Simply Beautiful By Angela

creating simple beauty on a budget

One Room Challenge: Farmhouse Living Room Reveal

Hello my sweet friends,  I am so happy that you stopped by today!  Today is the much anticipated big reveal for the Fall 2017 One Room Challenge guest participants.  It’s ALSO the 2017 Ornament Exchange & Blog Hop so I have not just one but two posts that went live today!  After you’re done here you can swing over here to see how that turned out.

In case you’ve never heard of this wonderful event before, let me briefly catch you up!  The One Room Challenge is hosted twice a year by the lovely Linda over at Calling It Home.  Designers have just six short weeks to makeover an entire room and write weekly updates to document the transformation from start to finish.  This year we had a one week extension to allow our friends in areas affected by natural disasters a little more time.

Limiting yourself to just 6 weeks to knock out an entire room?  It’s WAY addicting!  Well, at least for home décor loving peeps like myself.  There are so many words that come to mind for this challenge–exhilarating, suspenseful, stressful, rewarding, exhausting and fun are just a few!

Last fall I worked our master bedroom and this past spring I focused on our master bathroom.

But as happy as I was with how these rooms turned out, I had actually planned on taking this season off.  That is until the timeline of installing our new floors aligned perfectly with this season’s challenge. 

Before I knew it, I had dreamed up plans to revamp our living room and I just couldn’t resist joining in to make those plans come to life!

But enough with the chit chat–you guys are here to see the new living room!

Without further ado…here it is!

Oh! You probably want to get a glimpse at what it looked like before, right? As a reminder this is what this space looked like the day that we moved in…

How I had it decorated shortly after we moved in…

And finally, how it looked most recently before the challenge began!

So not a super dramatic change from the most recent picture above, but from a design perspective so much about this space has been improved.

The biggest difference, without a doubt is the floor. 

After many months of debate we finally chose Pergo laminate flooring in the color Riverbend Oak.  We decided that laminate would be better than hardwood for our family since we have two wild little boys that routinely throw toys and eating utensils on the floor. 

We installed them ourselves which saved us A TON of money. I took plenty of pictures of the process to share with you guys, so stay tuned for the tutorial very soon!

The second major change was the board and batten that I added around the room.

  

I feel like it brightens the entire space up and breaks the tall wall up perfectly.  Once you get hooked on wall treatments it’s hard to look at a blank wall and NOT imagine adding something! 

Oh and you guys remember the thorn in my side that we called a fireplace?

I had grown tired of the dark grout that stuck out like a sore thumb so my first thought was to paint the grout a lighter color.  While I was researching grout pens I stumbled across the idea to stencil tile and it got my wheels turning…

What an amazing difference!  I used the Augusta Tile Stencil and I still can’t get over how pretty it turned out or how simple it was to do.  Even though I still wish we had more room to build a bigger mantle and a surround, I am ten times happier with it now. 

  
Our new card catalog coffee table that I created from a Craigslist find is exactly what I’ve been dreaming about for years and I’m so glad that I was finally able to bring my vision to life!
The décor on the wall next to our vaulted ceiling was also in need of an update since the picture I had there before got kind of lost in that big of a space…
I made my own DIY art out of  PVC panels that resemble vintage ceiling tiles and it fills out the space so much better now, don’t you think?

I also got new sconces and put up theseawesome flameless candles that have a remote. We’ve really been enjoying the warm glow that it gives the space in the evenings.

The new blanket ladder that we put together to replace our old one adds the perfect amount of visual height and contrast to the wall.  A blanket ladder is a must in our house since I’m pretty sure that I would go insane if all of our throws were left scrunched up on the couch every day!
The cute little dipped basket is the perfect place to hold Mommy’s “pretty” pillows that should not be used for pillow fights or fort making!

 


I decided to keep our dark brown couch rather than replacing it with a light slip covered one because the thought of how often I would be cleaning it gave me some serious anxiety!
With the amount of light that this room gets along with the light colors on the walls and in the pillows it all balances out pretty well and I’m okay with not having a light couch until the boys are much older. 
 
Throughout the 3 years that we’ve lived here it’s taken me awhile to really decide how I wanted this room to look and feel.  Since this room functions as our main living area it’s been tough to find ways to keep it pretty but practical at the same time. 
I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be happy with this look for at least a few more years!


Source List and Budget Breakdown: (Affiliate links may be provided for convenience.  For more info, see my full disclosure here) 

I am including all of the newly purchased items in the room as well as some items that I already owned.  If you are curious about anything not listed please don’t hesitate to ask!

Board and Batten–$20 (cost of underlayment and MDF)

Rug—$103
Coffee Table—$72 (cost of table from Craigslist and hardware)
Stair Step Storage Unit—$0 (already owned)
White Console Table—$0 (already owned, similar linked)
Side Table—$0 (already owned)
Long Mirror—$67 (25% coupon)
Metal Windmill—$0 (already owned, similar linked)
Metal Wall Planters—$36 (10% coupon + shipping)
Eucalyptus Leaves—$16
Arched Mirror—$127 (25% coupon)

Blanket Ladder–$6 (tutorial soon to come)

Gray and White Throw —$0 (already owned)
White Fleece Throw—$0 (already owned)
Buffalo Check Throw—$0 (already owned, similar linked)
Dipped Basket—$10 (found in Hobby Lobby store, similar linked)
White Euro Pillow—0 (already owned)
Buffalo Check Pillow—$6
White Linen Pillows—$0 (already owned)
Brown Ticking Pillows—$0 (already owned, similar linked)
Knitted Pillows—$0 (already owned)
Wood and Metal Tray–$13 (20% coupon)
Milkhouse Candle—$10 (Homegoods find, similar linked)
Shutter Sconces—$23 (50% off)
Flameless Pillar Candles—$27
DIY Embossed Tile Art–$55 (tutorial using these panels coming soon)
Small Floating Shelves—$0 (already owned, similar linked)
TOTAL: $610
My most expensive room makeover to date!  Since this is a room that we spend most of our lives in I feel like it was money well spent though and we are enjoying every bit of it.
Thank you SO much for dropping by today and I hope you enjoyed following along! Don’t forget to  check all of the other super talented participants’ rooms as well here.  As always I am truly amazed with how stunning everyone’s rooms turned out!
Linking up to these awesome parties!

Comments

  1. Angela your living room is gorgeous! It's all those little details that make it so special. Like the board and batten and those floors really warm the space up. I am also impressed with the fireplace stencils. Great idea! I have to agree with you about the lighter sofa. Never had anything light till the kids were teens. Otherwise I'd be washing slipcovers every week. The color looks very nice with the rest of your room. Enjoy your space!

    • Thank you so much Mary, you are so kind! I'm glad to hear that you also decided to make a darker sofa work while the kiddos were young, that helps solidify my decision haha! 🙂

  2. The walls, the floor, that stenciled tile… wowza! Y'all did a phenomenal job! Everything looks great. BTW, saw this on the Thrifty Thursday Link Party. 😉

  3. Angela, your room is absolutely beautiful. The transformation is stunning and you really outdid yourself with not just the entire envelope of the room – from the laminate flooring to the board and batten – but in all the little details that makes the room so comfy and cozy. You did an amazing job here!