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Living Room Makeover with West Elm

Aug 18, 2015 | By New Darlings

New Darlings - Living Room

We are so excited to finally share our living room makeover! We’ve been working with the amazing team at West Elm, since May, designing our new space.  For us, the living room is one of our most used rooms in our home.  It’s where we hang out with friends, have movie nights, spontaneous dance parties, and binge watch Netflix.  We knew that moving in to the location that we’re in meant sacrificing a bit of space.  This living room is a little smaller than our last (see our first apartment here), measuring about 10 x 12 feet.  After going back and forth a bit and weighing out all of our options, we decided to start from scratch and create the living room we always dreamed of.  We loved each of the pieces in our old place individually, however it never truly felt like it all came together for us.  So we sold some of our old furniture, gave a few pieces away to friends to enjoy, and started with a clean slate.

We really wanted our new space to feel fresh and airy, yet still cozy and inviting.  Since moving out west, we have been so inspired by the desert boho style and all the neutral tones.  We definitely embraced that with with this room, bringing in a lot of wood furniture and plant life.  We’ve always been big fans of 50s and 60s furniture design and of West Elm’s mid century line (we have it in our bedroom and spare room/office) so we figured we why not incorporate it into the living room as well?  We chose an indigo blue as the accent color, bringing in various shades, to keep an organic and earthy feel.

New Darlings - Living RoomUrban Outfitters accordion side table | West Elm kilim rugfloor lampsofacoffee tablelambskin pillow | Shibori pillows by One Fine Nest and Boho PillowDesign Books and SucculentsNew Darlings - Living RoomWest Elm floor lamp | Anthropologie and Standard Wax candles
West Elm lambskin pillow | Shibori pillows by One Fine Nest and Boho Pillow

After a few ideas for above the sofa went sour, we had the idea of creating these floating wooden shelves.  We wanted something just simple and clean to hold some of our favorite treasures. Luckily two of our best friends, Cody and Andrew, (owners of The Perspective Shop — coming soon) are super creative, so we recruited them to help us. Even though we had to drill into brick, it turned out to be a lot easier than we thought.  With just one plank of wood, some stain and sandpaper, we were in business in just a few hours! We brought along our ‘War Is Over’ print from our old place and filled our shelves with candles, keepsakes, and of course a plant or two.

New Darlings Living RoomWall Hanging ArtThis wall hanging piece was actually the last piece we added to the room.  We usually keep things pretty minimal, but felt that corner needed an extra “something”, so we quickly whipped up this wall art and are so happy we did! We love the texture it adds to the space, with the cotton piping and brass bells.  It’s quickly become one of our favorites and has inspired us to create more pieces for our home. Cue the DIY posts! 😉

New Darlings - PolaroidsMid Century Coffee Table & Printed RugWest Elm kilim rug, coffee table and basket tray | Kinfolk magazines

We really wanted to make sure that anywhere we looked in the room, was a piece we loved or that brought joy.  The room is full of some of our favorite books, meaningful postcards and notes, and little souvenirs we’ve picked up along the way. We decided to fill the terrarium on the coffee table with our polaroids.  It’s a fun alternative to traditional picture frames and is always a conversation starter when friends are over.

New Darlings - Living RoomNew Darlings - Living RoomOne of the things we were immediately drawn to with this place was the great light that pours in.  Our living room and bedroom both have these huge floor to celling windows that let in the most beautiful sunshine throughout the day, so we wanted to take full advantage of it and create a plant wall.  We’re constantly visiting our local nursery and bringing home new plant babies. There’s just something about having plants in our home that makes the space feel full of life and warmth.  Together with Cody and Andrew, we made these hanging shelves to create homes for some of our plants.  We love the varying heights of the shelves mixed in with our floor plants.

Midcentury Chair and Stump Side TableWest Elm tree stump side table and mid century chair | Anthropologie matchbook | Standard Wax candle
 shibori pillow | sheepskin

This leather accent chair is one of our favorite pieces in the room.  Its mid century design immediately drew us in and we love how the black leather creates a nice contrast to the tan and wood pieces in the room.  Although we didn’t have too many options with how the room was laid out, we are pretty happy with its placement in relation to the couch.  It really creates a good flow when entertaining.

New Darlings Living Roomblanket ladder | West Elm media console and coffee table

We’ve been in our new home for about a month and a half now and it feels so good to have this room complete.  In the past, we would constantly be moving furniture around, switching out accent pieces, and changing color palettes, but we’re happy to say we haven’t had that urge with this room.  We can’t wait to share this space with family and friends!

Check out our feature over on West Elm’s Front + Main Blog to read more!  

Shop the room:

*This post was made in partnership with West Elm, a company we love.  Thank you for supporting the brands that help support this blog.

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46 comments on “Living Room Makeover with West Elm”

  1. I love this room so very much. Just discovered your blog via Front + Main. Thank you very much for sharing a shopping list. I was hoping you can provide the shop info for the small round table right next to the fiddle leaf fig tree with the hairpin legs? I have been looking for a side table to use as a plant stand and I really love it. Thank you so much for your time!

    1. Hi Hande–
      So great to have you following along with us. 🙂 The small table/stool is from Urban Outfitters. We got it about a month and a half ago, but unfortunately it is no longer available and sold out on their site. :/ I would keep checking back because they usually restock their items pretty quickly. 🙂
      Xo

      1. Thanks much! I’ve been eyeing their accordion side table, may just wait a bit more to see if they restock the other one before purchasing. Have a great day!

  2. It looks FANTASTIC! What a fun space. I’m loving all of the West Elm pieces but more importantly, you guys totally managed to sneak in your own twists here and there.

  3. This is so beautiful I could cry. West Elm is my favorite home goods store. This is goals, honestly. Everything from your plants to your decor is beautiful. Good freakin’ job!

    1. Ahh thanks so much Beckah! That means a lot to us. Its great to see such a great response after working on it for so long. 🙂
      Thanks for following along with us. xo

  4. Hi,
    I too just discovered your blog from the West Elm collaboration. I love it!
    Would you mind telling me the dimensions of your war is over poster, and the frame? That is my favorite part of the place, and am thinking about adding one to my space.

    Thank you for sharing, it looks great!

    Kristi

  5. This room looks amazing. Great job! Would you mind sharing the paint color on the walls? its very bright and fresh!

  6. What an amazing job! Thanks so much for sharing it. For the war is over print, what size is the print & frame? Love it.

  7. Love your space! Where did you get your frame for the “War Is Over” print? What size is the frame? What size is the print?

    Thanks!!!

  8. Where did you get your War is Over! poster. I’ve been searching for one forever. of course love your space! it is perfectly curated 🙂

    1. Hi Alex — Thanks so much. We’re renting, and this was actually the color the apartment complex chose to paint the walls. They said “white” or “gray”. We can try to find out for you. 🙂

      Thanks for following along. xo

  9. Tudo muito lindo! Vocês estão sendo a minha inspiração para a reforma do meu apartamento. Parabéns pelo bom gosto!

  10. I love this and would love to channel the look for my home as well! But I was wondering about the feasibility with regards to lighting. I noticed there’s only one floor lamp. Will this be enough at night? Did you also include any pendants?

    1. Hi Naomi, Thanks so much for the comment and for following along. Back in this apartment the living room was open to the dining room and kitchen that had a number of recessed lights, so it worked for us. Some pendants or even a side table lamp if the room was bigger or the lighting circumstances were different, would be nice too. 🙂

  11. What a lovely living room. The remodel is also fantastic, but this version holds a special place in my heart. Might I ask, where did you find that awesome glass cone on your coffee table? Thanks for the inspiration by the way.

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