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Elsie’s Living Room (Before + After!)

Home Decor, Home Tour: Elsie, Living Room, Room Tour
By Elsie Larson

A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.comI'd be lying if I said I felt ready to share my home with you. We're still very much in the renovation process around here! I'm realizing more and more that the process will never feel 100% complete… and that I don't want it to. It's so much fun to be continually working on our space. Every weekend is filled with small projects (sometimes big ones too!) and I'm enjoying this new lifestyle. 

So without further ado, here's our living room before & after…We'll call this "phase one".Before + afterBefore: This is how the living room looked the first time we saw it. Months of house shopping taught me to always keep an open mind. I felt like I was wearing style goggles. We could walk into a home that was totally not our style and instantly envision it painted in a different way, usually with new flooring and new furniture. We instantly fell in love with our home when we saw it. The living room is the first room you see after walking through the front door. We knew we would be changing a lot, but it had good bones (and giant windows—yay!!).

The first thing we did in the living room was paint the walls and the trim white. Luckily, the trim was only painted in two rooms. The color we chose is Thistle Seed by Valspar. It's a nice warm white, great for rooms with a lot of natural light. We were able to keep the floors as they were in the downstairs rooms, which was really lucky. They have beautiful, original hardwood. 

Speaking of natural light, we chose light, lace curtains, because I couldn't stand the idea of blocking out any natural light.Elsie Larson's living room tour www.abeautifulmess.comElsie Larson's living room tour www.abeautifulmess.comElsie Larson's living room tour www.abeautifulmess.comThe couch we chose is the Cleveland Sofa from Thrive Furniture. I love the bright color. When Jeremy and I were house shopping, we agreed that we would bring most of the color into our home through furniture and accessories and work with a mostly neutral palette for walls and floors. We are so glad we made this choice! The house feels so bright and cheerful, which is really important for me as someone who works from home. 

We've already rearranged this room at least ten times. Before these photos, Rachel actually gave us her tips via Facetime. Ha! That was fun. :) Couple illustration by Ashley G.Couple illustration by Ashley G.Couple illustration by Ashley G.Although this probably won't be the last home we live in, Jeremy and I truly consider this our dream home. I guess that's a good way to feel, no matter what stage you are in. This attitude affects all our choices. So many of the pieces we've picked out for this home are things we've been dreaming about for years, like the hanging chair. It was definitely on my "dream list" for a long time!A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com It's been fun to collect records together. We buy them for gifts at the holidays and collect vintage ones too. Our niece is obsessed with the record player. She's only three, but she already knows how to work it all by herself and she loves dancing, which is the best thing in the world. ;) 

The feather garland in our window was a holiday decoration that I never took down (oops). I like how the light reflects through the feathers on a sunny day. A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com (blueprint copy!)

A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com (blueprint copy!)Our mantel is always a work in progress. We try to change it up often. Right now there is a blueprint copy of one of our first photos. I wanted to give it a more graphic look for a photo shoot, so we cut out black paper triangles and taped them up on the wall. It's temporary, but looks cool from a distance. 

I collect vintage soda bottles to use as vases. I love collecting but have to be careful, because in my last home I collected WAY too much for our space. I've learned to be very choosy, only bringing home my very favorite pieces and donating unused items each season.A Beautiful Mess living room tour www.abeautifulmess.com Elsie + EmmaThanks for taking a look at our living room. We're thankful that it's a space that can be used for so many things…relaxing, work, photo shoots and (most importantly) a play space for my doggies. 🙂 These photos were taken about a month ago, and already the space has changed a lot. I can't wait to share more phases, projects and updates with you. It's definitely a work in progress! 

xo. Elsie 

*Photos by Janae Hardy. Thanks so much to Grazia Magazine for featuring my home (it's in the current issue). 

Source List: Couch/Thrive Furniture, Pink Chair, Ottoman, Green shelf/Vintage, White Rocker/Amazon, Rug/Nate Berkus for Target, Lamp c/o Lamps.com, Curtains/Ikea, Hanging Chair/Amazon, Fireplace Screen/ came with the house, Couple Portrait and bearded man art/Ashley G., Turntable c/o ModCloth, Bird pillow/Anthropologie (it was a wedding gift!), DIY Projects- Ladder Shelves, Gold Table, Bench. Blankets/West Elm & Ikea. Please let me know if I've missed anything! 🙂

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