Whether you’re going for full regency or just want to feel more regal – this Jane Austen Style Living Room has an abundance of style inspiration waiting for you!

I’ve been considering some updates in this living room and working at updating it on and off for the past few years – and I’m excited to share that it’s finished!

Well.. I guess it’s never TRULY finished, because there are always new ideas that I’m considering; but the majority of what I had planned for this room has come to fruition, and I’m going to share all the details with you today.

Oh, and pictures. LOTS of pictures! If you don’t already pin with me on Pinterest – I’d love it if you joined me!

*This post contains affiliate links to products I know &/or love.

I’ve learned through my time as an interior designer that sometimes projects, especially those we’re closest to (like our own home), need to marinate a little bit before we can feel like we’ve accomplished all we set out to.

That was certainly true in this living room. I would make a change or two, then step back and work on another project, and then come back and make another few changes. What that means is that the whole project has been in-progress for years, but also that I’m very pleased with the decisions I have made!

Giving your self the time and space to decide something before going ahead with it is a luxury often only afforded us when we’re designing in our own spaces without a deadline!

Jane Austen Style Living Room Makeover:

One of the first things we did was repaint all of the walls from our former white (Benjamin Moore’s “Simply White”) to Sherwin William’s Slate Tile.

I also chose to “color drench” the room by painting the trim in the same color – but with a higher sheen. Both of those choices make the space so much more stunning and dramatic – but it does also make the room significantly darker.

Because of that, I’ve been bending over backwards adding lumens (mainly in the form of lamps) and lighter touches (which I’ll share more about below) to brighten the space back up.

I get asked often about the fabric on the forest pillow in my window seat – it’s a very popular design and can be found HERE.

We’re currently in the process of deciding whether or not we’re going to cover our old fir floors. We refinished them when we remodeled the whole house – but fir is such a soft wood that it is not standing up well to human or dog foot- traffic. (Especially now that we have TWO Rhodesian Ridgebacks – click HERE to see all about our new puppy!)

As we wait on those details, I’m very happy with our current rug situation in the living room! I began with this beautiful Ruggable rug called “Fiore Natural” in blue. I adore the pattern, and have taken cues from the color scheme throughout the room.

Like in the color of our French door into the closet.

My favorite part is the medallion in the center of the room that fits perfectly underneath my gilded golden bamboo coffee table.

I have a whole journal post about how we added casters and did a gold leaf gild on this Facebook marketplace find!

The ONLY thing that I didn’t love about this Ruggable rug was that even at the largest size available, it was a few inches shorter than I would have liked.

My solution is to layer another rug underneath!

I found a lovely, natural seagrass rug from Safavieh that worked perfectly. The extra banding around the edge matches the drapes and the overall added width gives the floor more protection and better proportions to the couch!

Next we chose to paint the corner bookshelf the same color as the walls to give it a built-in look.

I added some natural, light academia inspired decor on the shelves, and in front, set up a small table with two chairs that have a French Bistro feel to them.

I have noticed my family often finding their way over there to sit, so I keep a lamp from Etsy there for an extra cozy feel on dark evenings.

More Jane Austen Inspired Living Room Updates…

One of the bigger projects I tackled was adding blue mullions to the windows! The bright white vinyl trim windows had too much contrast and modernity against the Slate Tile walls.

But neither my husband or I wanted to actually paint the vinyl window casings themselves – knowing that it’s hard to ever return them back to their original un-painted state.

That led me on a mission to make a completely removable vinyl window paint option – and I did it with paintable wallpaper and wooden sticks from the hardware store!

You can read the full Journal Post tutorial HERE.

I absolutely love how they turned out! They remind me of English shop storefront windows.

Back on the other side of the room, my secretary desk!

Now that I have college students and their friends in the house, I decided having multiple desks in this room would be beneficial. One of them is my beautiful secretary desk near the front door.

I capitalized on Christmas last year and asked my husband if he would add an outlet behind the desk as my present so that I could plug in a real lamp. He graciously obliged!

I made a sweet pleated lampshade to cover a capiz shell lamp that I found while thrifting, and styled the desk up with a combination of vintage books, Jane Austen inspired trinkets, and a few practical pieces that I like to have on hand and easily accessible like my pretty white pens in a thrifted tea cup.

How to Handle a TV in a Jane Austen Inspired Design…

A few years ago we did away with not only our large entertainment center hutch, but also our traditional TV in favor of a more sleek Samsung Frame TV! We haven’t regretted it once.

At first we were a little shocked at the price of available Samsung Frame TV Frames – but we solved that problem by creating our own DIY frame for far less!

Now it always sports some seasonal art (often from Etsy) and makes a fabulous statement piece on our wall.

Below the TV we have our “lego dresser” which is styled up with another set of beautiful blue linen books held together by my sweet dog book-ends. These reminded me of our dog, Kierra when I first saw them and I knew I had to have them!

They were broken when they arrived to me, but some glue and some champagne bronze spray-paint (my favorite gold) and they’re good as new!

As I’ve been working on adding light elements, I knew I wanted some drapes that would be bright against the blue walls – but would also keep out the light when we’re having a movie night in the room.

I chose to have custom lined drapes made by Two Pages and I can’t say enough good things about them!

If you use my code SHEHOLDSDEARLY you can get 15% off your order!

There are many fabric, pleat and lining options so that you can get exactly the curtains you need for your space!

Styling a Light Academia Inspired Mantle:

Since I don’t have a true mantle in my living room – I always treat the top of my piano as a mantle when it comes to decorating!

This past Christmas I discovered these interesting bleached white ferns and I’ve loved them on top of the piano as a faux swag garland. I ended up buying two more packs after Christmas to make them look even more substantial. (And don’t tell anyone, but they’re just held in place with clear scotch tape!)

You know I love glass cloches! For Spring this year I styled my collection of birds nests underneath them.

My Second Desk Area for my Studying College Students…

I already mentioned my secretary desk that I like to have available for my children and their friends – but the second of the two desks is here in the corner near the window seat.

I followed my same tutorial to create 5 tiny pleated lampshades for our chandelier, and made another of my trusty Ballard Designs knock-off bulletin boards for the wall behind the desk.

Blue books, turkey feathers, coral, a typewriter and a vintage doctor’s bag round out the styling in this corner.

The Final Great Jewel of the Room…

There’s nothing quite like a second hand find being the catalyst to change out the actual front door of your house – but that’s what happened here!

I was so excited about this beautiful 1800’s settee…until we got it home and realized we couldn’t fit it through any of the doors. Luckily, we’d been wanting to replace our door with a larger one, anyway.

You can watch that whole process HERE.

So now we’re the owners of this lovely piece that is the PERFECT color for this room and in beautiful condition for it’s age.

I’m leaning into this idea that it feels more high-end to pull your couch off the wall – so behind the couch I have my vintage steamer trunk (that holds all my paint supplies), our record player, and a pretty wire bird cage with faux blue birds.

As far as the couch itself, it’s soft enough with luxurious down cushions that I’ve taken a break from what sometimes feel like the high-maintenance world of having lots of throw pillows.

Instead I’ve just been draping this fur throw over the arm.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, I highly recommend the book, “Feels Like Home” by Marian Parsons from Miss Mustard Seed. I often study her looks when I’m styling vignettes.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Living Room Tour inspired by Jane Austen!

Related Journal Posts:

• Jane Austen Inspired Vintage Grove Bathroom Mural
• How to Throw a Pride & Prejudice Birthday Party
• Living Room Design Decisions
• Living Room Progress & Design Questions
• From the Archive: Farmhouse Living Room Reveal

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