If you missed the exciting news last week, or are new here to WOM—welcome!— I’m dishing some design details on my living room today as part of the 2017 One Room Challenge. 

The beloved ORC is a high energy 6-week design project with fellow bloggers/designers around the web, and it’s one of my favorite ways to kick my butt into gear to redo spaces that need some attention and a little TLC.

And before you say it; I know the room pictured is already beautiful.  I LOVE this room!  But this photo was taken three years ago.  So you can imagine that the space doesn’t look entirely like it once did.  It’s the most lived-in, most highly trafficked rooms in our home, one been torn apart for many a movie night and photo shoot – I shoot all of my food photo shoots in the living room.  Not to mention, Addison, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, has completely destroyed my beautiful Lacefield pillows by using every single one of them as a bed.  

But back to the living room redesign.  In tackling this space I face a few key challenges I needed to meet head on from the get go.  First, I don’t have a formal living room. Meaning this room is it.  So the room has to be beautiful yet functional. 

Second, the layout is funky.  It’s directly connected to my kitchen and dining nook in an open floor plan, and proves to be a bit limiting when coming up with my big design dreams.  Due to its size and shape it simply HAS to have a sectional in it, but sectionals are large and tend to suck up the entire room.  Especially a room this size.

Which brings me to my third challenge.  I need to find accent pieces, think side tables, bar carts, and additional seating, that can easily be brought in and out of the space when needed.  

Luckily, this isn’t my first rodeo when it comes to the space and after hours of pouring over and testing out the cornerstones pieces of the room I think I’ve finally settled on a design and can get moving.

Below—BlogLovin’ friends be sure to click into the post to see the full detailed list!—I’m sharing those five design elements that I am leaning on to pull together the room and truly act as “anchors” for the design. Truly, MKR

P.S. You can read about week one of the Fall 2017 One Room Challenge HERE.

We’re walking down blog memory lane today, reminiscing on past spaces as we gear up for the Fall 2017 One Room Challenge!  I hope you’re as excited as we are, because this one’s going to be one for the books.

If you’re not familiar with the ORC, these 6-week, high energy design projects are INTENSE.  But in an intensely satisfying, instant gratification way too…ha!  Stress runs at an all-time high as we take you through a full room design at record speed in just six short weeks.  Think of it sort of like a reality tv show when we dream big and hit a few hurdles along the way like delays in product shipments, problems with installations and assembly.  Fingers crossed that we’ll be smooth cruisin’ this go around. 

But seriously, these challenges are FUN.  They always introduce us to new friends, connect us with some of our favorite fellow bloggers.  And it’s always the perfect kick in the butt to get going, and finish, a design project.  

So before we share a peek at this round’s space, let’s take a look back.  My first ORC was in 2014 when I redesigned my home office.  I lightened up the space with modern, crisp whites and warm maple woods.  And I anchored the room with pops of orange, mango and all shades of blue plus metallic accents of gold and silver.  I mixed it all up with modern and traditional pieces giving it a more collected and eclectic feel.

In 2015, I styled a fun and quirky space for the upstairs loft in my home. I brought a whole new definition to “gallery wall” with an eclectic mix-and-match approach, TONS of pops of color, and even some 3-D elements. 

Spring 2016, I tackled the WOM office space in ADAC.  It was a big, airy space with an industrial feel, and it posed a challenge of designing and styling a large room with many different “moments” as I like to call them.  I couldn’t have loved the result more; the soft neutrals and feminine feel to the space was just the environment I dreamed of creating for the team. 

Last fall, I got really ambitious as I set out to transform two high-end apartments in the heart of Buckhead.  This ORC brought on a different challenge.  It wasn’t like any of my previous projects.  All of the spaces prior allowed for me to pull my signature go-big-or-go-home moves, whether that was with custom lighting and fixtures, paint or wallpaper.  Decorating these rentals, on the other hand, had me starting with a bright, beautiful and clean slate.  See the final reveals for both spaces here and here.

And finally this year.  This year I’ll be re-decorating the most lived in room in my house, my living room.  While it was once a beautiful space because of the high traffic it’s turned into a bit of a mess in dire need of a facelift.  And while you may think a living room is easy, this one is not.  The layout makes it extra tricky to navigate plus I only have one living room to actually live in. Not a formal living and family room, no downstairs TV room, or even a hearth.  My home has just this one space to kick back and get cozy.  Plus, the living room is truly my husband’s domain so it needs to meet my beauty standards with his comfort and technology desires.  Trust me, this six weeks will provide plenty of challenges.  Truly, MKR