LCY Personal Project: Living room makeover part 1

The next couple days will include a series of before/after posts on a long-standing project: my mom's living room. While it had always been a cozy, nicely-put-together room, it was definitely showing its age. Reminiscent of late 90's traditional decor (which was the last time the room was redecorated), an oak, bronze-y color palette dominated the space with a huge touch of rose-colored chenille in the form of an antique love seat. We will refer to the latter as the ick factor.

Here it is: The ick factor.

Purchased for $40 or so in a junk resale shop, this piece was falling apart and covered in some grimy, torn lime green material when my mom bought it almost 15 years ago. She took it in to get fixed up and reupholstered, and to everyone's surprise, there was still real horsehair in the interior construction. The man who did the upholstery - after first offering to buy it off my mom - priced it at a couple thousand dollars once it was finished. (I won't even go into why she chose the pink chenille fabric back then, but I think I actually helped her make that decision.)

As you can see, it had become a bit of an eyesore in the room.

Inspiration:

Inspired by the work of my mom's designer role model, Sarah Richardson of Design Inc., we agreed to do the room in light neutrals and decided to do the love seat in a grey tone. I saw this in a specialty shop downtown and snapped pictures as inspiration.

It had beautiful embroidered details, which we were not planning on adding due to the channeling.

The Happy Outcome!

We went with a light grey duct fabric. Casual yet elegant.

The man who did this upholstery significantly improved the shape and quality of the channelling and seat cushion. (Of course leaving the horsehair for historic preservation.)

Many more before/after photos to follow over the next couple of days, including a fireplace mantel redo, new art for the walls, and the furniture rearrangement that initially inspired the rest of the makeover!