Before and After: Warm Cottage Living Room Transformation

A living room and entry receive a cottage-style makeover.

After

All About

Product Ideas

A living room and entry are in need of a cohesive look, so designer Peggy Sellwood and Joan Steffend create a warm cottage look with a red and yellow color palette, beautiful slipcovers and architectural accessories.

First, the white walls are painted a bold red color. The 1950s sofa is updated with slipcovers made from silk drapes found at a garage sale and the leftover valance is used to dress up an ottoman. The seating area is completed with two chairs slipcovered in a floral fabric. Antique lace fabric is used to create simple, airy window treatments, which hang from cup hooks attached inside the casing.

Peggy re-uses many of the homeowner's original furnishings and accessories, only dressing them up with paint and other embellishments. The white cabinet is now a soft yellow, the antique mirror over the fireplace is more prominent with the addition of a white frame and the iron gate, originally behind the sofa, is now a piece of wall art. She fashions votive holders to fit in between each iron piece. The iron headboard from one of the homeowner's beds is used for the back of a wood bench. Miscellaneous accessories, like a vase, tray, painted boxes and tin container, complete the cozy design.

Before

Before the makeover this living room and entryway had no defined style. The two spaces were filled with mismatched furnishings that did not lend to a cohesive design. Now the space has an updated and unified cottage style.

A pre-sewn valance, which Sellwood found at a garage sale, is the key to making this no-sew cover.

How-to: No-Sew Ottoman Cover

Steps:

Cut a circle of fabric so that it drapes over the sides about 4". Secure with staples.

Cut a pre-sewn valance to size and wrap it around the ottoman. Secure with upholstery pins.

Hot-glue trim to the rough edge of the valance for a finished look.

Staggered on a wall, these votives make for an interesting focal point.

How-to: Wall Candlescape

Steps:

Cut wood squares to desired size. Paint, as desired.

Measure the bottom of the votive candle. Using a hole saw, cut a smaller hole out of the center of the board so that when the candle is placed in the hole it doesn't fall through.

Use flush-mount hangers to attach the board to the wall.

Makeover Information

$36 - 2 gallons of paint (Hirshfield's: red wall paint -Codman Claret Red #88129610)
$125.86 - 14 yards of fabric for chair slipcovers (JoAnn Fabrics - Richloon Fabrics - "Julie")
$8 - silk drapes used as slipcover for sofa (garage sale)
$12 - twist upholstery pins and cording (pins: JoAnn Fabrics, A/S Clear; fringe: Tuesday Morning #9032053)
$49 - 7 yards of antique lace for window treatments (JoAnn Fabrics)
$4 - cup hooks for window treatment
$25 - area rug
$18 - 1 gallon of paint (Hirshfield's)
$9 - frame
$24 - votives
$69 - bookcase (garage sale)
$13 - bench
$59 - floral area rug
$2.50 - tray and book
$9 - floral vase (Bed, Bath and Beyond - Andrea by Sadek #53706-14332)
$7 - painted boxes
$10 - tin parsley container (Nature's Harvest - #1089828)

$498.36 - Total Cost

Resources

Products
- Flower holder from Paper Warehouse
Guests
- Peggy Sellwood
  Interior Designer, P.S. Designs
  Phone: 763-473-0184
  Fax: 763-473-0186
  E-mail: sellwoodpj@aol.com