School of Decorating

Decorate with Confidence and Create a Home You Love

  • Free Class
  • Videos
  • Blog
    • How to Decorate
    • Simple DIY Projects
    • Life Tips
    • Success Stories
    • Our Home Tour
  • Classes
  • About
  • Contact

Before & After: Olive & Aubergine Living Room

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, on purchases made after following an affiliate link. See my full disclosure here.

April 17, 2013 By Jackie

I have a gorgeous before & after from one of my clients to share with you today. Cortney has done an amazing job so far bringing a custom mood board to life in her living room. This post will be heavy on the testimonial too, because Cortney had such sweet things to say and I think the journey she went on with her room is similar to what a lot of us go through to pull a space together.

Let’s take a look at a before picture:

cortneylivingbefore3

The room was crowded with oversized furniture.  The tan walls, black cabinets, and dark ottoman made the room feel dark.

Cortney wanted a fresher look and a new color palette for the space. She was torn between purple and teal as an accent color, so I showed her the same mood board two ways. She ultimately chose the Olive & Aubergine Mood Board.

PageLines- OliveAubergineFamilyRoom.jpg

OliveandTealLivingRoom

Here is what Cortney had to say about her first impressions of the mood board:

Most parts of your mood board I embraced right away but other parts it took me a little while to warm up to. Very unlike myself, I just bought the paint that you suggested (Austere grey) without sampling it or thinking very hard about it at all. I am SO glad that I didn’t! It was so funny because my dad helped me paint and each day, the whole time we would keep asking each other “What do you think? Are we going to have to re-do this whole thing?” Once the whole space was painted we both loved it. It looks GREAT with the cabinets in the kitchen. It has the perfect feel in the family room. It feels SO much brighter and it looks so different in every different light. It really is a beautiful color! On the other hand, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the stencil wall. Once we put the other pieces of the room together, it felt so light and airy, but a little bland and so I finally decided to give it a shot. I finished it this weekend and I love it. I ended up using Benjamin Moore dill pickle, about one shade more muted than the pear.

Here is how the new wall color, repainted cabinets, and stenciled walls look now:

oliveandauberginestencilwall

As Cortney worked on the room, she was still unsure about some of the elements on the mood board. Sometimes it is hard to trust in the overall design. Here is what Cortney had to say about her coffee table hesitation:

As nice as it would have been, we opted not to do the chaise since it would come too close to the door. I love our new couch. I love the chairs. I really loved the coffee table you suggested but just didn’t see how it could work. I looked and looked for something with a similar feel, but that might be a little sturdier. I finally ordered a table online that I thought would work well. It was nice but just not right for the space. Seeing it in front of the sofa, both my husband and I said, “we need the one she suggested.”

As they wait for the new coffee table to arrive, here is the before and after of the sofa area:

cortneylivingbefore1

oliveandauberginesofa

I included this roundup of DIY ideas with the mood board:

FireplaceFocalWallDIY

Painted Built Ins | Dimensional Art | Framed TV | Stenciled Wall

Cortney has already tackled a few of the DIY projects I suggested for the space.  Her dad helped her frame out the TV above the fireplace.  It is gorgeous!!!  He also built the console table behind the sofa.

tvframe
Cortney made the textured art project I recommended, but hers are on display in the kitchen, because…

I made the neutral, textural art which I love. But they are SO big. I made them 24×30. Now that I have my beautiful stencils on the wall, I don’t want to cover them up! For the time being, I am liking them over my cabinets in the kitchen.

texturalart
Let me leave you with one last before and after comparison.  I love how this shows the dramatic difference right-sized furniture can make for a space.  The smaller chair and accent stool open up the entire corner of the room.  Cortney could probably hang her DIY art to fill the wall space above the chair.

cortneylivingbefore2
oliveandauberginechair
Cortney says,

It isn’t done quite yet, but it is getting close. And I love, love, love how much better the whole room feels!
Thank you so much!

All I can say is…wow!  This is why I do what I do.  I truly believe you are the best person to decorate your own home…sometimes you just need a little push or guidance to get started.  A big thanks to Cortney for sharing her room transformation.

In case you are curious, I will be relaunching my online decorating services soon.  I am working on the new site and really happy with the results so far.  I will have a couple of new service offerings, in addition to the custom mood boards, that I am really excited about.

Sharing this post here:
Design Your Dwelling

Previous Post
Building a Room Around a Turquoise Pedestal Table
Next Post
DIY Modern Minimal Block Houses

Comments

  1. Jessie says

    April 17, 2013 at 10:25 am

    Please tell Cortney thank you on my behalf as well. I love what she has done. I love the transformation! It is coming together so nicely!

  2. Dee says

    April 17, 2013 at 11:55 am

    Fabulous! Your mood boards were great. Love the color choices.

  3. Patrina says

    April 17, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    This turned out awesome. I love both color options too:-)

  4. Natalie says

    April 17, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    I love the stenciling, such a dramatic change and so much brighter. I’m excited to see what you suggest for my room:-)

  5. [email protected] says

    April 17, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    I too love the stenciling. Was it hard to do? Whenever I’ve tried the paint is ends up uneven and gets under the stencil. I always see these beautiful stenciled walls online and wonder how people do it.

    • Jackie says

      April 18, 2013 at 10:32 am

      Char, I am going to jump in and give my two cents on stenciling. I think the question of is it hard is a relative one. I think whether or not the project will seem hard or if you will like the end results depends on you. I have personally tried stenciling on small pieces and decided it is not really for me. I am too much of a perfectionist and kind of inpatient. But if you have more patience and don’t stress if it is not absolutely perfect, than stenciling is a great and relatively easy project. If you are up for trying it again, I would do a little online research for tips and tricks. Be wary of any posts that don’t show some up close and personal results of the stencil…everything looks good and perfect from afar.

  6. Stephanie Hager says

    April 18, 2013 at 8:39 am

    I love her stenciled wall! I know just how Cortney feels. We were nervous painting our 15 ft walls this dark mocha color but it looks amazing! We also did the same thing as Cortney did with the coffee table. We tried to find a cheaper couch- we looked everywhere! My husband finally was like just get the one she picked out. It will be here next month and we are heading up to Minneapolis next weekend to pick up a majority of the remaining items!

    Also someone asked me why I would pay someone to decorate my house. By the time I’m finished I will A) have 2 beautiful spaces I love B) have saved the equivalent of the cost of the mood boards by waiting on the items to go on sale C) she saved me so much money and time by giving me a clear direction to go with my spaces. Now i dont have to buy something, only to realize it wont go with my new design. At times I felt like a raccoon, being distracted by this neat color scheme and this shiny table. I can’t wait to have it all come together!

    • Jackie says

      April 18, 2013 at 10:28 am

      Stephanie,

      Thank you for the wonderful testimonial and for trusting in the process. I can’t wait to share your before and afters :)

  7. Design For Renters says

    April 18, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    Love the two options of the mood board!

  8. [email protected] Design for Living says

    April 22, 2013 at 8:39 am

    Such a fantastic transformation. Love getting the after photos, too, Jackie. So rewarding!

  9. Lizzie says

    April 25, 2013 at 9:26 am

    Beautiful!!

    Can you tell me where that couch is from on the mood boards???

    Thank you!

    • Jackie says

      April 25, 2013 at 1:14 pm

      Thanks, Lizzie. The sofa pictured on the mood board is the York Sofa with Chaise in Natural from Room & Board.

  10. Jess @ Spool and Spoon says

    April 28, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of your online services because our open floor plan needs some sprucing up! :) I just adore how your vision became her reality :)

Hi, I'm Jackie. I believe you are the best person to decorate your home and I'm here to help.

I teach online decorating classes to help you create your dream home. Click on the images below to learn more about each class.

Take an Online Decorating Class

Best for beginners!

12 Class Bundle!

Get a free copy of my book
Free Decorating


Start reading now...

Follow Me Here

Categories

  • How to Decorate
  • Simple DIY Projects
  • Life Tips
  • Success Stories
  • Our Home Tour
I believe you are the best person to decorate your home. You just need a dash of courage and a dose of decorating know-how. That's why I created School of Decorating.

I know how frustrating it is to feel like failure at home. I also know how amazing it feels when decorating finally makes sense and your home reflects you. I want to share what I've learned so you can create a home you love without years of trial and error.

Get a free copy of my best-selling book Free Decorating

  • How to Decorate
  • Simple DIY Projects
  • Life Tips
  • Success Stories
  • Our Home Tour

© 2018 School of Decorating
 · Terms of Use 
· Privacy Policy
 · Disclaimer




This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.