked like the real home of someone who has made real improvements rather than the perfect homes in so many blogs or that everyone around me seems to have. As someone with similar struggles, just getting things under control feels like enough and all the rest seems unattainable.
I have to remember that this new, fancy look is where you arrived with all your hard work. Maybe I’ll also get there by the time my 8 year old eldest is a junior in high school 🙂
Congratulations! It’s inspiring.
This is lovely, congratulations on a beautiful room! I have been thinking about painting my old paneling, this is encouraging. And the brick is so pretty!
It’s beautiful!! I’m so glad it makes you happy. Well done.
PS My favorite color is blue and my whole house reflects it. I’ve never gotten tired of it.
LOVE IT! I am also afraid of decorating, and this is such an inspiration to make some decisions and just try it.
P.S. – take it easy! You will feel better sooner if you do.
I LOVE the leather chair with the tan afghan on it! Any idea where you got that. The whole room is amazing! I would love to paint my fireplace like that but I am sure I would be divorced! 🙂 My husband hunts, lots of “dead heads” hanging around. We live on a lake and it is a LARGE space that he calls “lodge look”. I would like light and airy!
I think that was from weir’s in Dallas.
Glad your starting to feel better. I love your new look. Absolutely beautiful.
Wow! what a huge transformation! I love it. I have old paneling in my dining room I’d like to paint, and now that I see how nice yours turned out, I can’t waint to get started!
It really looks fantastic! I LOVE the painted brick, and I am not usually a fan of painted brick. I really like the throw pillows too, but everything looks so good. It’s hard to pick a favorite thing!
I love this! I really like the clean and uncluttered look and aspire to something similar. I think your room looks great because it’s clean and fresh but not overwhelmingly cluttered with “stuff”. I also like that they helped you use items you already owned (those of us with clutter problems definitely don’t need to bring more items into our space) 🙂
It’s so beautiful — much brighter. And, I’m glad you got your ‘blue’ in there. I like blue also. Very happy for you!
This transformation is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the picture from the past along with the gorgeousness that is your living room. The fireplace is spectacular – that is the perfect finish (is that what paint applied to brick would be called?) for this room. “Ya done good, girl!”
In a word, it’s SPECTACULAR! What a difference PAINT can make. I absolutely love the fireplace. What kind of paint was used? Please respond!!
We recently purchased our first long term house, and I’ve definitely got the decorating bug. Every room I’ve been drawn to on Pinterest has greenery, and I’ve got a brown thumb. I’ve learned to embrace the fake plants. I can’t kill them and they will never smell like mold (which I’ve managed to grow in pots everytime I have a real plant). In an ideal world I’d have real plants, but I’m a real me and I know my limits.
I love it!!! I too have decorating paralysis. I want to change every room in my house but can’t make decisions. I use the same thermos jug to weather my dogs.
I too would like to know more about the fireplace. I would love to do that to my fireplace but don’t know how .
I like the brightness, but I LOVE the dog photobomb!!
This gives me so much hope! My living room is a lot different, but just seeing the transformation is inspiring!
The blue/gray bricks look amazing and tie the blue rug in awesome. Book shelves are amazing. Now brighter colors make the room sparkle with cleanliness. A great topic for your next book. How now the room is uncluttered it time to remodel. I love your doable make over!
Oh my goodness this is amazing! I’m not a decorator. And I’ll freely admit, I feel like we can’t really decorate right now because preschooler. Maybe when my kid is 10 it’ll be a thing.
But I can use your decluttering steps to make the house look put together-ish! I did work on my office yesterday and it was amazing.
This is jaw-droppingly gorgeous! Congrats, Dana! I hope it continues to work for you!
This is beautiful! I love the touches of blue especially. Decorating feels so risky, but your results are gorgeous.
Looks great. We have been in our house 15 yrs and it’s still not decorated bc we didn’t think we would be here this long. Need more room and searching for new house at present. Also bc I don’t love decorating either and don’t feel confident with it. I need help like you had:)
Love it! I had my living room done last year in a wine and cream color, a new wood floor, and purchased new furniture and a new large rug and lace curtains. It’s soooo soo soo pretty. And it is clutter free. Like….all year long, 90% clutter-free. And a quick clean when needed.
Dana, the room looks fantastic. I am an organized person but I held off on purchasing furniture for 10 yrs because I was afraid of making a mistake so I can identify with your decorating fears. I bet it will be much easier to keep the room picked up because you like it so much. A really great transformation. Thanks for sharing it.
Can’t believe it never occurred to me that purposeful placement of items would made maintaining a space easier. What great motivation!
Dana, I love that you accept that you are not going to beautify your cords right now. Sometimes I feel like if I don’t do it all, I might as well quit. This is why you are my hero.
Boy this gives me hope! My kids are two and four so the decor in my main room has to holdable, droppable, and “stuff into a zipper pouch” style. For this reason, I have a lot of empty horizontal spaces! I do have an office with bookcases, and I love the open look of your shelves.
By the way, at least once a weekend my house reaches absolute chaos and I think of you, loving your little, little ones, back when you started blogging, and just choosing to be with them. And then after bed time, I walk into my kitchen and say out loud, “Start with the easy stuff.” That really is such a helpful motto.
Thanks for all you do!
Yes, color can completely change the look and even the feel of a room! It is so pretty and calming. I love the transformation.
Thanks for honestly sharing your struggles and wins with us. You are a delight!
Hugs –
Please do a whole post on the fireplace update. I have a red brick fireplace, and I would love to update it to EXACTLY what you did here! I’ve been following you for years, and I am so happy for you to have a new space to enjoy on your journey.
I only started decorating a little recently, and I find I’m even more motivated to keep things tidy when I love how the space looks. The room is beautiful. I’m so glad you reached a point where you can have a gorgeous space like you deserve.
I’ve been reading from the beginning forward but just found this link in my e-mail. irst, Congrats on the hysterectomy! Best thing I ever did; hope yours wasn’t because if something awful. Let your family handke thibgs while you get time to recuperate.
Second, this is one fabulous transformation!!! I particularly loce that painted fireplace. Much more creative & beautiful that slapping a bunch of white or grey paint. Nice job!
It looks so great! I’m with you on the greenery….I can keep plants alive, but it depends on the room…I just remember the fake greenery we had on top of our cabinets in the 90s.
Maybe the wires could go behind the stacking tables? I don’t mind seeing wires and plugs, it’s life!
I love the big family canvas. It adds so much life to the room.
I’m against painting brick usually, but yours looks great!
Enjoy!
Love love love love LOVE. All of it! I am totally with you on the blue and I adore the map/picture they found for you.
This is indeed encouraging. I’m married 12 years now and haven’t managed to decide on paint, lighting, decor, etc. Still have 80s blue/peach in my kitchen but the layout makes things complicated. Also have many kiddos to manage, but this summer might just be a turning point. Your living room and story is great inspiration. Oh to SEE like other people!