Turned Their Living Room Into an English Countryside Cottage

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. I'm Alexandra, and today we are making over a living room for a couple and turning it into a cozy English countryside style retreat. Are you guys ready? Let's get started. I am so proud of the makeovers that we have done this year, that we have coming. There's so much good content, so please hit that subscribe button if you want to be notified anytime I upload. Okay, let's hop on a call with Aaron and Galen to get to know them and their hopes and dreams for the space. Congrats for winning a makeover with us. We're so excited. Thanks. It was such a surprise. I'm sure everyone says that, but we were like, that's not going to happen. This is so cool. This call is really just to get to know you and the space. I would just love to hear from you both in terms of function, like what's working and what's not working. Yeah. I mean, I think we're big movie watchers and that's what it's set up for right now. It's just kind of a couch pointing at a TV and there's not much else going on. We have a Chez, but it's like, it's way too big for the space and takes up like a lot of the room. Yeah. I think you nailed it. It's beautiful and it's big, but there's lots of nooks. There's like crannies everywhere and then there's the staircase. So it's like, what do you do with that? But definitely the couch facing the TV is ideal. And then if I could have something by the windows so that I could read some kind of, yeah, a nook would be fantastic. I feel like the window is missing its like moment. Yeah. Erin, are you thinking like a really big comfy chair? Yes. I feel like you need something that you could like snuggle in for three hours, like that you can really sink into. It's going to be comfortable. Side table, ideal, but just anything to put a cup of tea on in your book. Yeah. Like some kind of ottoman and just cause it gives us extra seating. We have book club and dinners and so, and people will sit on the floor a hundred percent, but if you can offer someone or something a little bit cushier to sit on, that's great. What about storage or like any other functional kind of elements you would like to bring into the space? I mean, I think shelving in general, like all our books are just in stacks on the floor right now. The walls around the room are all quite bare. Did you have any kind of thoughts of what those would look like? Are we thinking like bookshelves on the wall, floating shelves? I have gone through so many Pinterest boards. I have thought of this space so much and I was like, I hope Alexandra has an idea for this because I'm not swayed one way or the other, so like whatever you think with your design style would be best, I'm happy with. I would love to know in your own words, how you would describe your style and like how you want this living room to look and feel. I kind of think of it as very English countryside, English cottage, maybe a feel of say like a London apartment, but certainly heavy on woods and like just tons and tons of color, like a room that feels very, very cozy and warm and lived in. I'm seeing like you are not afraid of mixing and matching patterns. You've got like some pattern clashing going on, but yet it all just like works. Would you be happy with all the walls being painted? A hundred percent. Okay, I love that. What colors are you both drawn to? I think in general, just like bright, warm colors, I think like oranges and greens and blues, yellow, pretty much. I don't think there's anything. No, we love color. Okay, great. Just no gray, actually. That's what I should say. You could do anything but repaint the space gray. Okay, amazing. Well, thank you both so much. I'm so excited and I will meet you soon. That's great. Erin and Galen's inspo is very clear. They want to feel like they're in a cottage in the English countryside. Lots of pattern, lots of texture, just cozy, cozy, cozy for them to be able to host their book club and watch movies. So here's what I'm thinking. First things first, I want to paint all the walls in like this rich golden yellow color. It's going to bring in so much warmth. I want to do an accent wall with wallpaper. Wallpaper is like key in this design to get that layered look. I also want to paint the staircase. This staircase is so beautiful and it really is kind of a focal point in the living room. So I want to paint it out this olive green color, again, bringing in these rich, beautiful tones. I'm going to keep Erin and Galen's existing sofa, but I want to do something really fun, change it up. And I'm taking inspo from one of their inspo photos. I want to drape it in a beautiful, rich linen fabric. I'm also going to bring in storage for books. I want to create kind of like a built-in moment with three pieces of furniture. And then just bringing in so much pattern. The key to this style is just layering like every kind of color and pattern you can think of. You might remember a few videos ago, I actually missed one of our makeover prep days because I was sick. Wish I was there. And if you've been following my mental health journey, you know that getting sick on a makeover day has been a really big fear of mine and like an anxiety trigger. I completely spiraled. I called Amanda who I run the business with. I was crying. I was overwhelmed. I was really wanting certainty in an uncertain situation. And when you're talking to someone who doesn't experience the same level of anxiety as you, it can kind of like pile on to the anxiety that's already there. Amanda is often approaching these conversations really logically. Well, my brain is really searching for reassurance in those moments. And our two kind of personalities clash in those moments. Again, I know if you struggle with anxiety, talking to friends and family can sometimes be really difficult and leave you feeling like, okay, no one understands. And I feel like totally out of control. We had a conversation that was not productive. It left me feeling worse. It left her feeling worse. And thankfully I'm not making this up. I had a therapy session right after we ended our call. I always feel so much better after therapy because it really is an hour for me to collect and organize my thoughts, tease them out of my brain and look at each one, observe each one and talk it through. After my session, I called Amanda back and I felt like I had such a better grasp on my thoughts and we were able to talk through the week ahead in a logical way and make a plan that felt good for both of us. And you guys guess what? I did miss a day of the makeover, but Alana and Graham nailed hosting the show and I was able to come in and finish Sydney's bedroom. I felt better as the week progressed and everything was okay. If you can relate to this story or these feelings in any way, I highly encourage you to seek out therapy. It has truly changed my life, which is why I'm so happy that BetterHelp is the paid partner of today's video. BetterHelp makes therapy accessible wherever you are, whether that's online or through the app. You can communicate in whatever way you feel most comfortable with through phone, video, or text. Over 6 million people worldwide to date have gotten help through BetterHelp. Earning it a 4.8 out of 5 rating on the app store. With 82% of clients recommending their therapist. Click the link in my description box below or go to betterhelp.com slash gator to get 10% off your first month of therapy. Because no one should have to go through anything alone and BetterHelp is here with you. Okay. It is paint day. My friends from J. Davis painting are here and they are going to help paint out this entire space. You guys know, I've mentioned J. Davis painting many times, and that's because they are the best in the biz. They describe themselves as a five-star company in a two-star industry, and I could not agree more. The thing I love about the process is that they walk you through everything. They get down to the nitty gritty, like what kind of paint you'll need, how long the job will take. And then when they actually get into your space, they spend so much time prepping the walls, making sure the paint job is going to be the best it can be. They're starting by priming the staircase in a gray primer. Don't worry. This isn't the color we're actually going for. They're also giving the ceiling a fresh coat of white paint. We're going for Simply White by Benjamin Moore. The walls are this beautiful golden yellow color. It's called French Horn, also by Benjamin Moore. Now that the primer has dried, they're going in with GI Green by Benjamin Moore. They're doing a few coats of each color, and I am loving how this is looking. You guys know I always say paint is the biggest game changer. Even if you're painting your walls white, it can make such a difference. So if you're looking for a great paint service, I cannot recommend J. Davis more. All the information will be in my description box. And if you do hire them, please tell them I sent you. Good morning, you guys. We are at Erin and Galen's, and I am so obsessed with the paint colors and how they look in this room. It's giving this golden, beautiful, warm hue, which is the goal. We want this space to be warm and inviting. Also, the staircase is giving us a beautiful hit of olive green. The colors are just so complimentary. It's all working. So Graham and I are going to start the day by wallpapering this wall. We're going to do an accent wall with wallpaper. I felt like it was really important to bring wallpaper in here because Erin and Galen love pattern. We're trying to make this feel like a cozy English countryside cottage. So let's, let's get to it. Okay. This is the wallpaper. It's so cute. This is conveniently called the Cottage Garden Wallpaper from Timberley Interiors. And we've been using their wallpaper a lot because they have so many patterns. We also just love using this. Like the install is pretty smooth for us. Woman owned company, Canadian. We love. This is giving cute little cottage in the woods. Bluebells. Wouldn't you say, Graham? Bluebells. I just have an image of us frolicking in the woods. Picking bluebells. So apparently like it's illegal to pick trilliums. Yeah, it is. Cause they're our national flower. Provincial. What did I say? National. Provincial. For everyone who doesn't live in Ontario, this is what a trillium. This is a trillium. It takes 10 to 15 years for a trillium to bloom. Isn't that insane? Okay. Are you ready to hang? Yeah. You're ready to hang? Yeah. Get it? Okay, let's do it. So we've got our laser lineup as always. We want to make sure that our first panel is lined up nice and straight. So I'm just going to line it up at the top here. And then Graham is going to start lining it up in the middle and at the bottom of the panel to the laser line. We're leaving a bunch kind of hanging off because Graham wanted to line it up right to the outlet. It's going to just be easier for us to cut, but we're going to cut this off at the end. This wall is really narrow. So just take your panels and just like kind of just rough it against the wall and just make sure that you have like full panels and you don't want to get to the edge here and then have like a little sliver. So like you can move this panel over more or not as much just to make sure that like, you know, you're doing like four panels rather than having to do a fifth. So you just save like, yeah, you'll save time and effort. Graham is cutting the excess off with a utility knife. Okay. Love the wallpaper. This looks so cute in here and sweet. And I love the hit of blue. Speaking of which I wanted to add another hit of blue into the room. You may notice that the trim has already been painted a blue color. Let's head into Graham cam. He's going to show you how he painted the closet doors, the exact same blue. These closet doors have so many layers of paint on them. So Graham is going to try to remove as much of it as possible before repainting. He's using a heat gun and a metal scraper and just peeling up all of the old paint before going in with an electric sander with 80 grit sandpaper. Now that the door has been stripped and sanded down, Graham is using a paint sprayer with some shellac primer and priming all the doors before going in with three coats of Van Dusen blue by Benjamin Moore in the advanced line of paint. This color is so pretty. This doodad in this hole. I'm going to go down. Sir, I'm on it. I'm going to go down and, um. You almost knocked me right out. You try, you let, you let go and it almost hit me. I thought you were hanging on to it. Okay. So I'm going to put mine in first. Can you lift that? Put, push that doodad down. Uh-huh. Both. Uh, just start with the one for now. I know, but let me just, can I just try it my way? Just the one in the hole. Yeah, I got it. My finger almost got ******* stuck in there. Graham, stop moving it, please. No, it's in the wrong, Graham. I'm literally not playing games with you. I almost had it. I don't know how you managed to get it on that, that side of the thing. So close to going to make a compliment. It's really quite jammed. It almost took my finger with it. Right there. Yeah. Look there, there we go. There, boom. Okay. This looks really, really good. We need to add some hardware on the door. So let's do that next. Okay. I'm adding a couple of these beautiful red knobs. These are from Plank Hardware. Look how good these look. So cute. Next, Graham is wiring the new ceiling light. This is from Mitzi. Okay. A big part of this style is texture. It's going to help us bring in the warmth, bring in that like lived in look. Don't you love little flowers? Yeah, really good. I know. I also like the size. It still gives like the look of a chandelier, but it's on the smaller side, which is a good fit for this room. Okay. This light is looking so good. Really driving home the like cottagecore vibe. It's so cute. All coming together so nicely. Every piece in here that we've added, like the wall color, the wallpaper, the closet doors, the light. It's all just like hitting. I will see you guys tomorrow. We're going to really bring the space together. Bring in furniture. I cannot wait. I'll see you then. You guys, I just received these after photos from my virtual makeover clients, Meg and David. It's blowing my mind. Not only does their living room look so beautiful, but this is the mood board me and my team came up with and sent to them. It's like a copy and paste. I'm so obsessed. It is so rewarding to see clients implementing these makeovers and doing it virtually. I work with a limited amount of clients every month. So if you are looking to revamp your space and need some guidance and want like a blueprint, a play by play of how to make your dream room come to life, you can head to alexandragator.com and purchase today. Good morning, everyone. I'm so excited to be back. I say this every video. It's the best feeling to wake up and just be like excited for the day. We are starting out strong with an area rug. This is from Tabrizi Rugs. I'm not going to talk anymore because I just want to unroll it and see it. So let's do it. Oh, my goodness. I don't know if you can tell by my face, but I'm like, this is one, absolutely stunning, and two, the kind of rug that Erin and Galen are going to have for like their whole life. Like this is the kind of rug that you pass down to family members. This is a wool hand knotted Afghan rug bringing out all the colors we've already brought into this space. Wow. This is Erin and Galen's existing sofa. I didn't want to get rid of it. It's so comfy. It's fairly new. They like it. It's green. It works with the vibe, but I am going to do something that I've been really excited about for a long time. I'm going to cover it with a linen sofa cover. Let me grab it. Me and Graham are going to put it on together. I'm so excited about this. So I don't know if you know the content creator, Hummus Bird? Fan of the dip. Her name's Bridget. I saw her do this in her apartment on her sofa. She like draped this linen cover over. It just makes the sofa look so like lived in and relaxed and romantic. And then when, I know, and I just think it works so well for the style. Are you ready for a nap? No, he looks like he's ready for a toga party. Yeah. It's from Sand and Snow Linen on Etsy. So we're just going to drape it over and we're just going to cover the whole sofa and then we're going to tuck it in. Seems like a great option for pet owners. Great option for pet owners. Washable. And less expensive than the covers we have shown in the past, which are also great, but those are custom covers. This is just like easy. Like you could do this in an hour. Not even an hour. You could do it in five minutes. This is not at all like known as plastic couch cover. Okay. I wanted to create a built-in look with furniture. So that's what I'm going to do. We have three pieces starting with this beautiful media unit from Article. Then I've got two of these from Article as well. I love these. If you have books or you need a place to store things, they don't take up all the floor space and they're making use of vertical space. Wow. Erin and Galen host a book club every month and it's just something I will keep saying in this video because I think it's so lovely and cute. And so I wanted their books to be on display. I wanted you to see them. I wanted them to be a part of the decor and the room. So I think these are going to be great. Okay. Graham and I need to center these pieces and then mount them to the wall. Do me a favor? Yeah. You have it? Yeah. I'm going to walk away. Yep. You flinched. Okay. So if you guys hadn't already guessed, we just brought in the TV. I wanted to mount it on the wall rather than placed on the media unit. I just think it looks cleaner. It's also a really big TV. So I think it's going to look nice on the wall. And this is like the little built-in moment. I think it's great. It also makes this wall look way bigger. Graham had this existing cord cover that he actually made from a previous project. And I feel like it works so well with all the wood on this wall. So this is what I'm going to use to cord cover the TV. You guys have also seen us just do white cord covers that we paint the same color as the wall. You could do that too. But I think this one is a very fancy. And I'm just using double-sided tape to stick it. And then I'm coming in with a level. Now I'm picking some art for the TV. I do sometimes switch it up once all the decor's in here and I can like see what colors we're working with. But I really like this channel, the museum ambiance. They have a lot of different options. Okay. I'm keeping Aaron and Galen's coffee table because it looks like it was forged from the woods, which is, as you know, the vibe. I also like the size of it. People can gather round. Oh yeah. Look at that against the colors in the rug. This looks so good. The living room area is really coming together. We're going to move on to the bay window. I'm going to create a little reading nook there. So let's do that next. Okay. I found this on Facebook marketplace and it's like quilted. I thought it was so perfect for the living room and it plays off the wallpaper. Oh, so comfy. The view outside the window. All I can see is trees. I think I'm actually going to angle it a bit more because we do have a side table coming and that way if someone's sitting here, they can also watch the TV. This side table is from Article and it's so fun because it's a checkerboard. And it even comes with checker pieces and storage. Cute. I feel like a lot of people have trouble with bay windows. They like don't know what to do when it comes to curtain rods or curtains. So hopefully this helps. We just got three different curtain rods and we bought elbows. We'll link everything down below. And so it creates this like continuous bay window curtain rod situation. Graham and I are going to take it down and hang the curtains. I like to do six panels in a three bay window situation. I just took a step back and I think there's actually too many curtains. I think I'm going to do four instead. I would usually do six, especially if it's like a lighter fabric. But these are just heavy, which I love. I just don't think we need as much fabric. I would say buy a couple more panels than you think you'll need. And then you can just return them if you don't end up using them. OK, those are looking really good. They do need to be hemmed. I'm going to get working on that now. I'm just going to use like IKEA hemming tape and an iron. While I'm doing that, Graham is going to install the stair railing that he fixed up in the workshop. Let's roll Graham cam to see how he did it. Graham is sanding down the railing, starting with 60 grit sandpaper and working up to 120 grit. He's using a random orbital sander to do this. He's also going in with some hand sandpaper for the edges. Now that the paint has been removed and the railing is nice and smooth, Graham is using some hardwood floor finish. This is going to seal the railing and make it super durable for many more years to use. So beautiful. Your ability to make even like the simplest thing look beautiful is amazing. It's just a handrail. I'm going like this because it's very sturdy. Yeah, the other one was like falling out of the wall. Put your railings in studs. Or there's no point in having a railing. Nice. Nice job. OK, I'm so excited about this Mitzi light. It is so functional. It really fills the room so they can swivel it to the reading chair or to the sofa. Obviously, if it's swiveled toward the sofa, they can't access the closet. But no problem because they can just swivel it back this way. And for a big room like this, you really want lighting that like fills the space. It's so cute. I love it. Erin and Galen had this piece here before and I just couldn't get rid of it. It fits so perfectly. The vibe fits so well with the rest of the space. And I feel like it just helps define this kind of empty area. So we're going to leave it here. Also, it's so great for storage. And I always say drawers. Drawers are so great for storage in any room. OK, my friends, that was a big day. I will see you guys tomorrow. I'm going to pull the space together. I'm going to style it. And we're also going to reveal to Erin and Galen. So exciting. See you then. OK, it's reveal day. I'm so excited for Erin and Galen to see their new living room. I'm going to style the space starting with their gorgeous plants. So let's do it. OK, I'm going to start by putting this one here. I think I need a smaller one. I want to group a couple together. OK, it's art time. I'm using my favorite trick in the book, which is to purchase downloadable art prints from artists and then frame them in vintage frames. This one's going up here. OK, I love this print so much. How cute. It's going to go right here. Gorge. Isn't that so great? So pretty. OK, so books are a big part of this makeover. This is the room where they're going to host their book club. So I am going to fill all these shelves with their book collection. OK, this is looking so good. I am going to get into finishing touches. Let's do it. I am starting by adding another plant. You can't have too many. I'm placing this beautiful oil lamp that Erin and Galen had. I'm adding a piece of their art and art on the TV. I'm placing this decorative rocking horse on the top shelf. We truly do find something in every style we're working in from HomeSense. I'm adding a footstool and a cushion on the armchair. I'm filling the sofa with cushions, and I'm just mixing and matching an eclectic mix of pattern and color. I'm adding these beautiful floor cushions from the Etsy shop Nylot Looms. This is going to be great for more seating during book club. Finally, adding some faux stems to the coffee table for height. OK, you guys, I'm so excited. It is time to bring Erin and Galen in for the reveal. I cannot wait for them to see this room. Are you guys ready? Yes. Oh, my goodness. OK, I'm so excited. Can you both walk me through what your living room looked like before? It was gray. We kind of had some mismatched furniture and a huge chaise lounge, which was too big for the space. Yeah, we had to put our books or read or do anything else. OK, are you guys ready? Yes. On the count of three, I want you to open your eyes. OK. One, two, three. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my God. Wow. Oh, my God. This is like unreal. I cannot believe this is our space. You nailed the coloring. This is unreal. I was like, it's going to be good. It's going to be amazing. No, no, no, no, no. This is crazy. And these doors are gorgeous. Aren't they beautiful? Oh, my gosh. We have a chessboard. That's really cool. Oh, my God. I didn't even notice they painted our stairs. That's so cool. And the banister looks phenomenal. And I think this might be my favorite wall color ever. It's really good. It's not it's not even yellow, but it's Dijon mustard. It's better than mustard. It's like deeper. It's a richer mustard. Yeah, it's like mustard is super common. And this doesn't look very common. No, I'm not supposed to be talking. And so much storage and cheese. This is so exciting. You guys have no idea. Oh, guys, you did such a good job. It's gorgeous. Thanks for trusting me. This is so amazing. I'm so glad you like it. And yay, the team. Yay, the team. Next up on AGTV, we're coming at you with another episode of Studio Fix. This apartment is filled with brick walls, and we're turning it into a cool girl, New York style apartment. I cannot wait for you to see it. Please hit that subscribe button. And as always, I'll see you next time. Bye. I've never seen you like that. When I picked up this color from the paint store, two things happened. The man that was helping said, this is such a beautiful blue. And I said, thank you. And then he asked me if I needed help carrying the can out of the store. And I said, I said, what, do I not look strong enough? And he said, can a strong, independent woman do anything? He said, no, your hands. And I was like, oh, he saw the softness of your hands. Oh, that's nice. I think it was. I don't think it was as diabolical as you took it. I think he was trying to like cover it, like cover up what he said. He's like, because your hands look like a baby's. They're soft and manicured. Love it.