The Yellow Cape Cod: rug

A new area rug is one of my "go-to design weapons" when a client wants me to help them give their space a completely new look, or simply finish off their existing design. An area rug can instantly bring a distinct personality to a space or play an understated, supporting role in a room. Either way, adding a gorgeous rug will take just about any space up a style notch.

(Francesca Rug Source)

I often change up the area rugs in my own home with the seasons. I've designed my Living Room with mostly neutral furnishings so it's a snap to change accent colors on a whim. Tomorrow, I'm going to show you how today, I gave my living room a warm, sunny new look for Fall by changing out the rug and just a few other accessories. I was inspired by the bright yellow trees that the Fall season delivers to our back yard each year. I'm bringing in some beautiful golden yellow tones to brighten up our home during these months when it begins to get dark early. The rug I selected is The Charcoal Multi Rug from The Francesca Collection by Loloi.

You can see in the design board above that I created for this project how the Francesca Rug and some of the new accent pieces I'm introducing complement our existing furniture. I can't wait to see this design board come to life in my living room, I'm off to roll out the new rug right now!

Stay tuned to see the actual space tomorrow afternoon!

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*I received the rugs shown in in this post in order to facilitate this review. This post contains affiliate links.

Hi there! It's so nice to be back behind the keyboard. I've been away from the blog for a little while working on some very exciting projects. I have lots of new online designs to share and also a few dramatic room makeover reveals! Now that these projects are complete, I can get back to blogging about them! Starting today...I recently completed a "Re-Fresh" of the main level of my own home. What is the difference between and room makeover and a re-fresh? As opposed to a full blown room makeover, a re-fresh is a way to give a space a new look with just a few tweaks.

I was able to give my home a fresh, new, style for spring with only five simple changes.

Take a look...

After a long, cold, Michigan winter, my living room requested some bright, cheerful color. I obliged by bringing in a new area rug. This singular change instantly livened up our space. Adding this rug felt like a breath of fresh, spring air.

I fell in love with this rug so much that I added it to my shop. I'll warn you thought, there is a limited quantity available so it's at a high sell out risk...

To allow as much of the beautiful new rug to show as possible, I switched out our large, black, heavy, wooden coffee table for a lighter, smaller scale, glass top table. This coffee table has been in our storage area since we were first married. It belonged to my husbands Great-Grandmother. It's nice to have this piece of his family history in our family room, not to mention I am in love with the way it looks.

To complement the new rug, I added a few apple green toss pillows to the sofa's and chair. These beautiful, linen pillows are simple in design, yet they add so much to the space. The injection of color is just what our white, slip-covered sofa's needed. The solid green linen pillows provided a nice break from the patterns found in the zebra print chair and striped toss pillows.

These pillows are the PERFECT companion to the new rug! If you would like to purchase a set, they are available in my shop along with the rug for a limited time...

Speaking of taking a break in pattern...the next element that I changed up was the drapery. Over the last few years, I've enjoyed my DIY Bold Striped Drapes in this space. When I started this re-fresh, I decided it was time for a change. Something a little simpler in design would allow my new rug to be the star of the show. A tutorial on my new black and white DIY No-Sew Color Block Drapes will be coming soon. You won't believe how easy and how budget friendly these were to make!

The fifth and final change I made in this Re-Fresh was a new paint color, Sherwin Williams "Anonymous". It's a dramatic, deep, moody gray. I love how it provides contrast to all of the white in the space. This is a great example of how a dark wall color doesn't always make a space feel darker. It can actually have the opposite effect by highlighting the lighter elements in the room.

Since we have an open concept floor plan, I carried the same "Anonymous" wall color throughout most of the main level. In the kitchen, this color really showcases our painted cabinetry. I added a smaller version of the rug in the living room to the kitchen as well. This helps to tie the two spaces together.

This little area rug had a big impact on our small kitchen. The bright, apple green color and large scale pattern brought a ton of personality and energy to the space. At the tail end of a long Michigan winter, I'll take a little energy anywhere I can get it.

This rug is a great choice for a kitchen for a few reasons. The first reason is that it is 100% wool. Wool is naturally stain resistant. The second reason this rug is great for a busy family kitchen, is that it's reversible! It looks exactly the same on both sides.

This rug is available in many sizes, I found the 3'6" x 5'6" rectangle to fit the best in my space. To see the other size options available, please click here...

With just five changes; fresh paint, new rugs, new "old" coffee table, new toss pillows and new DIY drapes, our main level has a fresh new look for spring...