I initially wasn’t planning on sharing any images of this room but then figured it might be fun to share a few and show a little trick for making off-centered windows appear more centered. This is a great room and if we we owned this home I think there are some really fun changes we could make in here with the ceiling, floor and fireplace area to really update it, but because we are renting we stuck with some simple little touches that are great for renting. First, we put a large area rug down. We used the one from our family room at our last house. This really helps break up all of the gray on gray and add some interest to the room. Then we added window treatments. Window treatments can immediately warm up a space and help make a room look more finished.

In this room the fireplace isn’t centered between the windows and there are a bunch of light switches and outlets all along that wall. To help give that wall a more symmetrical and less distracting look I hung the curtains in a way that makes it look like the windows are centered. So for the left window I hung them how I normally would (and just folded under the left drapery panel so that it look okay going up the stairs). For the window to the right of the fireplace I hung the curtain rod in a way that allows the left panel to really only be covering the wall area and then the right panel covers more of the window area. It’s kind of hard to explain in writing but in the before and after show below you can see what I mean a little better. And then I made sure to hang the rods as high as I could. If I had longer curtain panels I would have hung the rods even higher than I did so that they would be above the built in cabinet above the mantel but I was using what I had so just hung those panels as high as I could and still have the bottoms of the panel be touching the floor. It’s not perfect but I definitely think it helps give that wall a more finished look. I’ve done this little curtain trick quite a few times before including in the guest room at my brother’s house a few years ago (although you really can’t tell in the before shot of that room that the window isn’t centered on the wall).

The only other change we made in here was to change out the fan that didn’t work for a light fixture which I think is a fun addition to the room! We used all our existing furniture from our family room at our last house although we did borrow some chairs that used to be in my office and a TV stand that used to be in our bonus room. If we were going to be here longer I would probably come up with a better solution for the TV but I don’t want to spend any money seeing how this is temporary, and it’s functional so this works for now!

Another thing we did was try to hide the large cabinet above fireplace as best we could for now. There were two command hooks already on the door of the cabinet so I just hung one of our largest canvases on those for now. I think I may try to either made a basic wood frame for the canvas that helps completely cover the white cabinet or buy a large blank canvas and paint something on it so it’s completely covered. For now though, the large canvas helps!

And here’s another angle of the room:

Source Information:

Wall Color – We are renting so don’t have that info but I’ve held up my swatches and it is very close to Balboa Mist by Benjamin Moore
Trim Color -We are renting so don’t have that info but I’ve held up my swatches and it is very close to Brilliant White by Benjamin Moore
No info on the carpet
Light Fixture – Wayfair
Rug – Wayfair 10 by 14’5″ size
Chaise Sectional Sofa – Rose from Interior Define in their Narwhal Mod Velvet Fabric and White Oak with Antique Caster legs in the 117″ length 
Coffee Table Trunk with Drawers – Birch Lane
Wood Leaf Bowl – World Market
Vase – World Market
Chairs – Bassett Furniture Serafina Chairs – Fabric # 1369-71
Gold Ring Chest – Soft Surroundings  several years ago (painted Wrought Iron by BM)
Wreath – Birch Lane
Mirror – Soft Surroundings
TV Stand – HomeGoods a few years ago
Boxes in TV Stand – Birch Lane
Books – Vintage
Floral Painting – Deann
Large Barn Painting – was a gift passed down from family – no further info
Snowshoes – Vintage, gift from my mom years ago
Garland and Greenery – Faux and all purchased years ago at a local shop that is now closed
Christmas Tree – Wal-Mart
Polka Dot Stockings – Pottery Barn Kids years ag0
Basket by Fireplace – World Market
Draperies – IKEA Ritva 96″ panels
Curtain Rods – Target
Pillows – Mostly from HomeGoods
Sailboat – Joss and Main years ago
Picture Frames on Wall – IKEA Ribba

I hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday! I’ve got one more post of our rental to share before Christmas. Hoping I can get it finished up for Friday or Saturday.

Warmly, Jenni