I did it.
Sometimes I’m a big talker.
I talk and dream and hope and sigh and plan….
….and end up just watch Downton Abbey.
Not this time. Well, of course I watched Downton Abbey….I wanted to find out what happened with Mary’s scandalous trip across Europe and what quips the Dowager Countess of Grantham would say to make me laugh out loud. But before that I finished the big room change-up.
And today I have pictures.
Are you ready?
Here’s where we started.
This picture was taken when we used it as our family room. It was the room right off the kitchen where we watched television. It had two sofas and two chairs and a giant over-sized coffee table.
The plan was to transform it into part of the kitchen with a farmhouse table and chairs. I wanted to create our version of an eat-in kitchen…..a room where we could eat dinner every night and where the kids could do their homework after school and still have space for a monopoly game.
And this is the same space now.
Drum roll please.
I love it.
It’s hard to explain with a camera….but the kitchen is right off this room.
Where I am standing taking this picture there’s a dishwasher.
Here’s the other side of the room.
You can see the space to the left where the television used to be. I put a vintage piece with a bunch of drawers in it instead.
It was hard to get everything in one picture….what with the dishwasher and all. 🙂
Most of the room stayed the same.
I didn’t change anything on the walls, except I hung the abacus on the wall going into the kitchen.
I kept the rug in the room.
The walls are still painted SW Mindful Gray.
The light fixture is the same and I kept a lot of the pillows for the built-in storage bench.
That was the challenge.
That was the fun.
To not spend a lot of money and simply shop the house to make everything look different….
….with a whole lot of the same.
And when I shopped the house….here’s what I found.
The table came from the kitchen.
The upholstered chairs came from the master bedroom.
The wooden chairs came from the back porch.
The small wooden table came from the dining room.
I tried so many different combinations and random pieces of furniture and this is what stuck. It’s kind of like a giant mosh pit where everyone came to the party….
….and after it was over this is who stuck around.
I’m so glad they did. 🙂
PS This is the view from the room back into the kitchen so you can get an idea of some of the changes in there.
I’ll give you a tour later this week.
Just watch out for the dishwasher on the right.
PPS I know the title is so random, but here’s what I kept singing to myself the whole time we were moving furniture:
To all the rooms I’ve loved before
Who traveled in and out my door
I’m glad they came along
I dedicate this song
To all the rooms I’ve loved before
Thanks for the inspiration, Willie. 🙂
ha. the new breakfast room looks great.
I love your style.....
I think it's beautiful and you're hysterical! Love it.
Love it, cant wait to see the rest! I have a great room with 2 dining spaces...don't need 2! Im just trying to decide how to switch it up, make it more functional! This is inspiring. ? Thanks :)
Love shopping the house❤️
LOVE this! This spring, a wall is coming down between our kitchen and family room which will allow me to have a giant kitchen table which will make my dining room no longer necessary. So the dining room is going to convert to a sitting room (or Wii playing room) and I can't wait for the mosh pit! Thanks for the inspiration! Life to the full! Melissa
It looks great. Warm and inviting. I love shopping my home. I'm in the process of making a small craft/project corner in my basement. My rule was not to buy anything except paint and maybe picture hooks. Can't wait to see more of your changes. I also enjoy your little "jingles".
Karianne, I don't know how I found your blog, but it's my absolute favorite! I love your style, and your home is so beautiful. I live in Miami, and we don't have gorgeous farmhouses, and so I am living vicariously through yours. Thank you so much for sharing your space and your life with us!
It looks lovely, and it's such great inspiration! I so need to rethink our living spaces. In order to fully visualize the change, I used my iPhone to view your previous post, 'The Great Change-Up', while viewing the new rooms on my iPad. Haha... Can't wait to see the rest of the transformation!
Love the new/old look ...love your linen covers on the wood chairs .......will get more use and its inspiring *
Love it, it looks totally amazing.
Everything looks great! Nothing better than creating new rooms while shopping the house. One suggestion for my poor, dyslexic self - perhaps you could sketch out the floor plan of your downstairs to give us a better look at the changes? Otherwise I'll be bumping into myself all day while I gaze at the loveliness. Barb
YES, please! What Barbara said.
So pretty! I love how you styled it and I only wish I could shop my house and come up with a space as beautiful as yours! Happy Monday! Shelley
You Are A Beautiful Genus! Loved The Decorative Move You've Made! Loved How You Shopped Your Home... And Completely Adore The Tune That Fueled You Through-Out All The Move And Decorating You Did! Thank-You For Your Wonderful Tutorial......As You've Brought Me Much Inspiration For My Day Off To Celebrate Martin Luther King Day! I Have A Dream.............. I Best Get To Working On This One Lil Room That Has Had Me Stuck For Weeks.... Til I Just Read This Post Of Yours! I Have A Dream......... Thanks KariAnne!!! Wishing You A Super Great Day!!
And Julio Iglesias! :)
It looks so cozy. I love the changes. I could honestly stare at those pictures for hours. :) Have a wonderful week! Cecilia
I don't get it as wonderful as you do, but I do same thing Shop my own house. Change it up. You do magical work!
Love this reconfiguration....btw, from your post "Best Gray Paint Colors in the Universe" I just finished redoing my craft room/office space painting it Mindful Gray and LOVE IT! Thank you for sharing this info. I was a hot mess in SW, trying to figure out what I wanted and talking about "this blog that is my inspiration" and the folks that worked there were just great and rolled right along with it. I bought their "cashmere" brand paint, b/c the sales guy said it went on "like butter"! How can that NOT be motivating - LOL?!?! Anyway - Love your style and appreciate your advice. Happy New Year!
Holy Moly...beautiful!
I love this... I love rearranging rooms in my own home, too. My problem is, what to do with the bare spots left in the other rooms from where I took items for the new room arrangement? For instance, what's in your bedroom now that you took out those two fabulous chairs? Can't wait to see! I know you will make it look amazing!
I like your plan to change the use of this room, and it looks great. Now, I am excited to see the ripple effect.
What a beautiful change! What did you do with the furniture you removed?
Love, love the "new" eating area! Great use of your space exchange.
Absolutely loving it. Love how everything just seems to go together with whats around it. How they all play off each other. Your eyes just want to keep going on to the next thing. Like a beautiful adventure. You have an amazing sense of style.
Wonderful swap. It looks great. And shopping ones house, the best!! Looking forward to what is now in the place where the table used to be...
As I looked, and as I read...as I kept saying, "love it, love it, love it"....I wondered, 'now where are the sofas and chairs resting?' Eager to see where they settled and am sure to love the look as much. :0)
Hi KariAnne, Your rooms are always so cozy yet filled with light no matter how you rearrange the furniture :) I visited one of the Downton Abbey locations while I lived in England. The real owner of Lady Violet Crawley's house was just delightful. If you like, you can read about it here - https://happyhomemakeruk.blogspot.com/2014/06/downton-abbey-film-locations.html Have a great day! Laura
The new room looks wonderful KariAnne! Even though I adored it before, what I like best about it now?... it probably works a million times better for your family. Anxious to see where you found a new home for the family room furniture!
KariAnne, you've done it again. This room has more personality and charm than Price William! What a terrific job. When I first started reading, I thought the "before" was the "after"!
Love it! I especially love how things from one room look good in another room too. This is my new goal...to get a little more neutral with the big items and just add pops of color everywhere else. Thanks for the inspiration!!
KariAnne I think I'm in love! your room looks amazing. I cant wait to see what other changes this has led too. I know the domino effect shopping the house has LOL. You are super talented lady.
Gorgeous! I think that I might just steal this idea while I'm waiting for our kitchen gut.
Why is it that shopping the house and just moving small things around makes me smile? I LOVE your house KariAnne! So comfy and peaceful!
It's a beautiful room! and I love that you used pieces from all over the house. I love shopping from my house and shed too. June
You're a hoot KariAnne! Love what you've done by shopping in your own home.
Love the idea of swapping rooms! And too cute about the being a dreamer part, but that you actually put your plan into action! HA I do that ALL the time, isn't so great when the dreaming actually gets put into reality!! I would love a 360 tour of your home. And I bet a video of you swapping your rooms and making them new would make for an awesome youtube video!!
I love it! This is the first time I've seen a room swap that actually looks like it was meant to be. And it's fantastic that you were able to use pieces from all over your home. Great job and I can't wait to see the rest! Oh, the title of your post had me squealing! Jane x
Looks great! Furniture shuffling is a ton of work, well done. How about posting a video so we can get a sense of the space even more?
I Love it! Got some big changes in the works for my home too... But we've all been down with colds and flus and various other sickness so it'll have to wait.
Love love your blog...I look forward to it everyday with my cup of coffee.... Could you tell me about your pillow fabric that you have on your chair it has my colors too It looks like it has some floral pattern in it also would appreciate anything you could tell me about it Thanks so much
Looks great!