Library & Living Room : Makeover Part 1

Melissa Meares
Feb 5
3 min read

Updated: Feb 18

Cozy room with blue bookshelves filled with books, a piano, decorative lamp, and potted plant. Bright and airy ambiance.

Is it a library or a living room? It's sort of both?! Our living room is a very awkward shape, extremely long but narrow, and when we bought the house, the space was divided in half by a doorway on one side and a fireplace on the opposite wall. AND two random columns 4 feet from the end of the room on one side. Because why not?!

Before:

A cozy room with a fireplace, books, digital piano, and chair. French doors in the background. Warm colors and a peaceful ambiance. — We removed the columns and fireplace

Cozy living room with a gray sofa, red pillows, guitars, bookshelves, TV on a wooden stand, and framed photos on wall. Soft natural light. — I covered the popcorn ceiling with tiles and added built-ins to this wall

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If I have learned anything in my 5 years of home ownership, it is that the weird house quirks (what the Nester calls "bosses") are often what spur us on to our most creative ideas. The awkward shape of my living room ended up being the catalyst for building my library wall, which is now my favorite part of the house!

The library was built in the fall of 2023; you can read about the full build here, or you can watch the reveal video below!

Red vintage sofa in front of a bookshelf filled with books. Wooden ladder on the right, piano on the left, yellow flowers on the window ledge.

That leads us to today, where my goal is to make this room a little bit more my style and fix a few things that got skipped.

Adding Decorative Molding to the Library

In our haste to finish the library during the 8-week "One Room Challenge," the crown molding got left behind. I used a chair rail and these wooden tiles to add a dentil molding detail. You can read the tutorial for that here in this blog post!

The Sofa Swap

Next up, we're going to turn to the other half of the room and address some issues with function. The only seating we have in the living room is one small loveseat, and it makes hosting very difficult. You can only fit about 3 people on the sofa, and that's only if you're sitting pretty snug together.

Cozy living room with grey sofa, red cushions, large vase with branches, candlelit wooden table. Wall art includes a U.S. map. — Our mid century grey loveseat served us well

We were reached out to by the lovely people over at Valencia Theater Seating, and they partnered with us to upgrade our seating! We ended up with the Andria Sectional with a left chaise in the color cognac. Kyle's favorite part is that it had a recliner! (this blog post is not sponsored, and all opinions are my own!)

Brown leather sofa in a room with wood flooring, gold-framed abstract art, sconces, and a brass floor lamp. Cozy and elegant setting.

She is perfection. And I feel the need to head you off on what you're about to say. Does the couch kind of clash with the floor? Yes, it does. Don't you worry, I have a plan for that, you'll have to wait for part two!

Adding Art

Woman hanging a landscape painting on a white wall; other framed art surrounds. She wears black overalls, patterned shirt. Brown sofa below.

After the couches were swapped, I realized that not only did my gold-framed abstract art clash terribly with the orange-tone leather, it was much too small for the space! If you've been around before, you know how much I love a gallery wall. I gathered up a few pieces I had lying around unused and played around until I found an arrangement I liked. I think I might still need to add a couple of pieces.

Collage of colorful artwork featuring flowers, landscapes, animals, and abstract patterns. Includes classic paintings, nature scenes, and vibrant designs.

I always get asked about my art, and I have been using this GIANT Etsy art bundle for years. It is constantly going on sale; you can usually get around 70,000 downloads for under $10. And my frames are mostly thrifted!

We love using these monkey hooks to hang art, they hold 100 lbs. and don't require drywall anchors or any tools! Here is Kyle explaining how to use them:

After that I threw a quilt and some pillows to make it a little more cozy.