Today I’m sharing a round up of 8 rooms that I decorated for my Decorate OR Renovate Youtube series, where creating beautiful, finished rooms with decorating meant that much more expensive renovations hit the distant back burner. Maybe forever.
Because while I do love a good timeless renovation, and I have helped thousands of clients get their colours and finishes right for new builds and renovations in my eDesign consultations, I also love to demonstrate the transformative power of decorating and styling. It’s too often overlooked.
These are one day makeovers. Some of them are two rooms in one house. Because when the living room suddenly looks fabulous, the dining room raises its hand.
You can watch the full YouTube video where I dive into the process. But here are all the before and afters so you can take a good look at each transformation.
Share with me in the comments what you see that could work in your own home 💛
Awkward fireplace to cozy living room
Liz’s living room features an odd fireplace that is off centre and she was sure her room would never be beautiful until they could renovate it. The quote was $12K. We decorated her living room for a tiny fraction of that cost instead.
The fireplace:
Liz’s living room before with the feel of “I’ll do this room someday…”:
And after! Let’s love it today 💛
The cozy room makes the fireplace much less important. We gave it some context with a tall lamp, a plant, some art to make it look much less lonely.
Committing to the details
Christine’s living room and dining room had a good start, but like often happens, she had stopped short of the layers that make it feel polished. She couldn’t commit to where to hang the art. A very common dilemma that stalls finishing a room.
She also thought her fireplace needed a new insert for the room to be complete.
Here’s the living room before:
And after! An abundance of art, and what fireplace insert?
Her dining room before:
And here’s the after I tweaked with some details I would add if we had more than one day (drapes, painted chairs and chandelier shades):
The office space just needed the some art which she already had, a few details and of course, a lamp!
Before:
After!
A nature inspired living and dining room
Kim & Colin got a quote to replace the porcelain floor tile running through the kitchen and hall. I talked them into making their living room and dining room fabulous instead. After all, a hill I will die on is that you will get much more joy out of loving your most used rooms.
Here’s the living room before:
And after!
The dining room before:
And the after. The styling and art we added enhanced with the chairs and light fixture I would add:
Pretty in neutrals
Cynthia’s room also had lot of good things going on, it just needed intentional details and layers to come to life. These can be even more critical in a neutral room. When there is no colour, everything has to work a little harder.
Here’s the living room before:
And after!
The dining room before:
And after, showing the enhanced after here with the light fixture and drapes I would add given a little more time. But how perfect is this wall of plates with her pretty chairs?
You can learn more about how we achieved all these magical transformations in this weeks episode of Decorate or Renovate!
If you would like to transform your home, join my community where you can make friends, share decorating and renovating ideas and learn how to create a home you love!
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