The Living Room: One Room Challenge Week 4

April 27, 2024

Spring 2024

One Room Challenge: week 4

(not so) Formal Living Room

Happy Week 4 of the Spring '24 One Room Challenge! Let's recap the plan for transforming this room from "meh" to MAGNIFICENT...

The walls will be painted a neutral off-white
A large greige area rug in a retro/modern pattern will ground the room
Textured tone-on-tone draperies will be installed with custom hardware.
Large-scale art will act as a focal point
A custom sofa and twin swivel chairs will be combined with existing pieces of furniture
Additional art, lighting and accessories will be layered in to finish the room

We've been working last two weeks to "neutralize" the room by painting a fresh warm white and installing a large area rug. The idea here is to lay a foundation of tone-on-tone color and texture so the furnishings and art take center stage.

When we moved into this house, all of the rooms were painted the same color. Unfortunately, instead of making the house feel fresh and updated, the weak yellow beige only dated it further. As a reminder, this is the paint color before...

One Room Challenge Spring 24_Living Room_Before — Living Room Before

Paint Color Selection

I wanted the paint color here needed to be subtle and warm, but white, not cream. After painting a few swatches on the walls, I chose Sherwin Williams Shoji White with Pure White for the trim and ceiling. And I LOVE it! It's the perfect foundation for this room.

To be fair, it's really difficult to see much of a difference in the photos below, but trust me, in real life, the difference is night and day!

As an important note, paint formulations do matter. We used Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex Designer Edition. I know it sounds bougie and a little over the top, but honestly the coverage was superb - better than any other formulation we've used.

Rug Installation

Many times it's difficult to find just the right pre-made rug - either the size is wrong, the colors are not quite right or you need a specific shape with clipped corners, etc. For this room, size was the issue. I needed a 10'6" x 17'3" rug to pull the furniture layout together so I chose to have a custom rug made from broadloom carpet.

There is a misconception that "custom" anything is always more expensive than ready-made. That is not necessarily the case. And many retailers that sell broadloom can have rugs made to suit your needs.

One caution...choose a reputable rug fabricator and be specific about what you want in terms of size, edge finish and backing.

In keeping with the subtle mid-century vibe, Masland Carpet's Vision in color Fossil was the perfect pick! It has just enough texture to make it interesting, but it doesn't overpower the room.

Most area rugs need a good rug pad. The pad not only makes the rug more comfortable underfoot, it provides the stability the carpet needs for longevity. I like to use a Durahold rug pad that has a felt face and rubber backing. The rubber back grips the floor and the felt top side grips the rug so everything stays in place.

We still have some bubbles to let settle out, but we are ready for furniture and drapery.

What's Next?

Originally, I had planned for the drapery to be installed next, before the furniture is delivered. However, I did drag my feet on getting them ordered, so we are on to plan B. The sofa is scheduled to be delivered in a couple of days, chairs are close to completion at the manufacture and drapery, I think, will come after that. Regardless, the drapery will further the tone-on-tone scheme...

There's a lot left to do to transform this room! Check back next week (Week 5) to see our progress. Other One Room Challenge participants' posts can be found on the ORC Weekly Progress page.

Cheers,