A Mini Living Room Transformation

Ready for a mini living room transformation? This transformation happened on a whim and shows how little changes can make a big impact!

Do you ever just want to donate everything in your home and start over? You look at your surroundings and feel like “this just isn’t me” or “why did I even buy that?”.

I think this is perfectly human.

We get discouraged easily. And we crave change.

Like never before, we are surrounded by the idea that our homes should be up to a certain standard. But “picture perfect” is exhausting and unsustainable.

What we really need is permission. Permission to use what we already have. Permission to use a little paint and imagination. And permission to love our worn in couches!

In this blog post, I am going to share a mini living room transformation that shows how any room can be impacted by small changes!

Living Room Transformation

I love thinking about how to transform spaces. This can be both to my benefit and to my detriment.

Sometimes I get really wrapped up in making something “better” that I forget to look at how great it already is.

My living room is a perfect example. It has always had the bones but I have wasted a lot of time wishing I could redo it from scratch. Different couch, new lamps.. you name it! I have “added it to cart”!

But there is a reason I never followed through on those purchases. Buying more wasn’t the answer I needed.

What I needed was to reimagine what I already had.

How To Love Your Space

Loving your space takes time. And a lot of it comes from accepting what is already in front of you.

Not being able to change all the furniture in my living room has helped me be more creative. I feel a deeper satisfaction with how the space feels now because I used what I already had to reimagine it!

Sometimes we do need to replace the furniture. But for the most part? We just need to recognize the itch. It is part of being human to want change. Bigger, better, more beautiful. We will always be lured into the newest trends. Even more so now that we are able to get living room inspiration everywhere on the internet. It is easy to feel discouraged and like our own spaces are inadequate.

What this living room transformation has taught me is that I can learn to love the spaces in my home WITH the items I already own.

I do not need to be swept away by the newest and best. I can lean into what I have and find a way to make it feel the way I want it to feel.

The key to loving your home? Do not let anyone else’s home make you feel like yours doesn’t measure up!

Be Willing To Move The Furniture

When I discovered our piano had wheels, my ideas started spinning.

You better believe I put my hips into it and wheeled the piano over the other side of the living room, just to “see” what it would look like.

And guess what? I absolutely loved it!

Sometimes, you have to be willing to rearrange the furniture to see what something will look like somewhere else.

I kept telling myself “if I don’t like it, I can always change it back”.

Furniture does not need to stay in one permanent place. You are allowed to change your mind.

Paint Really Does Make A Difference

I thrifted a beautiful refinished hutch (read more about thrifting home decor!). I was instantly drawn to the craftsmanship, its history and its size. It fit perfectly in the dead space in our living room right beside the fireplace.

But if it fit so perfectly, why didn’t I love it? Why did I always feel like it wasn’t quite right?

I realized the colour, while beautiful, didn’t feel like me. I found it difficult to style because everything seemed to clash with the colour – making the room feel really busy.

So, I decided to paint the hutch from blue to black!

Am I ever glad I did because a) black furniture is super sleek and b) it neutralizes the space while making an impact!

I also decided to move the hutch. Instead of having it in the corner where it wasn’t being enjoyed to its maximum, it is now center stage between our open concept living room, dining room and kitchen.

Living Room Before

Our living room was just fine before! If I never painted the furniture or moved the piano, it still would have been a great place to spend time together as a family.

The reason I took the extra time to reimagine the space was to make it feel a little more intentional.

I wanted everything to feel like it was in its proper spot.

Designing open concept spaces can be tricky. How do you ensure each separate space feels like it’s own? Without overpowering the other?

As much as I love the colour blue on the hutch, it wasn’t the right fit for our living room. The hutch is a big piece and it needed to be the star of the show, not the odd one out.

The hutch now acts as a bridge between our living room and dining room. I love the hutch here because it serves a practical purpose but it also helps create division between the two rooms in a way that makes sense and is visually pleasing.

I also decided to swap out the chair in this space. As much as I love our floral chair, it did feel mismatched in this space. I put the floral chair in our bedroom and replaced it with a lower-scale chair we had in another room.