First up in the before and afters on my now sold Modern Colonial in Prairie Village is the living room, also known as the room where my family spent 99% of our time between October and April. We are entertainers but actually loungers and movie watchers a bit more on the everyday. So when it's not nice outside, having a comfortable and put together living room is important.
The house before we moved in had three living spaces: the one above, a 70s addition, and a partially finished basement. When we moved in our boys were two and five and very much still at the stage of wanting to play near us. So we opted to steal the 70s additional room as a mudroom and new location for a powder room, and we put all our effort into making the main living area fit for both floor play and family sofa hangs, but also for when we had people over. We minimally finished the basement with new carpet, paint and hand me downs from our old living room. Not pictured, haha.
In this living room we increased the size of the backyard facing windows by about triple. We wanted to be able to have the pool and yard view, and when the windows were open it gave such a nice breeze through the space. We also made the largest sofa on earth, haha. You'll notice I'm sharing two iterations of the living room - spring colored pillows, wood coffee table and a darker rug and then later a travertine coffee table, lighter rug, slightly smaller sectional and big art!
When we first moved in, I was trying to fill our very long but narrow room and created a massive sectional from our Chill Collection that was two loveseats + a corner chair + a sofa. It was actually super fun with all that lounge-y seating, but after a year living with it I realized we could pull it away from the wall a bit and center the shorter side on the window if we had a loveseat instead of a sofa. So benefits of being a shop owner, we switched it up! And it was much better.
After that second iteration, we also used one of my favorite Armadillo rugs. It's made from jute and wool, but the best part is is reads light and bright, even white, while not showing dirt or stains easily because of the natural jute. I'm a huge fan of these rug pads when you think you might sit on the floor, so we layered this beneath for a plush feel.
We recovered my favorite vintage chairs in an ochre boucle fabric from the shop and placed a plaster bistro table in between them mainly so we could display my favorite vintage lamp as art.
Over on the fireplace side, we did a major overhaul. While our house did not start modern in anyway, we liked the idea of that wall only being fireplace to make it feel more open and modern. We used this tile in a straight stack and I love love loved that fireplace so much. We also sprang for a Frame TV, and I think they are worth the hype. It's so fun to change the art, they legit look like art, and so good in a gallery wall.
In any space that is not hung out in for long amounts of time (main bedroom, bath, living room), I'm always up for taking more risks. I went straight 70s for the mudroom in the 70s addition because I love those colors and why not? I had not added the rug that really sealed the deal yet when this photo was taken, but see what I mean? We created half a cubby and a shoe drawer for each family member, a bench to sit down on when you're putting shoes on, and fit in a pantry, first floor laundry and a new powder room.
The powder room was a favorite of many of our guests, and I will always, always, always love a chunky stone floating sink like we did here. We sho shugi baned (can that be a verb?) the slat wall behind the sink in lieu of a backsplash and did a big deep sink so we could use this area for plant watering. We also connected the kitchen next door with a copper faucet that matched our appliance handles.
We loved our first floor so much: the living room for it's views, it's cozy sectional, the plush rug underfoot, the vintage touches, and if I'm honest, because of that frame TV too :).
Check out the rest of the house tours here, still a couple more to go after this one so keep an eye out. Scroll down for the side by side before and afters.
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