Cottage Living Room Make Over
This cottage was in desperate need of a makeover and this large family needed a modern update to their weekend hangout. The old 80s furniture was tired and worn out and just wasn't comfortable anymore. It was the perfect opportunity to pick the proper furniture to make better use of the space and provide more seating for their growing family.
BEFORE
AFTER
The family didn't have the luxury of building the cottage from new and so they were stuck with this wood burning fireplace that guilts out into the middle of the room - making furniture arranging difficult... Another challenge was that the room is very long but not very wide and so we needed to fill in the length of the room. To do this we picked deep sofas that faced each other to fill the space and create a conversation area. Anchored in the centre of the room we put a large custom coffee table, perfect for serving snack and playing board games with friends and family.
Beside the coffee table we added two leather poufs to play with texture. These provide extra seating, footstools and side tables as they can easily be moved around. Plus the leather makes them durable and so they will age and give character to the space.
To balance out the stone fireplace a striped gliding chair was placed on the one side. This chair is great for enjoying a morning coffee while admiring the beautiful view of the lake! The fabric on the chair is durable and compliments all the colours in the pillows.
The rug in the room needed to be 8 by 10 so it could anchor both front legs of each sofa. The small pattern doesn't overwhelm the space and since the colours are muted it plays off the colours of the textiles in the room as well.
One thing I should also mention is the paint colour. The orignal colours in the cottage were not working. The gold tone was too much along with the warm toned hardwood floors and were making the fireplace stick out like a sore thumb. The colour I picked to go through the main floor of the cottage is Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore. It is a very light neutral that acts as a blank canvas for all the elements that are layered into the room.
BEFORE
AFTER
This room has a lot of windows and all I could look at was the contract between the old paint colour and the bright white window trim. The windows seemed really boxy and needed to be soften. This was done by euro pleated white sheers on either side of each window. To add warm to the room we did a wood tone woven shade on the windows to give it the comforting cottage look.
Then of course I believe every room needs a little black to balance everything and give it a little bit of punch. Especially at a cottage the black and white gives a rustic look. So the curtain rods and matching black rings just finish off the room perfectly. We bought the rod from wall to wall to not cut the room off and make it feel continuous. Also when hanging curtains rods always make sure you hang them high and wide.
The console table behind the sofa is actually an Ikea dresser that we used. It was very reasonable and provided lots of storage for board games and extra blankets. I replaced the knobs with aged brass hardware from Lee Valley. Leaving the natural finish makes it have that cottage feel.
The two lamps were placed on the table for extra task lighting and to add ambience to the room. The knotted rope around the glass added to cottage, coastal feel.
The pillows, yes we layered with lots of pillows. The walls didn't have much room for artwork so we used the pillows to introduce colour and pattern to the room. The sofas are very deep and without extra pillows were almost too deep to sit on. Layering a row of down filled pillows allows everything to melt right in to the sofa and become instantly comfortable.
There are the basic steps we took to transform this cottage's main living room! The end look is perfect. We played with a muted colour palette to create a relaxing, cottage feel. I hope you enjoyed this living room makeover and can see how applying simple decorating rules to a room can completely transform a space.
