Cozy Autumn Formal Living Room

Enter if you dare!!! Our front formal living room is the room you enter when you come through our front door. Not to scare you away, but this time of year you may be a little worried about what you might find inside 😆. Come on now, you know me pretty well by now (I hope you are a subscriber). Just relax while I take you inside to our very “Cozy Autumn Formal Living Room” that really isn’t formal at all. Just ignore the cat lady on the left…

The Beginning of the Autumn Formal Living Room

Let’s start by going back to the very beginning 11 years ago. You can see in the photo below, I tried to create a cozy family room vibe in this rather formal/awkward space. Just look at that huge sofa 😖! The kids use to jump all over that beast. It seriously could sleep a family of four.

Well, that beast of a sofa was sold to a nice young couple when I decided to turn the dining room into an office, which eventually turned into our real family room.

I’ll never forget the October afternoon we walked through the front door with our realtor for the first time. The previous owner had lit the fireplace and it caught my eye right after the very beautiful wood crafted 3 story staircase. My friend the realtor whispered, “Julie, this could be the one!”

Well…she was spot on. This was the “one”, and here we are now with college age children, and I honestly don’t know how I will ever leave this house. It’s become part of the four of us in so many ways. Especially after the year 2020 😖.

This awkward cold formal space is now a legit “Cozy Autumn Formal Living Room” and it literally displays part of my inner creative soul. When you walk through that front door, I hope you get the feeling that I genuinely love life and my family.

So, how do you like the cool & warm colors together? How about that soft warm lighting?

Adding Warm Accents to Autumn Formal Living Room

When I first added the warm accents, I couldn’t get over how it instantly transformed into autumn in here. Doesn’t it make you crave warm cider and donuts?

Rest assured, I didn’t purchase anything new for this autumn makeover (except cider and donuts). I actually recycled items I had in my basement decorating stash.

You may remember the artificial autumn branches from this year’s “Fall Fantasy Bedroom“. The blue velvet sofa is actually 4 years old now. Oh, and that pretty black lamp is from Walmart’s clearance back in 2005. Yikes.

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I’ve always had a thing for glass of any kind, and acrylic furniture makes me feel younger 😊. This huge heavy glass & acrylic square coffee table really balances the room, especially when it’s centered on the area rug, sofa, and windows.

If you look closely, you’ll notice I centered it all right down the middle (even the vase and small table are included). Centering helps the eye focus softly allowing your view to wander freely without getting lost. Of course on the other hand, Sylvia the kitty, could care less.

Now, if you glance to the right, you’ll enjoy one of our fireplaces. One of my most favorite things to do is to light the fire (this one is gas), and relax on the blue sofa while I call my mom to catch up on things. We sure have had some good conversations in here.

By the way, our kitchen fireplace is on the opposite side of this wall and we transformed it into a wood burning fireplace. I will leave a photo of that at the end of this post for you to understand the layout of our house better.

Special Meanings Behind Autumn Formal Living Room

Hey, speaking of my mom…there’s quite a few things in this room that she has given us over the years. One of those items is that gorgeous antique bowl on the silver table that I remember as a kid on my mom’s shelf. We had 2 “fancy bowls” that I wasn’t allowed to touch, and this was one of them. My mom ended up gifting this bowl to my husband, and you won’t believe what it has on the inside part of the bowl…

The swans have special meaning because my mom gave the bowl to my husband many, many years ago. Little did she know, we would have swans here at this house. We watch them all year long from the deck and our large windows. Here, I will prove it…

Isn’t that something? Although I love the swans pictured on the bowl, I do keep pine cones from our yard in this bowl. I thought adding one big pine cone, with a few faux fall leaves, might add some more warmth to the room. Fairy lights would be pretty, too.

Below, you’ll also notice the round table on the left side of the sofa, and the “peacock chair”…all from my mom. The table was my maternal grandfather’s, and the “Morticia” peacock chair was a big event when my mom purchased it in the 80’s (I was in high school). We didn’t have a lot of extra money, so this was a big deal.

I remember my mom sitting in that chair often, and I also ended up with a black cat named Mortisha who loved that chair for many moons.

Before I get to the main source list, I wanted to show you one last item that my mom gave us. When I was young, this yellow “Goldfinch” bird statue was usually on the round side table that was my grandfather’s I mentioned earlier. I keep it there still, but moved it just for the photos. Can you see the crack in it? I’m pretty sure my sister broke it and my dad glued it back together. Gosh, I just love stories like that…

VELVET BLUE SHAG RUG

FALL ARTIFICIAL LEAF BRANCHES: Joann’s

GHOST CHAIR (crazy price look on Facebook Marketplace)

BLUE VELVET SOFA

PEACOCK WICKER CHAIR (crazy price look on Ebay!)

SILVER SIDE TABLE: HomeGoods

VINTAGE INDUSTRIAL SCONCES

FIG LEAF PLANT

BLOWN GLASS TREBLE CLEF

Fall Home Tour