The Yellow Cape Cod: My Living Room Mini Makeover Reveal

Quick announcement, I have a few openings left for design projects this month. Now is the time to make your reservation for an online design plan before we are full (click here for more info).

This fall, a new rug and the changing leaves outside inspired me to give our Living Room a mini-makeover. It took less than a half hour to put together and I only changed 5 items in the space, but it was enough to give my Living Room a bright, warm, cozy new look for fall.

Here is a design board I put together that shows some of my existing design elements along with the five new pieces...

When I begin designing a space, I start by creating a design board that includes items I plan to purchase along with images of items that may already be in the space. Once I had my design board finished, I was confident that the new accessories I chose were going to look great with my existing furniture.

Here is a look at the actual space...

The new look began with the Francesa Area Rug. I fell in love with this rug for it's gorgeous, bold pattern and it's high contrast color palette of gray, black and gold. The rug has a soft, welcoming look yet it's graphic and eye catching at the same time.

I used my new rug as a "color roadmap" to choose other accent pieces to use in the space. I found velvet pillow covers and a chunky knit throw blanket at Potterybarn in a gorgeous shade of yellow. They are not an exact match to the yellow in the rug, but they complement each other. Having a little variation in tone gives the look a little more depth and interest rather than having perfectly matching pillows, throw and rug.

The grays and blacks featured in the rug play well with the black and white pillows I already had in the space. The patterns go nicely together as well. Large stripes, small graphic patterns and a contemporary floral is always a winning pattern combination.

When I originally designed our Living Room years ago, I selected mostly neutral furniture. I kept all of the color and pattern in the space contained in accent pieces, art and accessories. This allows me to change up the look of the room for the seasons quite easily and inexpensively.

I'm really enjoying the yellow accent color, particularly right now during the beginning of fall. This is the time of year when it begins to get dark very early in Michigan. Having a bright, cheery accent color in the living room will be a mood elevator. The yellow also complements the gorgeous bright yellow trees autumn delivers every year just outside the windows of this room.

The five elements that were introduced in this mini makeover were; a new rug, yellow pillow covers, a chunky yellow throw blanket, a new yellow lamp and a piece of art on the mantle.

As I mentioned earlier, it took less than a half an hour for me to switch out the rug, cover my green pillows with the yellow velvet covers, change out my lamps and toss the new throw on the zebra chair. In addition to the design board tip, there is another secret to having it come together this easily...it's a secret tip that I use when I'm designing for my clients and I want to take ALL the guess work out of coordinating a rug with accessories...

...When you order your new rug, order an extra rug in the smallest size possible. Having a small version of your rug allows you to take a sample of your large rug with you to the store when shopping for the other design elements. I ordered a 3 foot round version of my rug that was the perfect size to shop with. The small rug can be used to create a real life design board out of samples of items you are collecting. Once your room is put together you can use your small rug as an accent rug in an adjacent space. For instance, I'm using my small round rug in front of our french door.

Here is a look back at my living room as it was decorated for the Spring and Summer months...

I absolutely love the green accents during the warm, sunny seasons. I'm looking foward to having the warm, golden yellow tones during the dark, cooler months.