Setting Up Our Living Room

This living room has been quite the journey… Two owners ago, this space used to be an outdoor patio! That’s why when we bought the house, there was a funny window in the load-bearing wall that was separating the kitchen from the family room. When the previous owner converted it into an interior space, he left the slanted ceiling and installed shiplap for character. We loved the look because it created a cozy atmosphere—almost like a den—but unfortunately the shiplap had to go because of termite damage. The floors were also 6 inches lower than the rest of the house so you had to take a step down when you walked into the room. Here’s what it looked like before:

And after:

Our contractors did a fantastic job smoothing out the ceiling and encasing the beams in sheetrock. They also raised the floors by 6 inches and took down the load-bearing wall to create an open concept between the family room and kitchen. I just want to give a special shout-out to Bryan and his team for blessing us with this incredible space. The best part of all of this is that many of Bryan’s crew members were Christian, so they were actually playing worship music while putting this space together! Here’s a beautiful clip of us humming a worship song together while working on the family room:

How incredible is that?! I love that this house was welcoming to the Holy Spirit from the beginning. Bryan’s team also created this built-in entertainment nook, which I filled in with custom floating shelves from Shelf Expression:

Most of the ceramic vessels on the shelf were created by me, so unfortunately I can’t link those. As for the rest of the space, we decided to go with the Kova Pit from Albany Park in the color Beige:

The Kova Pit is probably our favorite sofa out of all the ones we’ve ever owned because it looks great, feels great, and is reconfigurable into a movie pit! How cool is that?! On a normal day, we configure it into two separate sofas to make it more guest-friendly, but when we watch a movie, we just move the modules around to essentially create a massive bed! It’s so fun.

We paired the Dream Dual Shelf Coffee Table from Kardiel with the sofa, and it creates the perfect amount of warmth in our family room. Kardiel is known for their timeless designs, as shown by this gorgeous walnut table. Walnut can be paired with most colors and can give your room that effortlessly elevated look.

We love that the coffee table has a vegan leather catch-all at the bottom. It serves to hide board games, remote controls, and other necessary objects in a very discreet and tasteful way. We’re all about marrying form and function in this household!

Beyond the sofa is the structural Laguna Chair & Ottoman, also from Kardiel. Can you tell we love this brand? It matches beautifully with the coffee table and provides extra seating without cluttering the room. This is the type of furniture piece that we would pass down for generations, just because it’s so beautiful and functional at the same time. The Laguna Chair & Ottoman supports the natural curves of our body, so it’s quite a comfortable seating experience.

Overall, we’re extremely grateful to finally have a room that is fully furnished and functional. We’re beyond blessed to have access to these incredible furniture brands, and we hope that our design inspires you to create a safe and inviting space for yourself! I’ve linked to all of our living room products below, but if I’m missing anything, just drop a comment and let me know!

Living Room Products:

If you’re curious about the rest of my home, check out this master blog post! Subscribe to my newsletter to get updated with the latest news from me (including secret projects, encouraging letters, and free coffee vouchers once in a while 😝). Thank you for your support! If there’s anything else I’m missing from this blog post, just drop a comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

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