Neutral Living Room Makeover

I’m finally able to share a project I’ve been working on the past few months – my friend Rachel’s neutral living room makeover! Rachel and I have been friends for about 13 years now. We met at a mom’s group at church when our daughters were 2, and now they are sophomores in High School which just seems crazy! I am so thankful for her friendship over the years, and it was so fun to work on her living room.

I think her husband was a little nervous about me taking over their house for the last month, but I promised him 2 things. We wouldn’t touch the wood trim, and we wouldn’t touch the fireplace. With those parameters in place we set off to brighten up this dark space. They moved into this home 2 years ago and this existing paint color was way too dark for her taste. The house backs up to these beautiful woods and we wanted the view to be what you noticed, rather than the dark paint color.

Let’s take a look at the BEFORE –

living room with brown walls and white sofa

and the AFTER –

neutral living room with gray sofa and white walls

BEFORE –

living room with dark brown walls and white sofa

AFTER –

neutral living room makeover with white walls and gray sofa

We started by painting the walls Simply White by Benjamin Moore. It instantly made the space feel bright and airy. I wish I had been able to shoot this room when the leaves were still on the trees because the view with the lighter walls really popped!

living room with brick fireplace and white walls

We added these arched black shelves to frame the fireplace and balance out the room. We repeated black accents throughout the room with photo frames and accessories.

neutral living room makeover with gray sofa and white ottoman

They have a lot of warm wood throughout their home so I chose neutrals and browns, to not compete with the wood.

I was gifted new furniture from Article for this makeover and I was so happy to partner with them again. We chose this taupe sofa to warm up the new lighter walls.

white living room with gray sofa and ottoman

I love the clean lines and the bench cushions. We chose an ottoman in a lighter tone with a dark wood trim.

living room with white walls and brick fireplace

I added texture with cozy pillows and this striped throw.

living room with black shelves and leather chair

They had a well loved leather arm chair in this corner of the room. We added an updated version with the Sven chair from Article.

living room with chocolate brown leather chair

This was the perfect spot for a family gallery wall. Now it’s a cozy corner to curl up by the fire with a book.

I love the details on this super comfy chair. It has a matching ottoman available, but we opted for a smaller pouf since we already paired an ottoman with the sofa.

gray sofa with textured pillows and cream ottoman

I found some neutral wall art to bring in some of the brown tones to this back corner.

living room with white walls and taupe sofa

Their living room is adjacent to their kitchen that has oak cabinets and an earth toned backsplash. We kept that space in mind when choosing pillows and accessories.

neutral living room with black arched shelves

These arched shelves were so fun to style. Displaying family photos, books, and plants added more personality to the space.

Swapping out the drapes and hanging them higher and wider, made a huge difference in this room as well! The previous blinds matched the wall color, so we chose black out drapes instead. It’s so crazy how removing the blinds made the windows look so much larger.

neutral living room makeover with taupe sofa and cream drapes

I had such a blast working on this space for Rachel, and her husband was a saint for putting up with our shenanigans the past few months! Special thanks to Article for providing the furniture for this project!

neutral living room with white walls and taupe sofa

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. Just click on the BOLD links.