Warm Up A Living Room That is Feeling Stark, step by step

While the majority of America seems to enjoy hoarding and clutter, John and I are lone mice. Or whatever the opposite of a pack rat would be. But there is a fine line between clean, uncluttered spaces and cold, stark rooms. It is not an straightforward assessment to make on your own. But I was able to make an honest evaluation by photographing each of our rooms and then comparing each room in our house to rooms in decorating magazines and go-to furniture catalogs like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Ballard Designs.

I swiftly realized that while our rooms were clean and plain, they were severely lacking in the design department. So of course I was spurred to action. I feverishly began to move furniture around. And when the dust cleared, I had a good idea of what was working, and what I needed to add to my wish list. The main shift occurred in the den, a room that is consistently been tricky due to its long narrow layout. Another chair, an end table and a slew of rotated accessories truly did make a big difference. Here is the ho-hum before:

And the warmer and more welcoming after:

Seems less bare and boring, right? Plus there is one more place to sit (and rest a drink). Total bonus. The crazy part is that the side table was salvaged from our basement’s garage sale pile. So pleasant to have a little “store” in our basement to raid for extra pieces.