This room will be far the most boring transformation of all the decorated rooms I show you in our new house because we changed by far the least in here. Well, at least for now. Eventually we may be making some bigger changes in here but we haven’t decided yet. And it’s probably the least my style, but it is a cozy little room!
Although we are slowly making our way through the house painting all of the trim (London Fog in the kitchen/family room and Simply White throughout the rest of the house) we haven’t decided for sure yet what we are going to do in this room. We are going to save it for last and at that point decide if we want to leave it dark in here for a more colonial feel (which along with being fitting for where we live it also makes me think of New England) or if it sticks out like a sore thumb being different from the rest of the house and needs to be painted. Seeing how it will probably be quite a while before I get the trim throughout the rest of the house painted it will definitely be looking this way for a long time so I figured I would show it to you now. We did paint the walls – they were a pale not so attractive salmon color so Lillie and I painted them Soft Chamois by Benjamin Moore. And we haven’t purchased anything yet for this room except the draperies panel which are from IKEA. We just used the furniture and accessories we had which is why there are still empty shelves and things are a bit randomly placed in the shelves that do have things.
I need to hang some pictures on the walls and I plan on making some new plaid pillows in the next couple of months that will give it an even more cozy feel for fall and winter and eventually putting a piano in here on the back wall behind the sofa (I’ve been been keeping my eye out on craigslist when I think of it but we aren’t in any hurry for one – that’s more of just a someday kind of thing).
I really like how the wingback chairs look in here but as much as I loved our sofa at our last two homes I don’t love as much how it looks here. I think it would be so pretty to have maybe a linen colored tufted sofa in here or maybe even a Chesterfield leather one! That’s just me daydreaming though. We definitely don’t have any plan for purchasing anything new for in here. There are a ton of other things I’d like to change in other rooms that are years and years ahead of that on my list. =)
I hope you all have a blessed Thursday!
This is so warm and cozy yet very elegant. It reminds me of the rustic luxe look that is so popular right now. It is very refreshing to see a room with stained wood in it.
Where did you find your rug? Ours is about to bite the dust and I am dreading purchasing a new one!
Love this room. It's SO different from your old house!
Believe it or not this is a SUPER cheap rug from Lowe's. We got it a few years ago thinking it would just be temporary until we found what we were looking for but it's held up well and stuck around. =) And yes, this room is sooooo different from our last house. Haha!
A cozy room indeed! Your white slipped furniture looks fabulous up against the wood paneling!
I love the dark contrast in there! The light colored furniture keeps it from being too dark. Very cozy comfy homey! ~Kim
I just love the dark wood and the spinning wheel…beautiful!
I love the dark mantel and bookshelves, hope you don't paint it
all white!
Corinne
A clean, classy colonial look! Nice.
Hi Jennifer: While I read here, regularly, I rarely comment. I love your decorating style; everything you do is beautiful. The reason I am commenting, today, is that I go back & forth on paint vs. stain. Our MA home is a combination, and I have been toying with painting the trim in a couple rooms. Seeing your den/study in stain (which I really like) made me realize that our stained trim family room is fitting; thanks for saving me time on painting! At our lake place, my husband loves the stained woodwork; said it reminds him of a lodge. Wishing you yrs of happiness in your new home. Cindy
Thanks for sharing your transformation!
I luv the pop of white against the dark wood. The white keeps it from being too dark but maintains a very cozy feel.
I love the dark wood in there. It looks nice.
yet somehow you have made it beautiful! Well done and a great idea to look at it for awhile to figure out exactly what you want to do with it!
Tami
I agree with Bailey. The contrast is great!
I get the whole England feel to the room and I like it.
I like the wood the way it is, in this room. It really adds alot of charm and character.
It looks lovely. Nice to not paint everything, and your furniture is a great color contrast and connection to your style. Can't wait to see official pics of the kitchen.
i LOVE this room! especially the high contrast with the chairs against the bookcases. i have a colonial feel in my home although no one is ever able to say what my style is but they always love it. live with it for at least one fall/winter & you might fall in love with it. it will lighten up a considerably with the right things on the shelves. use a quilt or throw on the sofa with some of your beautiful pillows and the only thing it will need is a piano and memories cause my bet is this will be a place where many family memories will be made đŸ™‚ suzi
I love the contrast! Im imagining light colored books and mercury glass and sconces with light colored shades above the fireplace in here. I just love it! Its beautiful!
I like the room with the wood paneling. I think it does have a cozy dark feeling…which might be nice for a change of pace. I love the idea of a leather chesterfield!
Jenni – I just got "caught up" on reading your blog, I hadn't had a chance in awhile. Wow! Your house looks absolutely amazing!! I am stunned at how quickly you get things done and how beautiful it looks! You must be so excited to be able to get settled in! Miss you all!
Have you considered painting just the mantle? I think that would really show the stained bookshelves nicely. Just a thought.
Thank you! We are considering that along with several other options – it's so hard to decide!
I think you need some of the pretty wood showing with your light colors. Looks cozy!
It is a beautiful room Jennifer. I love the contrast with the dark wood and light colored walls and furnishings. I picture a nice roaring fire in the winter, the girls cuddled up together under a chunky knit throw reading a book. It's a lovely cozy room.
Wow! I can't wait to see more pictures of your house. What lovely woodwork. I understand the difficulty in knowing what to do with it. White would look so lovely – but it's a one-way trip. Here's my 2 cents – I would restain the wood to a lighter, natural wood color, that is greyed down a little. I'm thinking of the natural wood finishes that are so popular right now at Restoration Hardware. It would give you the warmth and texture of the natural wood, but without the dark color and the harsh contrasts. I just can't wait to see what you do in your new house. This is my favorite blog to read!
It is really interesting to me to see the doors in each room, and that it is often two sets of doors in a room. Our house is on the opposite coast, and we have a great room; it's what most of the houses here have and what I have known all my life in homes here and in another nearby state. Seeing the rooms with doors is so different!
The dark wood works so beautifully with your wingback chairs…and that spinning wheel is fab!…xv
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This room is so cozy. And all those shelves to style! I can't wait to see how you style them, I think with neutral themed styling of the shelves this room will reflect more of the signature (and gorgeous might I add) Dear Lillie feel. Well done yet again! Enjoy the weekend.
~Laura
What a pretty calm and cozy room! LOVE the whites with the dark woods Jennifer! Like everything you do… really beautiful!
Jenni you have exquisite style!
I think the bookshelves would be wonderful filled with white objects- white covered books, white vases, white balls, letters — I think the whole room is very nice with all the white!
As a native Virginian, and a old house lover I was a little disapointed that you decided to paint all that hard wood trim in the rest of your home, but as I compare your great room area to this library, I totally get it. I think I might have just painted the chair rail and left the other wood, but I can tell that just isn't your style – and honestly, you're style is beautiful so I can't fault you for it.