You guys! I can’t believe that today is the day I get to show you around our new modern coastal sitting room!

The six weeks completely flew by and I’m so happy that I took on this One Room Challenge. This room pushed my limits and I had a really good time dreaming it up and making it come to life — and can we just take a quick pause and enjoy those beautiful built ins that I built pretty much all by myself!

I can’t wait to sip my wine in here!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here for the full disclosure.

But before we go any further, can we just take a minute to remember what this space looked like just a month and a half ago?

The “formal living room” before the makeover

First of all, we NEVER used this room and since it took up half of this big open room my plans for our eventual bigger dining room had no space. Now that the sitting room only takes up about a third of the room, there will be enough room for the ideas I have for our dining room.

There was too much furniture, not a ton of personality and this room always felt a bit dark, since it doesn’t get a ton of light.

But actually let’s take a look at how this room has evolved over the last 7 years…

This is what we started with when we first moved in. — Off white EVERYTHING!!!

Then we moved our furniture in and I had a major case of playing it too safe.

Greige walls with tan furniture and a barely color on the curtains.

Pretty much just looked like a bunch of stuff in a room. — I’m feeling embarrassed right now, but I have a duty to show you where I started so hopefully you’ll feel motivated to keep on working on your decorating skillz!

Ok. So now that you can see that I’m a human being that makes decorating mistakes like the best of them, let’s move on to where this room is now! -Gosh I’m glad I’ve taken the time to learn to decorate and create a decor plan!

What I did to makeover this space

First we painted the walls white. I used a cool white. That means I picked a white with a slight blue undertone and it bounces the natural light that does come in really nicely.

Next I got started on building this built-in.

It’s hard to find a lot of character in the Southern California suburbs where I live and I thought adding a built in similar in style to the built-in we created in our family room but with a window seat would give the room some character, add storage and display space, and provide seating without taking up as much space as a sofa.

If you followed my progress over the six weeks here or on Instagram, you’ll know that this build took up a good chunk of the time it took to makeover this room. It also forced me to learn to use a few new power tools — which I love, and best of all it made me realize what I’m capable of when it comes to building really cool stuff! –– I already have a list of more big builds that this project inspired!

Product Sources:  bamboo roman shade, white fur pillow, blue velvet pillow, yellow pillow.

I really love that these shelves give me an opportunity to display pretty things and add color to the room. — Even ugly books can get covered in pretty paper and suddenly they’re displayable!

Product Sources: leather cabinet pulls- Ikea

We are already making use of this space to curl up and read and I’m sure my kiddos will love looking out the window on rainy days.

Product Sources:  pink throw – Homegoods, blue and white pillow, yellow pillow, bamboo roman shade

I loved the shape of the modern wingback chairs that I had in the room originally. I found them on Craigslist years ago and had to grab them even though I knew they weren’t the right color.

So when it came time to do this room I knew I wanted to have them reupholstered. I got a few estimates and was really discouraged at how expensive it was ($575 per chair) and definitely considered doing them myself, after all I’ve reupholstered dining chairs before. But the stitching on these is really unique and I didn’t think it would be something I could get really really right.

So I tried one more upholstery place that I had actually used before but they had moved and they were so much more reasonable and he did a really great job! I got both chairs reupholstered in a deep blue velvet fabric that I got online for $400. Much better than $575 per chair.

Product Sources:  pink throw – Homegoods, blue and white pillow, grey and white rug, bamboo roman shade

I headed to Ikea with the giant wave canvas art in mind for this wall. I’ve literally been wanting to buy that wave art for years but never had a place for it until now.

And of course as soon as I am ready to buy it they don’t carry it anymore. –This always happens to me!

So after moping around about it for a few days I decided to google it to see if it was sold anywhere esle. — No luck.

Then I typed “Ikea wave art” into Craigslist and someone down the street from my mom had posted it for only $25 the day before!!!! I was stoked! And did I mention that I was headed to my mom’s for dinner that night? Crazy meant to be right?

Product Sources:  pink throw – Homegoods, blue and white pillow, grey and white rug, bamboo roman shade

So that’s a wrap on this room folks! 

It’s been really fun sharing the process of this room makeover with you in “real time”. UPDATE:  Here’s the detailed tutorial for those beautiful built-ins so you can create some character in your home (downloadable plans and measurements included)! And see How I made the bench cushion for the window seat – It’s is a lot easier than you might think!

Planning this space and making it happen was easy because I stuck to my decor plan. Having a decor plan sets boundaries for my decor so there are less choices and much less overwhelm as a result.

If a decor plan sounds like something you need, I invite you to read more about my signature course, Style Your Way Home, where I walk you step-by-step through discovering and defining your decor style and creating a decor plan of your own.

Shop My Living Room

Click Each Photo for Sources!