I’ve been itching to share this one. From the moment we moved in, I knew our living room had potential—you could feel it—but there were other, more pressing projects we wanted to tackle before giving it the makeover we’d been dreaming of. Aside from a quick coat of paint, it sat quietly, waiting for us to figure out what it wanted to be. Four years later, it finally feels like us: layered, intentional, and filled with the kind of details that make a house feel like home. And now? It’s one of my favorite rooms in the house—especially when the lamps click on and the whole space starts to glow.
Let’s back up for a second—because you have to see where this room started, if you don’t remember.
What We Started With (and Were Trying To Solve)
Living Room at Move-In
Our living room is 20 feet long and 16 feet wide. The ceiling vaults up to 20 feet(!) at its tallest point, which never comes across in pictures! While the windows flanking the fireplace match, the windows perpendicular on the side walls did not—on the left was actually a door to the backyard. Which we never ever used, as there’s also a door to the outside in the dining room next door, and we added another one to a mudroom as well!
Living Room 2021
Before we moved in, we laid all new white oak floors throughout the house (more on that here) and plopped all of our belongings in place.
Living ROom 2022
And then color drenched the whole room in Farrow and Ball’s Pigeon and replaced the chandelier with the one we were going to hang in our last home in Idaho and moved across the country with. We still used all of our old furniture and decor. The paint color added instant mood and really helped it feel more like us. Another testament to the power of paint. Just that alone, felt like it bought us more time in the living room and we were able to turn our attention to other rooms in the house.
Living ROom 2022-2023
Chandelier | Coffee Table | Swivel Chairs | Lamp | Velvet Couch | Linen Couch | Mirror | Rug
Chandelier | Velvet Couch | Coffee Table | Rug | Linen Couch | Mirror | Swivel Chairs | Pillows | Lamp | Faux Tree
Over time, it became more and more layered, as rooms do the longer you live in them. It was feeling cozier and we were feeling more at home, but I still knew the grand living room deserved more than just paint on the walls.
Living ROom 2024
When we replaced all our windows last year, that’s when we knew it was finally time to tackle the living room. We had bought a new window to replace the old door-and-window combo on the left wall, but we couldn’t add the matching window on the opposite side without rethinking that entire wall. It was the nudge we needed to give the whole room the attention it deserved.
Chandelier | Velvet Couch | Brown Pillow | Coffee Table | Rug | Picture Light | Curtains | Linen Couch | Velvet Pillows | Leather Ottomans | Mirror | Swivel Chairs | Lamp | Faux Tree
Besides the window, there was a hollow angle in one corner of the living room leading into the dining room that always bugged me, and the overall flatness of the room left a lot to be desired. The Pigeon paint had carried us for four years, but we were ready to give the space our signature treatment—trim, texture, and all the layers that make a room come to life.
The Living Room Today
And now, four years later, it’s our dream living room. The renovation actually began when we started planning our primary bathroom—we realized it was the perfect time to also finish the living and dining rooms while we were at it. (I put “finish” in quotes because I really believe a home evolves as organically as the people living in it—we’re never truly done growing and changing.)
The living room got some big updates: from new skylights that pour in natural light to planked ceilings and built-in bookcases, this space had a full glow-up. And let me tell you, she’s a star. I love a room that’s a chameleon throughout the day, and this one delivers in spades. During the day, she’s energized and elevated; at night, she’s curated and cozy. But always layered.
After
Shop The Living Room Lighting
The Biggest Shift: Paint Color and Light Play
The first thing I get asked about is always the paint color. Why would I change it when the last paint color was so adored (by me and many of you)? My main reason is that I wanted a change that warmed up the space a bit. Pigeon has a lot of cool undertones, and Farrow & Ball London Stone has much more coffee, caramel notes and allows all of the trim work to sing.
I also used to call this room a mood ring, because Pigeon was often very dark and moody. There are surrounding trees and a nearby guest house, so it often felt like a “cave.” The solution? We installed four VELUX skylights directly into the ceiling. This was a total game-changer! The light now streams in from above, completely transforming the moody, dark space into a bright, inviting room that feels airy year-round. To make sure we could manage the lighting, we included remote-controlled, solar-powered shades—the perfect finishing touch to seamlessly blend style and utility.
We framed the room and the skylights with 4 dark wood beams. They really highlight the height of the room and the other dark wood accents I sprinkled throughout that help add character and charm.
Solving an Eyesore with New Built-Ins
The main impetus for this whole renovation was that eyesore of an air return that was the center of attention on the wall when you were looking into the living room from the dining room. Previously, we solved that by putting a free-standing cabinet in front of it (but we could never fully cover or disguise it because it needed to function). Not only that, but balancing the window on that wall was tough. It needed something substantial there, but the air return also needed to be there.
We wanted storage and needed something that matched the room’s scale. Sketching out a very tall built-in was the most cost-effective way to get something 11-12 feet tall and disguise that air return (mesh panel on the right, storage on the left!).
Now the view from the dining room is one of my favorites.
Sofa | Striped Pillow | Table Lamp | Rug (similar rug) | Floor Lamp | Swivel Chairs
The Sofa Nook
I’d talked about getting matching sofas for this room for a while now, because I love that traditional feel to that symmetry. With the built-ins on one side to disguise the air return and a planned window seat on the other, we naturally had a bump-out, so I was able to create a little console/sofa nook that adds more interest and lamp opportunities to the room.
Sofa | Striped Pillow | Velvet Pillow | Swing Arm Sconce | Pharmacy Lamp | Table Lamps | Console Table | Glass Cloche | Art – Géométrique 12-Piece Collection | Frames
Squaring Off and Shifting Over the Entrance from the Dining Room
On the other side of the room, we squared off that awkwardly angled corner leading into the dining room, which allowed us to move the dining room doorway more to the left and created more space for a couch, lamps, and a parlor table (or Christmas tree) on the wall to the left of the fireplace wall.
Although there was no reason or room for a sofa nook on this side, we mirrored the other side of the room by adding some column-like bump-outs.
Mirror | Double Sconce | Black Sconce Shades | Mantle Clock | Table Frames | Leather Chairs (vintage – similar) | Coffee Table | Chess Board | Coffee Table Books | Rug (similar rug)
I love that this solution gave us symmetry in the overall layout, but the asymmetry of the built-in on one side and the column on the other gives us freedom. You don’t want to put yourself in a box where everything has to be mirrored!
Mantle Clock | Marble Side Table | Lumbar Pillow | Swing Arm Sconce
Video Tour of How It Flows In the House
5 Things You’d Have to Be in Our Living Room to Experience
This room is all about layered color, texture, and light, and there are just some details you can appreciate more in person:
- The Height of the Ceiling: This room is cozy with a lot of furniture, lamps, and books, but it never feels imposing in part because the space above us is so vast. When we had an event at our home, so many people commented on how you can’t tell how grand this room is in pictures! I love that it still feels intimate, thanks to the trim and beams we added.
- The Power of 12 Lamps (Seriously!): We have more lamps than you even imagine—twelve, to be exact, and that doesn’t even count the candles, the chandelier, or the fireplace! This is the secret to the magical nighttime color shift and that layered, moody glow.
- The Contained Clutter: I’m someone who gets overwhelmed by clutter, but the more things I added to this room, the more I like it—as long as it is contained. The stack of picture frames on the round side table? Obsessed. It adds history and personality. The coffee table is gigantic, and I corral things in groups to keep it looking more intentional and less cluttered. Even the gallery wall on the right side of the room (that I’m still wanting to get new frames for one day…) has trim around it.
- The many seating options: Sure, you can see we have two couches, four chairs, and a window seat. But when we’re in there as a family, or hosting, it’s amazing how all of these conversation corners work together. They allow many different conversations to happen simultaneously or for everyone to be involved. Being intentional with adding lots of zones in this room has really paid off.
- The Sound of the Disguised Air Return: That big eyesore of an air return that sparked this whole renovation? We covered it with a custom mesh panel in the new built-in. It’s finally gone, and the sound of the air flowing behind a beautifully built-in is just a quiet sigh of relief.
Here is our timeline of the living room renovation through blog posts:
- Living Room Renovation: Progress Report – September 2025
- The Secrets to Styling Lived-In Bookshelves – July 2025
- I Sampled 12 Paint Colors for Our Living Room—And Finally Found the One! – July 2025
- The Next Phase of Our Living Room: Mood Board and Paint Color Reveal! – June 2025
- The Skylights That Changed…Everything – May 2025
- How to Prep for a Renovation Project – March 2025
- Breaking News on Our 2025 Project List: Adding the Living Room & Dining Room STARTING NOW – March 2025
- The Gradual Two-Year Transformation of the Living Room – May 2023
- Our Painted Living Room With Pigeon by Farrow & Ball – September 2021
- Our Living Room Today (Let’s Call this the Before) – August 2021
I’d love to answer any questions that I can about our space! What would you like to know?
What an incredibly beautiful room, you’ve turned this home into a dream! The way you’ve styled the space is so warm and inviting, and I especially love the colour palette you’ve chosen.
Are the coffee table glowers flowers real or faux? If they are faux, I’d be so grateful if you could share where you purchased them from.
Thanks so much for the inspiration!
Really love this finished space, please don’t listen to the naysayers., It was really nice before its really stunning and “designer” complete now, enjoy hearing how you moved to this complete and wonderful space. thank you!
It’s your home and if you enjoy it, by all means…but this seemed like a “solution looking for a problem.” Just feels overdesigned and unnecessary.
You’ve done a magnificent job on the lighting. Lighting is the icing on the cake. And the trim, gorgeous.
Thank you for explaining about the air return issue– I’d been wondering why you designed the built-ins as you did, but now that I realize the issue it seems like a brilliant solution!