a day in the life | a view of my living room

as part of our new beginnings theme for the month,  i want to take you on a tour of my living room. both my dining and living room have been a work in progress since mr. style and i moved into this house, and i’m thrilled to share it with you now as it has finally come together in the hopes that this will give you some design inspiration for your living room.

we spend a lot of time in the living room; it’s the main point of entry and welcomes people into my home. recently, i turned my formal dining room into my home office.  because the living room has an open floor layout, i can include the dining area there.

i like an open layout that naturally leads from one room to another. but whatever type of layout you have, your home is a reflection of you and should be a comfortable place for everyone to get together and enjoy spending time. 

let your decor reflect who you are 

last week, i took you on a tour of my home office and my personal closet. in both tours, you got a sense for decorating aesthetics. i lean toward mixing modern and classic design styles. my fashion sense comes through in my home decor – like the paint color in my closet (pink!), or the bold use of color and and animal print in my home office. 

in my living room, i mix modern fixtures with classic furniture shapes. i like the juxtaposition of styles. mixing styles is a forgiving way to decorate your home: it lets you choose pieces you like without having to strictly adhere to a specific style.

sideboard | coffee table | dining room table | dining chairs

when you style mix, it helps to have a central theme that ties it all together.  i’ve used the color blue to tie my living room together—from the blue leather sofa and the sapphire velvet chairs, to the classic blue china patterned vases and blue-hued painting.

design inspiration for your living room

if you’ve been following the blog for any length of time, you know i love to read.  in fact, i participate in two different book clubs. (and if you’re not already a member, make sure to join our Facebook group book club with style!) so, it was important to me to have ample space for my books. the dining room built-ins are a perfect spot for my book collection.

sideboard | coffee table | dining room table | dining chairs

i love, love, love my built-ins. i’ve even leveraged them for my home bar, which is decked out with this set of barware in bright gold. the gold accents run throughout, from the bar area to the gold-edged lucite lamp on the credenza, to the gold modern chandelier over the dining table. 

outfit of the day

today’s outfit is a great casual look that can transform to business casual in a flash with the addition of a blazer and neck scarf. winter white jeans lead the charge today. a long sleeve stripe shirt adds pattern and pop of color with its three red stripes. the red pop is carried through to my suede d’orsay flats. for added contrast, my neck scarf features a classic floral pattern. throw on a tweed blazer and you are set to go!

tee (Talbots) | similar tee | similar tee 2 | similar tee 3 | similar tee 4 | blazer (J.Crew) | jeans (Talbots) | scarf | flats (J.Crew)

About The Author

Beth Djalali

is the Founder and CEO of Style at a Certain Age. She writes Sundays-Fridays on all topics ranging from fashion, health, wellness, home design and more.

She’s 66, 5’8, and size 8.

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