A behind the scenes look at exactly how I planned my modern farmhouse living room design and purchased furniture and decor to compliment the space.
MACTAVISH HOUSE | Updated February 7, 2025
I'm not going to sugarcoat the truth. Designing a room from scratch is difficult.
And if you're a perfectionist or indecisive when making decisions, it will be even harder.
But, it is incredibly rewarding when the space (finally) comes together. To be able to look around to see what you created and how it all works (almost) makes you forget the frustration and impatience that went into it.
Almost.
Until you start the next room and then it all comes rushing back.
I'm in that mindset now.
I don't say any of this to discourage anyone, but rather to reassure that if you as an average home decorator find room makeovers challenging, you're not alone. There is a lot that goes into a redesign whether it's a small spruce or a complete transformation.
I don't intend on pulling you through each and every agonizing choice I made while designing my living room and the countless hours I spent shopping for things online like coffee tables and accent chairs.
But I did want to take you behind the design for a few basic principals of how I went from a dated room filled with orange-y 1980s paneling, ceiling tiles, layers of paint, and carpeting to something very clean, bright, and contemporary.
For your convenience, sources for this room appear at the end of this post. And my completed living room makeover, along with links to all the in-process posts, can be found here.
How I Designed My Modern Farmhouse Living Room
In case this is your first visit here, this living room is in a house that formerly belonged to my grandparents. It was built in 1900 as a coal miner's company house and as far as I know, only one other family lived here for any lengthy period of time before they bought it in the 1970s.
It is dated with layers of paneling and linoleum from past renovations, but has great original bones, like horsehair plaster and pristine hardwood floors. My goal is to keep the home in line with the original simple style of the house while bringing a modern updated look.
READ NEXT: See the Before Tour of this 1900s Fixer Upper
START WITH THE BIG PICTURE
When planning what I wanted to do with the living room, I knew the end result needed to feel cozy with plenty of space for gathering and relaxing. I see this as a place where the whole extended family can get together for holidays like they once did just as easily as I can see myself curling up on the sofa with a cappuccino typing a blog post.
Keeping this in mind, I needed to plan for plenty of seating and room for movement, as well as adding warmth through textures. Throw pillows and a few blankets were a must.
I also didn't want the room to necessarily fall into one design style over another. Although I refer to it as a modern farmhouse style, I feel like the final space draws on more than just that one trend. I chose furniture and decor that I loved without regard to whether or not it fell into a certain category and in the end, it all fell into place.
Design styles are very subjective and changing constantly, so I try to just buy things that speak to me. This lessens the chance that a year down the road something just isn't me anymore or isn't "on-trend." Timeless over trendy.
As I got more of a firm grip on my exact plans and what I wanted to purchase, I laid everything out along with a few inspiration photos on a mood board so that I could see it all come together and make changes if necessary. This is a great way for visualizing how items will work when shopping online.
IT'S OK IF THINGS DON'T MATCH
Actually, a mixture of textures, colors, patterns, and finishes is how you end up with a room that looks like you thoughtfully designed it rather than had a giant shopping spree to to the furniture store or Hobby Lobby. It keeps things interesting.
I think in the beginning, some people were concerned that because I love white, my room was going to be ALL white. But looking at the completed space, aside from the walls and trim, a couple throw pillows, and my plaster medallion, there isn't anything white in the room. There is linen and leather, black metals and rustic woods.
When adding a mix of elements you just need to remember to repeat it at least a few times in the room to keep it all from looking random. For example, I chose a pair of leather chairs and then also added an antique leather footstool and pillows that have a hint of leather trim.
PAY ATTENTION TO THE SCALE OF THE ROOM
This obviously is not a large living room, so it was important to pay attention to the size of the larger furnishings I was place inside of it, like the sofa and chairs. You don't want to overwhelm and overcrowd the room, but you also don't want it to feel like everything is small.
The "sofa" I chose is a generously sized love seat.
The leather accent chairs are actually dining chairs, but I loved their shape and fabric so much and they have a large comfortable seat making them perfect for this compact living room.
And I was careful to pay attention to the dimensions of the chair as you enter the room so that it didn't take up too much space in the doorway or rise too high blocking sight lines into the room. There were a few other choices that I really loved, but they just weren't the right proportion to meet this criteria.
KEEP THE HOME'S ORIGINAL CHARACTER
Throughout the house, it is important to me to keep as much of the old features of the house that remain as possible and replicate the simplicity where it doesn't.
That meant exposing and repairing the plaster ceiling, sanding the original wood floors, and restoring the staircase. Although there was definitely a time investment, not having to replace the ceiling, walls, or floor was a budget savings.
The original trim is gone from all of the rooms except for the two bedrooms upstairs. But that allowed me to see that the original baseboards were just basic 10 inch flat stock boards. I didn't go quite that chunky here, but otherwise kept with the original style of the simple coal miner's company house with all of the trim.
Luckily, that no-fuss style fits in perfectly with what I already love.
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
In order to get a room that looks like it has been put together over time (even if it wasn't), you need a mixture of new, from-the-store items and antique or vintage pieces.
Obviously pieces like your sofa that you want to last for many years should be fresh and new. But accent chairs, side tables, or decor pieces like my rustic wood ladder bring character to everything new that has been purchased.
I also love that I was able to use old reclaimed 2x4 boards that I had taken from the stairwell as my mantel on the newly built fireplace.
RELY ON AN ARRAY OF NEUTRALS
What I love most about neutrals is how easy they make mixing and matching elements throughout the entire house. A throw pillow on the sofa can later be used on the bed upstairs. The pair of leather chairs can be switched out and used at the ends of my dining table.
By using grays, creams, charcoal, black, and white in a variety of textures and patterns, a neutral color palette can be just as interesting and eye catching as a room with more color.
And they combine nicely with a pop of color should I decide to add one later on.
VISUALIZE THE DESIGN
In addition to layout elements of my room design in a mood board, I also experimented with different designs by laying out the elements in Photoshop and playing with different rugs, chairs, and coffee tables. This makes it easier to visualize how everything can come together and play off of one another.
Below you'll see a couple of the designs that didn't make the cut for various reasons (size, product availability, etc), although a few of the pieces were still purchased and I will be using them elsewhere in the house:
Well, I hope that this post gave you a little insight into what I was thinking when planning out my living room design and I how I chose the pieces to buy that I did.
LIVING ROOM SOURCES
PAINT: Valspar Snowcap White (Satin for walls and semigloss for trim and fireplace) available at Lowes
FLOOR STAIN: Fusion Stain and Finishing Oil in Cappuccino available on Amazon
LOVESEAT: I bought mine locally, and no longer see where it is available online.
FAUX LEATHER CHAIRS: Home Depot
GRAY ACCENT CHAIR: Made by Madison Park and available in multiple colors at Target, Amazon or Bed, Bath & Beyond
COFFEE TABLE: Made by Safavieh and available at Target
GRAY WOOL RUG: Boutique Rugs
CHARCOAL PATTERNED PILLOW: Target
CREAM TEXTURED PILLOW: Target
GRAY PILLOW: Target
CHARCOAL PILLOW: Target
WOOL THROW ON LEATHER CHAIR: I LOVE this throw Made by Saro and sold by Target
LAMP: Target
WOOD ACCENT TABLE: This was a secondhand table I gave a makeover to
GLASS DEMIJOHN: Purchased from Antique Farmhouse, but a similar version is available at Pottery Barn or in store at Hobby Lobby
FAUX GREEN BRANCHES: Pottery Barn
FIREPLACE MIRROR: Purchased locally
FIREPLACE LOGS: Currently unavailable but a similar version is on Amazon
CANDLESTICKS: Purchased locally
BOTANICAL PRINT: Purchased locally
LEATHER FOOTSTOOL: Antique find
RUSTIC LADDER: Antique find
WHITE CROCHETED THROW: Family heirloom
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