Traditional with a twist: the ORC reveal!

A colorful yet cozy living room…traditional with a twist!

Guys, our living room is done!  

My first ORC post about this room called it a “traditional living room”.  But as often happens with rooms that I design, what I start out with is not what I end up with.  Things change along the way.  And I had to add more color to this room as I went along.  

As a reminder, here is the moodboard I made when I first started this space:

And here’s the after of this traditional with a twist living room!

And the fireplace wall: 

So it’s a little different than the moodboard 😉  

I realized as I went along that I just couldn’t have a room that is essentially neutral.  And I also realized that what I really wanted was a warm, cozy space.  My goal, then, was to make the room feel cozy, comfy, warm, like a room that you want to be in…while still keeping the space light, bright, and with the hits of color that I love.  

(I’m including some affiliate links to some items for your convenience-see my disclosure here).

Remember how I was thinking about leaving the drapes off the windows because I just loved how the blue wainscoting showed off the windows?  Well, I changed my mind- and I absolutely love the softness that the blush drapes add to this room.

Speaking of wainscoting…

The depth and dimension that the wainscoting adds to the walls is one of my favorite parts of the room! As you can see, I went all the way up the fireplace wall- I wanted it to be a feature in the room. 

My sweet mom came to visit last week, and pointed out that the feature wall is a little imposing.  Her suggestion was to soften it a little bit- maybe hang something with texture, or a different shape, round, oval, etc.  

Guys…she is totally right!  And I tried…bought a bunch of flat rattan chargers from Goodwill and attempted to hang them “artfully”.  But it was a total fail.  That wall is so big that I’d need way more than I bought to make it work. And in the interest of budget, and time, I kept that vintage map art there until I can find the perfect piece to replace it. 

The nook 

Something that I’d been meaning to do forever was to build in the little nook in the room that we created when we enclosed the opening between this room and a bedroom- that nook was actually a weird little hallway into a bedroom!  Now, it’s pretty and functional: 

The bench was a super simple build, but it is just so perfect.  Both my boys love it, and Beau has actually slept there a couple of nights!

The cushions are just off-the-shelf floor cushions from Wal-Mart.  They were super affordable, and the bolsters really pulled that area together, plus bring that pop of blush that I love!

The baskets, provided to me by Blue Mountain Goods, are the best quality baskets I’ve ever seen.  They are fair market, hand made, and absolutely beautiful.  

The zig-zag baskets are actually a set of 3 nesting baskets.  They are very strong!  Beau has already commendeered them to hold his toys  🙂 And I love the bolga basket so much that I keep moving it around the room, trying to decide where I want it the most.

One of my goals with this space was to try to add warmth through texture, and I think this little area does that pretty well!

The lamp is an old Target lamp that I actually found thrifting.  I love how the brushed gold finish pops in front of the blue, and the round shape softens the square edges of the room a bit. 

And I think it looks great with this antique lamp that I picked up at one of my favorite thrift stores awhile back: 

Something that I really wanted to do was try to camouflage the TV a little, make it less of a focal point.  The blue wainscoting did the trick!

The art wall will definitely change.  I’m planning to move a lot of the art in the house around, including what is currently in the master bedroom and library.  So I just hung up a few pieces that I’m pretty sure will stay: 

One of my absolute favorite parts of the room is the rug, which I thrifted a long time ago.  It was in the master bedroom, but I switched it with the blue one that was in here.  I love how the red makes the room feel so cozy, but the blush and blue flowers really help pull all of the colors of the room together!

Budget

I really wanted to do this space on as much of a budget as possible, making a conscious effort to try to reuse stuff that I already had.  The largest purchase for this room was the lumber for the walls and the niche- that came in around $240.  The only other purchases for the room were the lamp ($20), the curtains ($14), and the cushions for the niche ($80).  

One more peek:

Thank you so much for following along with me with this space, and thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for once again hosting this fun event!  Now go on over and check out the rest of the amazing reveals!