Low-Cost Living Room Redo

Don't Break the Bank

Redecorating doesn't always require a lofty budget. Stylist Rebecca Hawkins gave this living room an entirely new look without spending a lot of money.

By rearranging furniture, eliminating clutter, and bringing in accessories from other rooms, the space was reinvented to look effortlessly designed and to better suit the family's lifestyle.

Problem: TV and Toys

Previously, the furniture was centered on the fireplace, the focal point of the room, but with the addition of a 42-inch television, the homeowner didn’t know how to accommodate the TV in a natural way.

There was also the problem of too many toddler's toys underfoot in the room. The coffee table/trunk served as storage, but the room needed an easier solution.

Solution: Controlled Chaos

Seating was repositioned so the family could enjoy the new purchase. Rebecca found a mirror elsewhere in the house to hang beside a smaller painting over the television, creating a pretty vignette with three different shapes.

She also added square baskets which can easily be filled with toys and stacked out of the way.

Problem: Small Art

The homeowner knew this painting, although one of her favorites, was too small for the wall where it was hanging. But she couldn’t afford to go out and buy something large. The bookshelves, too, drove her crazy with their mess and wasted space.

Solution: Restored Order

Rather than try to find a bigger painting, the stylist grouped all the homeowner’s small artwork together, salon style, on the wall. The effect is abundant and casual, just the right tone for a family house.

She also organized the shelves, removing tattered paperbacks and placing pieces from the homeowner’s collections among neat stacks and rows of books.

Problem: Mantel Disaster

The mantelpiece had become a place for the homeowner to keep breakables out of her toddler’s reach. Objects were stashed there with no consideration for scale or shape. She needed someone to compose order out of chaos.

Solution: Marvelous Mantel

The stylist tackled the problems of scale, introducing large elements and texture into the mantel design. She took two photographic prints, which had been hanging awkwardly over the television, and placed them on the mantel.

A group of three large carved-wood vases have strong visual impact and bring the warm texture of wood, which is echoed around the room in the water hyacinth trunk, the matchstick blinds, and the wicker baskets.

By Lydia Somerville, Senior Editor
Styled by Rebecca Sowell Hawkins