Room of the Day: Redone Living Room Makes a Bright First Impression

When interior designer Kelly McGuill visited her client, a close friend, in her home near Boston to help her make plans for her other home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, she looked around the living room and realized something was amiss. “We were talking about how she wanted her cape house to be very light, clean and timeless … as we were talking about the style, I realized her primary home did not suit her at all,” McGuill says. “She and her husband had raised their four sons here and really hadn’t really changed it in over 30 years.” The designer stripped the room down so that they could start fresh. Now the once-unused formal living room is one of the most popular spots in the house.

Room at a Glance
Location: Near Boston, Massachusetts
Size: 300 square feet (28 square meters)

BEFORE: Heavy drapes and rugs darkened the room, and fussy, uninviting furniture meant that no one spent any time in here.

McGuill immediately stripped the room of its heavy window treatments and rug, and let in the light. Next she had the floors refinished and the walls painted a very pale gray. “We then built on texture, used great fabrics and took advantage of the natural light,” she says.


“After” photos by Sarah Winchester

AFTER: “The original fireplace surround was not an attractive brick,” McGuill says. She looked into refacing it with stone, but that was very expensive. So she decided to see how painting it black would turn out as a first step; if her clients didn’t like it, they could splurge on something like granite or marble. They liked the crisp contrast and the bricks’ pattern and texture just fine. More black accents, such as the new finish on the mirror’s old brass frame, add contrast to the light, neutral color scheme.


“This room is just off the front entry and makes the first impression,” McGuill says. “We needed to open up the floor plan to create a good flow.” A console table provides a landing strip right off the front door. “I love to use big baskets; they help people solve clutter problems,” McGuill says. These homeowners toss shoes in one and throw blankets in another.

The jute rug adds a nice texture, and while it delineates a seating area, it doesn’t have that closed-in feeling of the rug in the “before” photo — people feel comfortable cutting right across it.

Two floor lamps provide reading light. An antique trunk adds its patina to the room. McGuill gave the couple’s existing art a facelift with a new mat and frame.

Wall paint: Edgecomb Gray, Benjamin Moore; baskets, console table, rug, lamps: Pottery Barn; sofa: Restoration Hardware


McGuill designed these bobbin chairs through a company in North Carolina, then had them upholstered in a Ralph Lauren fabric.

Bobbin chairs: custom, available via Kelly McGuill Home, chair fabric: Ralph Lauren; window treatment fabric: Schumacher

More: How to Commission Custom Upholstered Furniture

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