Eclectic Living Room with Colorful, Neutral, and Vintage Elements

Tour a sophisticated yet eclectic living room which balances colors with neutrals and vintage with new for an elegant combination.

living room with colorful rug and neutral furniture | Maison de Pax

It’s reveal day! And I didn’t even know a reveal was coming – haha. Before I fill you in on the full story, welcome to this fun spring tour led by my sweet friend Krista from The Happy Housie. If you’ve dropped by from Rooms for Rent, welcome! I’m a mom of four living in the Texas Hill Country and pursuing peace at home, and I’m so glad you’re here.

Eclectic Living Room:

But back to the living room reveal… With all we have going on at the ranch house right now, I have purposefully not planned any makeovers at our main house. But for several reasons (which I’ll explain below), I haven’t been super happy with our living room. So when Krista invited me to join this little spring tour, I decided it was time to whip this space into shape. I usually tend towards more neutral spaces with a balance of rustic and traditional, but I felt drawn to change it up a bit this time. There’s neutral furniture and textural accents as usual, but they are joined by colorful books and rug, French armchairs, mid-century modern piano… it’s kind of all. over. the. place.

living room fireplace bookcase log slice table | Maison de Pax

But truth be told, I tend to be a little overly analytical. So let’s ignore the design genre dilemma and instead focus on two things that I think can be so helpful to remember about our home:

  1. Don’t re-think your own style because of what others are doing…
  2. But DO feel free to try something new.

living room fireplace and bookcase with antique books | Maison de Pax

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When to Redecorate:

Sometimes, I think we are pushed into changes (in a good way). New seasons, like spring, can help us reimagine our spaces, and new additions to your life or home can do the same. We’ve been hunting a piano for several years now, and my father-in-law found this beautiful piece for us last fall. I grew up playing a Kawai in my parents’ living room, and this really is an excellent piano. But the black and brass of the piano weren’t blending with anything I had in the space previously.

black and brass mid century piano | Maison de Pax

We also stole the rug that was previously in here for the family room makeover last year (we love to play musical rugs in this house – ha!) and have been struggling to find the right fit since. Some of you may have seen one of the experiments I shared on IG recently… And while the models are adorable, those rugs didn’t feel right to me either.

layered neutral rugs in living room | Maison de Pax

Finally, I turned my antique books around last spring (you can see last year’s spring tour here if you’d like) and I loved the colorful change, especially for spring… but they didn’t really feel right with the rest of the room.

Until now.

colorful antique books in white bookcase | Maison de Pax

GET THE LOOK:

Affordable Redecorating Ideas:

I’ve been enjoying so much of the mid-century modern revival that’s so popular right now. I’ve even been toying with the idea of a more mid-century style sofa to replace this 20 year old leather dude, but I’m not completely ready to take that leap. So some less expensive accents seemed a better stepping stone.

brown leather couch and other neutral accents | Maison de Pax

Try a new rug

A rug can really “tie the room together” (bonus points if you know the movie 😉 ). Seriously, changing out a rug can change the entire direction of a space. I recently shared two super popular posts: Vintage Rugs 101 and Where to buy affordable vintage rugs because rugs are such an important aspect of design… and while I love vintage rugs, they are more of an investment. Sometimes, especially when you are ready to experiment with something new in a space, it’s nice to try a cheaper option.

And on a recent errand, I happened to spot this 7’x10′ rug for JUST $200 at Target!!! So I decided to go bold…

colorful vintage rug in eclectic living room | Maison de Pax

It’s so much more colorful than I am normally drawn to, but with neutral walls and accents, I feel it balances out the colorful books perfectly…

vintage rug look with antique books and modern accents living room | Maison de Pax

Without conflicting with the rest of my home.

eclectic living room with fireplace and antique books | Maison de Pax

In fact, I rather like the way it provides contrast to the adjacent family room.

brick fireplace with white wood molding | Maison de Pax

GET THE LOOK:

Add a new accent color

See those very cool little brass features on the piano? I new a touch more in the room would help tie that together. So this little vase was an inexpensive start.

log slice coffee table with brass vase | Maison de Pax

And this gorgeous floor lamp was a perfect finishing touch (and yes, it is missing a bulb – ha!). I love to work in threes, and with brass on the piano, the lamp, and the vase, I feel like the accent seems intentional now.

colorful antique books in white bookcase | Maison de Pax

Replace the coffee table

Another potentially inexpensive makeover option is a new coffee table. As I said, this space is still a work in progress, and I’m actually awaiting a coffee table from my parents’ attic that I think may work nicely. But in the meantime, this log slice top actually came from a table I found on clearance recently. I didn’t love the legs it came with, but for the price (and the fact that I already had a gift card 😉 ), I decided I could add some hairpin legs and it will be perfect for the living room at the ranch house… Since the new legs haven’t arrived yet, I set it on top of another small hairpin leg table I have to get a feel for the look. Funny, though, as soon as I did I loved it in here because the black legs play off the black piano. Again, by working in threes (black piano, black lamp, black legs), I feel it pulls the color together as intentional rather than accidental.

colorful rug log slice coffee table and eclectic living room design | Maison de Pax

Redefining your decorating style

Summary? You don’t have to completely makeover your entire house to bring in some different styles when you’re ready for a change. Will France always have a special place in my heart? YES. Francophile forever! 😉  And am I probably always going to lean towards neutrals and soothing color palettes? At least as long as I have four wild kiddos running around my house, I think the answer is yes. It provides a serenity that I adore at this stage in my life.

fireplace with white mantel and olive tree | Maison de Pax

BUT… sometimes change feels good. And when you can make some affordable adjustments, I say go for it.

light bright living room with colorful rug | Maison de Pax

GET THE LOOK:

Now be sure to hop over and visit Annie from Zevy Joy for some beautiful spring decorating inspiration! And check out all the tours below.

Styled living room with overlay that reads Eclectic Traditional Living Room Decorating Ideas | Maison de Pax

Also sharing today…

Thursday

Home Made Lovely // So Much Better With Age // Maison de Cinq
Craftberry Bush // Rooms FOR Rent

Maison de Pax // Zevy Joy // Place of My Taste // Deeply Southern Home // Kim Power Style

 

And sharing the rest of the week…

Monday


The Happy Housie // The Turquoise Home
Amber Tysl // Inspiration for Moms // Lemon Thistle

Southern State of Mind // Modern Glam
Taryn Whiteaker // A Burst of Beautiful // My Sweet Savannah

Tuesday

Jenna Kate at Home // Sincerely, Marie Designs // Town and Country Living
A Pretty Life // Hallstrom Home

House by Hoff // Tauni Everett // The DIY Mommy // Clean & Scentsible // Rambling Renovators

Wednesday

Shades of Blue Interiors // Finding Silver Pennies // Life is a Party // Bless’er House

Summer Adams// Tatertots and Jello // Paint Me Pink // This is Our Bliss

 

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18 Comments

  1. I absolutely love it, Rachel! I think it’s a perfect, fun pop of colour and I love your other changes a well. So fun to see you mix things up – and yet it works totally with everything else you have going on!

  2. I normally love neutral spaces too, but your colourful rugs and vintage books look great in here. Hooray for trying new things -it’s looking great!

  3. Looks like you had fun with the space, Rachel! And I agree, three of something – a color or pattern or whatever – definitely makes it look more intentional!

  4. Your home is so beautiful Rachel. I have a similar layout with the bookshelves beside the fireplace and I never know what to really do with my shelves, so I tend to keep them quite neutral. But I really love the look of how you’ve styled yours with your living space. It’s so comfortable and gorgeous.

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