Before and After Living Room Makeover

Wait until you see this before and after living room makeover! It is amazing how much a few hours and a can of paint can completely change a space.

When we added a second story to our small 3 bedroom ranch home 12 years ago, we painted all of the rooms with sage, gold and cranberry tones.

After 12 years, we have been slowly updating each room, moving to lighter and brighter color palettes.

(Posts on stacyling.com may contain affiliate links. Click HERE for full disclosure.)

Mustard yellow walls in living room with dark leather sofas -Before and After Living Room Makeover

Before the Living Room Makeover

Can you believe how dark and dingy this looks?

The dark leather sofas are pretty new.

And because they are so dark, they were really weighing the room down with the existing wall color.

But I knew I wanted to paint the room much lighter when we bought them.

And now I’m ready to change things up in here.

Mustard yellow living room with dark brown leather sofas and green rug before the farmhouseLiving room makeover

Because my home was feeling really dark overall from the existing color palette, I started updating room by room.

The kitchen was the first room to get a makeover.

It went from dark and dingy to modern farmhouse.

And I painted the whole thing myself.

Because my kitchen turned out so amazing, I wanted to paint the living room next.

But wow was this dark!

After the Living Room Makeover

To move away from the gold, cranberry, and sage tones, I painted the living room with Benjamin Moore’s Manchester Tan.

If you are not familiar with Manchester Tan, it is a true greige.

In some lighting, it has more gray tones and in other lighting, it has more beige tones.

It goes with anything and really lightened up the room.

Cozy farmhouse living room painted withe benjamin moore manchester tan with dark leather sofas, farmhouse throw pillows and vintage area rug with wood coffee table and vinrage window on wall with wreath

In addition to painting the room, I changed the area rug.

I love how neutral the room looks now after changing the area rug.

It adds a little personality without taking over the whole room.

In addition to changing the rug, I swapped out the pillows.

And I also added hanging herb boxes and beautiful white curtain semi-sheer panels.

Don’t they look so pretty?

2 arm chairs, dark leather sofas, wood coffee table and vintage area rug in farmhouse living room -Before and After Living Room

I also tucked in a lot of real and faux plants and florals to soften the room and add some warmth.

And then I restyled or repurposed my existing decor.

This coffee table got a makeover.

And I even painted the piano.

farmhouse living room ideas with stone fireplace, tv over fireplace, oversized clock, chess table, dark brown leather sofas, vintage area rug and piano

These pics were take shortly after finishing the living room.

The room looks so much different now that the piano has been painted and I’ve been decorating for the seasons.

Cozy reading nook with armchair, blanket and throw pillow with wood armoire cabinetBefore and After Living Room Makeover

This is what it looked like in spring with my gorgeous spring florals.

And here’s what it looks like in fall. I am loving all the pumpkin decor and fall florals this year!

After my living room makeover, I decided to paint my dining room and my front entry. Wait until you see how much better they look!

Piano that was painted with mineral paint andUpcycled Vintage Chalkboard Frame

Shop This Post

Pin and Save It On Pinterest!

If you like this post, please share and pin it on Pinterest. (If you hover over the image, the Pinterest button will be in the upper left corner.)

I’ve created the below-custom pin for this post.

close up of Before and After Living Room

Subscribe to the blog and gain access to information not available to the general public.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Enjoy your day! xoxo

Let’s Connect!

If you like this post, please follow me @bricksnblooms on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. Or join my Facebook Group.

7 Comments

Stacy,

One of the things I really appreciate about your blog is that it’s being done on a reasonable scale that many people can appreciate. It’s one thing to follow a blog about French provincial houses, for instance, and while lovely to see, often doesn’t translate to our “regular” houses!

admin says:

March 18, 2019 at 4:32 pm

Thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate hearing that…a lot. It means a lot to me that you are following along Taffy! I can’t wait to share the gardens!!!

Reply

Wow I used to have that yellow paint too! Such a big difference!

Stacy Ling says:

November 3, 2020 at 9:46 am

That was a very popular color – our bedroom was that same gold and I had another gold going through the whole main floor. What a difference to just lighten everything up with greigey neutrals! xoxo

Reply