Tan, Blue, and Blush Living Room Decor {The New House}

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Hey Friends! We’re coming up on the 1-year mark of our move from Texas to Arkansas. In some ways, it’s hard to believe it has been that long already; in other ways though it feels like this has always been our house. Time is funny like that, isn’t it?

Well, I’ve been working on pulling together a whole new decor scheme for this house, and it’s taken me a bit longer than I would have liked. But that is the stage of life we are in right now–the days seem to fly by and I never quite feel like I get all the things done I would have liked.

I’ve learned to be a patient decorator though.  Pulling a truly personalized space together takes time. I mean, sure, you can go grab a whole suite of furniture from the big box store and then grab some generic decor to fill in the holes, but what fun is that? 😉 I

‘ve always preferred a more collected look that develops over time; I think that makes for a much more interesting room, don’t you?

You may remember our old living room looked like this–a cool color scheme mostly:

I really did love my green couch . . .  but it had seen better days! After 12 years and 3 boys (plus a dog and two cats), it was really ready to retire. 

With my kids being a bit older too, I wanted to create a bit more upscale look for our new house–still a space that is livable and fits an active family, but that is still classy and elegant.

So here is what our new house living room looked like when we moved in:

I knew I wanted the walls to be lighter, and to have more neutral furniture.  I wrote about my plan back last year, if you want to see that post here

It took several months to find our base furniture pieces (couch, chairs, and entertainment center), and now I’m working on filling in accents. 

It’s not allllll the way finished (I still need to find a coffee table, and I’ve got a big mantle makeover in the works!), but it’s far enough along that I can share some photos with you! Wanna see?

 

New Living Room

I focused on building the space around tan, blue, and a few blush color accents.  The walls were painted in SW Agreeable Gray to provide a neutral, slightly warm backdrop for the furniture and decor.

I LOVE our new sofa! It is comfortable, elegant, and the fabric camouflages dirt really well (which is still important in our house!)

Splurges and Steals

I’m a big believer in budget-friendly decorating. Some things are worth investing in–like quality upholstered pieces, or statement antiques or decor–other pieces can be tossed in that are lower budget.

For our living room, we did splurge on new upholstered furniture–the couch and 2 chairs (we purchased them from this fantastic family-own family business!). 

But remember how we had our old green couch for 12 years? Yep, I like to keep my furniture for a looooong time! So in my mind it’s worth spending a bit more on quality built pieces that will last for a decade or more.

 But there are plenty of steals in this room as well! Like the large floral print above the sofa–that was a thrift store find for $19!!

This little side table that sits between our two chairs was also a steal– $45 at Hobby Lobby. And my cats love hanging out underneath it 🙂

I still think my corner table counts as a steal too, even though it was a bit more expensive than the floral print or Hobby Lobby table.

It’s actually a true antique–made from Hungarian pine wood! I found it a small antique store that was going out of business, so I paid about 75% off the sticker price, which makes it feel like a steal for sure!

And another win for the budget–the curtains were actually from my old house! They fit this space perfectly and are the exact right color I needed.

I like mixing old and new pieces in my rooms; like the old pine table with our new chairs and Hobby Lobby table. I think old and new pieces can work together well in a space, and mixing them is a way to add a lot of character.

Rounding out the space so far are a few blush accents (like these pillows I bought from Pottery Barn), and some greenery, candles, and books.

How cute us that tiny fiddle leaf fig?

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this gorgeous arrangement! My best friend sent it to me for my 40th birthday, and I think they are the prettiest bunch of flowers I have ever received.

There are a few other elements of the room I’m not quite ready to share yet 🙂 But once I get them together, I’ll write up another post that shows the whole space pulled together.

So that’s it! Eleven months of work, I do wish I was all the way finished! But I am loving what has come together so far, and I know the rest will eventually too.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek inside our home! And maybe you’ve been inspired a bit to freshen up your own space, whether with steals or a few splurges!

 

 

 

Marieza

Wednesday 28th of June 2023

Your livingroom's new look is absolutely beautiful! Well done!

Melanie Alexander

Thursday 29th of June 2023

Thank you so much! We are really enjoying it :)

Donna Marie

Friday 17th of April 2020

I like what you have done!

Melanie

Tuesday 21st of April 2020

Thank you so much!

Donna Marie

Friday 17th of April 2020

I like what you have done!

Melanie

Tuesday 21st of April 2020

Thank you so much!

Skell

Friday 17th of April 2020

It all works for me except.....the floral above the new sofa sits too high. Right now I see it as floating in mid-air. Experiment with grounding it by lowering the picture, maybe four inches -plus or minus. Rule of thumb as I understand it, is whatever plane your eyes will predominately be on should be heart of focal point...in this case it's the floral. Since sitting is the "preferred" position in a living room, it could stand to be dropped a bit. Hopefully you're not offended by this comment. We all learn by sharing.

Melanie

Tuesday 21st of April 2020

Thank you for your feedback :) We will take a look again at the picture and see if we should move it down . . . I am trying to avoid my kids messing with it (the couch is still kind of a personal playground for them!) and we do have a tall element to the right of the sofa (which I don't share in the photos) that I was trying to balance out. But it's worth looking at again!

Skell

Friday 17th of April 2020

It all works for me except.....the floral above the new sofa sits too high. Right now I see it as floating in mid-air. Experiment with grounding it by lowering the picture, maybe four inches -plus or minus. Rule of thumb as I understand it, is whatever plane your eyes will predominately be on should be heart of focal point...in this case it's the floral. Since sitting is the "preferred" position in a living room, it could stand to be dropped a bit. Hopefully you're not offended by this comment. We all learn by sharing.

Melanie

Tuesday 21st of April 2020

Thank you for your feedback :) We will take a look again at the picture and see if we should move it down . . . I am trying to avoid my kids messing with it (the couch is still kind of a personal playground for them!) and we do have a tall element to the right of the sofa (which I don't share in the photos) that I was trying to balance out. But it's worth looking at again!

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