Multi-Purpose Room Before & After

I just finished a really fun room redesign for a family that wanted to transform a former "formal" living room into a casual multi-purpose room the entire family could enjoy.

If you live in the suburbs in a house of a certain age, you're probably familiar with the two rooms in the front of the house which are intended to be formal living and dining rooms. I don't know many "formal" people in the suburbs so these rooms often become catch-alls for mismatched furniture and office equipment or, go unused.  That's valuable space that can be put to much better use.  Here's how it looked before and how we made some simple changes for my client:

J wanted a fresh look without clutter or too much stuff.  The contractor and I got to work on a design for a wall of built-ins to house a new flat screen tv, lots of storage, shelves and a small computer desk. The walls were painted Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore and the french doors were painted black which suits J's New Orleans heritage perfectly.

Let's go in and take a look around...

Our goal was to keep this room fresh, casual and comfortable. We pretty much started from scratch and worked on this room over the past year as the budget allowed. J was willing to invest in a few important pieces and details, and we also shopped at West Elm, Pottery Barn, Target and HomeGoods.  J is mom to teen boys, who bring even more boys home to hang out in this room. Our first order of business was to find some comfortable recliners that fit into the "fresh" category. We found this pair locally and upgraded the fabric. 

The existing love seat was in great shape and the perfect size so it was updated with new fabric.

The wire basket was a find from HomeGoods and was formerly a laundry basket with a cotton liner which we removed. It helps corral the pillows and throws. 

The coffee table is from West Elm and the pretty metallic bowl from Target/Threshold.

Wouldn't it be great if we could *blink* and instantly have a new room. The truth is, renovations and sourcing takes time and lots of patience, even in a small room. J doesn't really like shopping so we did a lot of sourcing online which worked out great. When we did shop together we had a great time and it was painless (for me anyway) because she has a very clear idea of what she likes.  She has been a dream to work with and we're all very happy with how the room turned out.  All done!