Updating A Living Room Alongside A Mood Board

When Ashley excitedly sent along her living room photos after our big mood board makeover we could not wait to share them. Here is her letter:

Well here they are… our AFTER pictures! We enjoy the mood board that you put together for us. It fully helped us in getting the look we hoped. We are so glad that we replaced most of our hand-me-down furniture with more modern (yet inexpensive) pieces. We (and when I say “we” I truly mean my hard-working husband!) repainted, installed new baseboards, had new floors put in, and used your assist to bring our 1968 ranch up-to-date! We are excited to share the pictures with you and your readers! Hope you enjoy. – Ashley

But perhaps we should refresh your memory with the before pictures first:

And here is the mood board we whipped up after Ashley came to us for some assist bringing her room up to date with some crisp and current furnishings and accessories (check out more mood board details here):

Now for the big reveal. Here is what Ashley’s living room looks like after her big mood board makeover:

Is not that remarkable? It looks like a totally distinct house, right? Of course the new hardwood floor paired with those freshly painted cream walls make all the difference in the world. But bringing in rich leather and dark wood furnishings along some lighter upholstered pieces, a large textured rug, and some pops of color in the lamps, art, and glass vases on the mantel truly brought in a ton of definition and vibrance.

And it is funny to note that the fireplace was already painted white in the before photos but it formerly felt anything but crisp. Yet somehow with the new updates in place it fits right in and feels oh so fresh. And even though the room has a large dark entertainment center and two deep toned leather sofas it still feels open and airy thanks to the lighter walls, ottoman, rug, and accent chair. We are loving the balance of light and dark paired with some pleasant splashes of color. Oh and getting back to that excellent ottoman, we can totally picture it full of trays of treats while entertaining- or even simply occupied by a big Monopoly board for the family to gather around. The whole space truly is especially inviting.

So now we will take a moment to toss out a large THANK YOU to Ashley for sending us her vivid mood board after pics. We totally do the glad dance any time they pop up in our inbox. Did not she and her husband do an remarkable job bringing the mood board to life? What is your go-to part? We are loving the colorful table lamps and art that add interest and a splash of glad to their newly transformed space. So let us all shower them with praise for being so wonderful and sending us their fairly after pics. And here is hoping that more Design Dilemma after photos will be landing in our inbox quite soon…

Update: We sadly can no longer find the time to take on client commissioned mood boards (and simply whip up general inspiration boards instead) but if we ever reinstate them we will make a big announcement on the journal!