living room redesign
hi, i’m jo alcorn, interior and product designer, and you’re here in my living room. now i redid my living room — not that my living room before looked horrible — but it just wasn’t something that i was absolutely in love with. when i moved in, i kind of just did a make-shift. i had to work with the existing dark hardwood, there was a dark mantle, just kind of features that i had to tie together just because. but now, i was able to take all of those pieces out and make it my own. and it really started with replacing the hardwood floors, and i fell in love with this light, kind of bleached-out look that i found at neue floors. the really cool part is it is engineered
hardwood. i have dogs and i also have a lot of traffic, so the great part about the engineered hardwood is the durability, the color, but also it’s very easy to clean. so, the cool part about not having hardwood, which i had before, is i can wear my heels, i can have the dogs running, and it’s not gonna scratch or show the wear and tear, as would hardwood. so this is where i fell in love. but the really cool part about this wood is i also carried it up the wall on the fireplace. i wanted a really clean, modern aesthetic to it. and what i wanted couldn’t be used if i had a gas fireplace and a tv above. due to having gas, the heat rises up and it will
affect your tv, and that’s why you always need a mantle. so, i changed it up and i went with a dimplex electric fireplace, so i could remove the mantle and have this real streamlined look. the other cool part about the dimplex electric fireplace is i can have it on all year round. i can control the heat to either have it on or off, or at any temperature. the other thing is it came in the exact same size as the existing box, so i could just slide it right in, making it super easy to change it up. i was able to find a tv arm bracket from wayfair that allowed me to pull the tv out and enjoy it when i was in the kitchen. so now, i have all views being used with this whole tv area. the other
fun thing i did was i included some of my own furniture, and i love to entertain and have lots of people over, or i just like lounging with my dogs, and this is where my beautiful velvet sectional came into play, and i went with a lighter tone with a little bit of texture to play up this really light, fresh look, and have more of the scandinavian light feel to everything. i tied it in with some of my beautiful jo alcorn pillows that are fully washable, so the dogs have all the room in the world to lounge and enjoy it themselves. the other thing i wanted to do was make sure that i had privacy from the outside when it came to my windows. but, i loved the natural light
and i didn’t want to take away from it. so i am up a little bit higher from the street, so really, i only needed the bottom part to be protected, let’s say, from people seeing in. and this is why i went with budget blinds’ top down bottom up. i can either pull it up from the bottom and leave the top open, so i still have a ton of that natural light in, or i can close the whole thing up. so privacy was key, but i did not want to lose my beautiful natural light and the view outside. overall, i think this whole space turned out beautifully. there’s something about it that is inviting, gorgeous, modern, comfortable — all tied into one, and is a space that i absolutely love.