Redesigned Room by Room: The Formal Living Room

So...i had a totally different vision for our formal living room. I never have owned or lived in a place that had two sitting rooms. I was sort of going for a very formal but fun space for the formal living room and a casual, comfy style for the den.  I imagined it like something HGTV's Secret from a Stylist, Emily Henderson, may have designed. Something like this!

photo via Emily Henderson

Rich color with some mid century modern pieces! But.....our furniture was a little bigger than we had anticipated and so the "den" furniture we already owned had to be the formal living room furniture instead. So my hopes of a "formal" living room literally went out the back door, down the deck stairs and back through the front door.

So this was the room before.

And this is the room now. Until we can figure out another style concept in this room the theme is currently rustic comfort.

My adorable friend, Christen from Fashionplate Cheapskate, who I miss terribly did a whole post on mason jars here. She even gave me one of the best gifts ever, a mason jar filled with memories.  I decided to use that same mason jar as a design concept and build around that. I have spotted some antique suitcases and a few other pieces around town already that may soon be moving into this room for a bit more color and intrigue.

Hey, maybe I could redesign that rustic comfort living room into a rehearsal dinner invite. I previously mentioned it in this post that I was working on a design for a client.  She decided to go another direction for the invites {which I will post soon} but here is the final layout.

So stay tuned and I will keep working on this unformal living room and report back.