Living Room Update

About a year ago, I replaced my bookshelves and it planted the seed for potentially doing a real makeover of my living room. Replacing my black shelves with the white, airy looking ones I now own made such a huge difference. It brightened up the entire space and made it seem even bigger. I realized that I wanted to replace all my dark furniture with lighter tones and really go through all my decor (it's amazing what you can accumulate in 6 years) and get rid of stuff.

I took my time though because let's face it, interior designing is expensive, which is why I took baby steps. I started with the shelves. A few months after that, I changed my TV console. Then I paused. I didn't want to rush things and make the mistake of buying furniture that didn't fit the vibe of the room and later feel stuck with those items.  So I made this:

I found images of the furniture and rug I already had, recreated my living room layout in Photoshop and then added in the items I was thinking about buying to see if they'd work. I did this over and over until I was happy with the final product and I'm so glad I took the time to do this! I still made a couple (minor!) changes on the actual day of buying everything but this really helped me lay down the groundwork for the new look. I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out so without further ado, here's a little living room tour! 

It's been two months and I still admire my living room constantly. It looks SO bright and airy now which I love. (I also love that all my books fit with space for more ☺) 

And for a more detailed look (with links!):
Bookshelf | FJÄLKINGE Shelf unit decorated with mugs and photos (Anthropologie is a go-to for picture frames!)

Couch area | Room & Board sofa; assorted pillows from H&M, Lulu & Georgia and Target;
West Elm Clover coffee table (no longer available), Wayfair Iris end table (no longer available), Men in Red print from Minted

Glass cabinet | FABRIKÖR glass-door cabinet filled with classics, vinyl records, graphic novels, souvenirs from travel/shows and more.

More Books + TV console | BILLY Bookcase, Crosby Glass Shade Floor Lamp Brass, Mercury Row Meade TV Stand (since taking this photo, I've done a better job of hiding all the cords!)

Last bookshelf | West Elm Ladder Bookshelf, ÅRSTID Floor lamp

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In general, if you're thinking about redecorating any part of your home, here's what I suggest:

1. Plan ahead. Don't rush anything and think about the room as a whole when making any furniture purchases. 
2. Choose a color scheme for furniture. I went with brown-black when I first moved into my place (for reasons I can't remember) and it was all wrong for me. But I didn't want just one color so I with went a mix of white and walnut brown. 
3. Don't be too picture perfect. It's easy to look at magazines or interior design bloggers and marvel at how perfect everything looks or how minimalistic. If that's your style, then great. But in my case, I wanted the space to look put together AND lived in. I wanted personal touches from my interests, travels and life to permeate the space. 
4. Really consider layout and colors. It's crazy what moving around a couple pieces of furniture or doing something as simple as white curtains can do for your space in terms of making it feel bigger. (This is especially for my fellow apartment renters where space is everything.) 
5. Look online! I love Target, IKEA and West Elm as much as the next person. But some of my favorite purchases have been chances I took on sites like Lulu & Georgia, CB2, Wayfair, Joss & Main, H&M or Zara Home. 

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That's my living room! Hope you enjoyed the tour and 

feel inspired to make some changes of your own.