We had recently purchased our home sight unseen, for the second time, and I had just started the @thegoodwrench account. While filtering through DIY projects, I noticed many of my peers were doing something called the “One Room Challenge.” The ORC is an excuse to tackle a project around the house with a group of people across the world. I was sold. You can see another one of my ORC projects, here, where I tackled the primary bedroom makeover. I wanted a beautiful, bright, maximalist design for the formal living room.
The design inspiration
Since I had discovered this bright and gorgeous rug on the Anthropologie website, I used it as the main inspiration for the room. I was going for maximalist vibe. It was my mood board, all in one. I called it the “Leopurrd Room” where I intended to give the formal living room a maximalist design.
Months before, I ordered the gorgeous rug but due to pandemic related shipping issues, it took almost 5 months to arrive. I was fortunate in that the bright wall color the previous owner used was colorful, vibrant and the perfect complement to the maximalist rug.
Prior to moving into the home, our now living room used to be the dining room. The previous owners had a solid, single piece, 12-seater dining table that was to-die-for-stunning. They used this large room for this set because there was no other room in the home that would fit it. Since the wall color was already gorgeous, I tackled the design and décor of the room and left the walls alone.
We didn’t have a large dining set, so I changed out the light fixture and turned it into our living space. It was literally that easy to transition the room.
Once I had the light fixture, the rug and the couch (I had purchased this from Arhaus a few months prior to the ORC), it was time to do something about this drop-off into our sunken living room. I referred to this drop-off as the “step of death.” With three small kids in the home, I needed to do something to block off these steps.
I contemplated many things, but was really looking for an excuse to build something. So, I ordered these planter boxes, and built these wooden inserts to house faux plants from Hobby Lobby. It was a perfect, inexpensive solution that I love mostly because the plants are maintenance free (wink* wink*)
The best part about this entire room makeover, is the Leopard watercolor painting. Not only is it massive, breathtaking and impressive, it was done by my mom, who is an incredible artist. I am so proud of her hard work as she is constantly trying to educate herself in watercolor paintings. How gorgeous is this?
Once I had the main elements in the room: lighting, rug, furniture, painting and planters, I topped off the entire room with décor for the final reveal.
The “Leopurrd Room”: a formal Living Room with a Maximalist design. It is quite feisty… Would you ever try a maximalist design in your formal living room?
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