You guys, I am so excited to be participating in a ridiculously fun (if slightly embarrassing) blog hop today hosted by the fabulous Stephanie of Casa Watkins. All week long bloggers have been sharing before & afters of rooms in their homes to show how their styles have changed. If you are stopping over from Willow Street Interiors, Welcome! Don’t you just love Laura’s classic, approachable, and fresh style! Today is my turn on the “My Home Style Blog Hop” and I wanted to share the evolution of my living room and how I’ve come to define my style as “earthy, vintage, eclectic.”
(Hover over the photo to shop the items you see)
I am going to go all the way back to almost exactly 5 years ago when we moved into our home. I could go all the way back to when I started blogging in January of 2009 to our living room in our old house, but why would I want to shame myself with that atrocity? Oh you know you want to click on that…. it’s terrible. You’ve been warned. Instead of totally embarrassing myself, let’s just go back to the beginning of this particular living room, OK? I am not even going to edit these crooked and terrible photos because no amount of editing can make this look good. And, aaaw, there’s my Charlie laying in the sunlight…
As you can see, we had just moved in… moving boxes and weird electronics on the floor. But I had found my Halloween decorations, thank gawd!
When we first moved in, I already had plans in place for this space- two opposing West Elm Henry sofas in dove gray, a pair of table to use as a coffee table in aqua (I had painted those while we were waiting to move in), and loads of gray, white, and more gray and white, and some aqua. I executed that plan, and to be honest I can’t even tell you what style I was going for…. a bit modern and comfortable, but also mostly bland and boring and flat.
Well, it felt lifeless so I tried adding color and painted some bookcases in gray with orange backings.
I brought in more color in a blogging challenge, and clearly my coffee table styling skills were spot on at this point. Oh, and I added a new rug, because the first new rug had a dog incident. It was also too small, so I found something larger with blue in it. I actually still really love this rug and found it on overstock for a good deal.
After I added all of this color, do you know what happened? I began to twitch… I am NOT a bold color person. I am a neutral, earthy and blues person… what was I thinking???
This room has since gone through many transformations which have led to where it is today. I’ve gone through several coffee tables (3 besides those pictured that I can recall!); painted the fireplace black; added a vintage sofa, industrial pipe built ins, blinds, and a new midcentury desk for Chris; moved the bookcases and then removed them; and added some modern art from minted; oh, and I changed the rugs again and layered two. I think the absolute key to making it feel right for me thought was adding in more natural elements and plants…. those items breathe life into a space!
All of these changes have led to where we are today, I can honestly say that it won’t be changing much from here on out. I am sure I will tweak things, but I feel like it’s finally 100% me and it suits our family’s needs perfectly now. 
It now has the earthy neutrals and blues I adore and is a far cry from that first rendition. The color comes from the freshness of the plants, which I was afraid of before. I thought I was destined to kill them, but I have discovered that I am actually not bad at plant care. I’ve lost some little guys along the way, but all in all, I’ve got loads of survivors.
As you can see, it’s taken me 5 years of trying different things to finally “get it right.” But after that time, we have a space our family can all relax in together.
Putting this look together took me understanding what the key elements of my style were. Once I figured that out, the rest was history! I’ve created a collage of my style’s key elements for you below, and you can click on the icons to shop directly.
Like I said, it’s taken me time to get to where I am today, and I am always moving forward and evolving to suit my needs and moods. My style will keep on changing…. Don’t get frustrated if you aren’t where you want to be in your home. Remember that your home is your place to express who you are, and not necessarily what you see all over Pinterest. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and keep on trying until you finally have that moment where you sit back, look at your space and say, “Yes! This just feels right.”
Now head on over to House Full of Sunshine to see the evolution of Karen’s master bedroom!
And if you want to feast your eyes on a load of amazing before & afters, here’s the entire list from the week. Enjoy!
MONDAY
Casa Watkins Living
Polished Habitat
Lovely Etc.
Blue i Style
Organize Nashville
TUESDAY
Roots North and South
My Life From Home
Monica Wants It
The Striped House
WEDNESDAY
Pocketful of Posies
Up To Date Interiors
Copper Dot Interiors
Swoonworthy
PMQ for Two
THURSDAY
The DIY Mommy
Boxy Colonial
The Happy Housie
Domicile 37
Willow Street Interiors
FRIDAY
Cassie Bustamante (here!)
House Full Of Sunshine
Farmhouse 40
Iris Nacole
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