So… the living room. At first it looked like this:
Then it changed to this:
Then this:
And now it looks like this:
Even though the salmon-pink walls, orange-brown brick, and the dark wood trim and paneling aren’t exactly the long-term vision for the room (we keep refining our ideas), it already feels much more like home. Someday we imagine giving the brick a different treatment, adding coffered ceilings, and updating the paneling. For now, though, it’s nice to have an actual couch to sit on instead of piles of non-sit-on-able furniture.
Also, this is a small and important observation: salmon really suits Burger. He looks ridiculously handsome in that color. I may be biased, but come on—what a look.
About our sectional “shrink” — our last house had an enormous 25-foot living room, so we had a massive sectional that was roughly thirteen feet long and nearly as deep. It suited that space, but it’s far too big for this house, where a cozier setup makes more sense.
We actually missed the snug den from our first house the most, so it felt like fate when this living room reminded us of that cozy space. The smaller scale suits how we like to live and how we use the room.
Our Ikea Karlstad sectional came in four interchangeable pieces, so we simply removed the loveseat and corner piece to convert it from a U-shaped giant into a sofa with a chaise. We kept the sofa and chaise, reattached the exterior arm to the sofa section, and removed the extra pieces. It only took about fifteen minutes and instantly made the room feel proportional.
The two pieces we removed are stored in the unfinished storage room under a plastic drop cloth. We decided not to try selling them because a partial set is hard to move and likely wouldn’t fetch much. It’s more useful to keep them in case we need them for a future space.
Behind the sofa we reused a console we built a couple of years ago. It was made in three interlocking sections; by leaving out the center piece it nearly fits the shortened sofa. There’s about a six-inch overhang on one side, but it works for now until we can trim it to size to fit this room perfectly.
We’ve found that the combination of a console behind the sofa and a padded ottoman in front is very functional for our family: the console is handy for drinks and remotes, and the ottoman stores toys and gives Clara a comfy place to lounge.
One small styling change: the second opening in the brick fireplace, originally meant for firewood, felt like a dark void whenever I looked across the room. Since the fireplace isn’t functional and we’d eventually like to add a gas insert, I covered that niche with a leaning frame to soften the view.
On the other side of the room is an 80s wet bar we’ve kept closed off for now. We’re considering expanding the kitchen doorway into that space later, but in the meantime I enjoyed styling the corner built-ins with books, ceramics, and a few small decorative pieces.
When the house was full of moving chaos, arranging the shelves felt like a small, calming victory. On moving day this corner looked cluttered…
…and within 24 hours it looked like this, which made the whole place feel a bit more settled even though the rest of the house was still a mess.
We also removed several interior doors on the first floor to improve flow. Two sets of doors were blocking the path from the foyer to the kitchen and from the kitchen to the living room; taking them down makes the spaces feel open and lets us keep an eye on Clara while we’re cooking.
Now when you enter you get a glimpse of the big bay windows in the kitchen instead of seeing two heavy doors right at the entry. The house still has some wild color choices when multiple rooms come into view at once, but opening things up was a good first step.
We also removed the doors between the kitchen and dining room. Even with dark blue trim, lots of wood paneling, and several different wallpapers throughout the house, the rooms already feel breezier. Wallpaper removal and refinishing are high on my list of projects—I plan to try several techniques and share honest results about what works and what doesn’t. It’s the kind of project that genuinely excites me, and I can’t wait to get started.