Before & After: Small Living Room Makeover in our Tiny Cabin

It’s here: the reveal of our small living room in our Tiny Lake House! I can’t wait to share this makeover with you, and I hope you’re inspired by this small space. Read on to see the details of this before & after!

This Spring, I introduced our latest project to you: the Tiny Lake House renovation! We’ve finished painting the exterior of the cabin and completely remodeling the front porch, and then we completed the small bedroom makeover. Next, we made over the tiny entry in the cabin and gave the wee kitchen a glorious makeover. Over the Holidays, we finished making over the small living room!

Here’s how this little living room looked BEFORE:

We actually turned the main bedroom in our Tiny Lake House into the living room! Because we wanted to add a bathroom and mechanical room to the cabin, we had to completely transform the layout. The original bedroom site was the perfect spot for the new living room that would double as a second place to sleep with a sofa bed. You can see the floor plan switcharoo right here!

Here’s the living room DURING the renovation process:

How we gutted the living room and started from scratch

Like the rest of this 467 square foot cabin, we completely gutted the living room area, re-wired it, and insulated it with spray foam insulation to keep it energy efficient and repel critters. My husband Sean installed new drywall, and we installed a shiplap ceiling and LVP flooring. Upcycled crown moulding, new window trim, and a fresh coat of paint completed this renovation.

Here’s how this small living room looks NOW:

The after pictures of our bright, airy, and dual-purpose living room

This room was such a challenge to design since it’s so small, but we were able to fit everything we wanted inside! The small coffee table can roll away so that the Kavuus sofa bed can turn into an extra bed for us or our guests:

Fireplace & TV corner

Because we know a TV is important in a vacation rental, we mounted a TV in the corner of this living room over an electric fireplace. This little fireplace looks like a wood stove, and it acts as a backup heating source for the cabin.

Coffee Bar Area

Originally I wanted to place a dresser in this space to hold all of the bed linens and any extra items we wanted to store in the space. When it didn’t fit as pictured, I decided to move it into the dining space near the kitchen. It works SO well here, and I’m glad I made the decision to move it out of the living room!

I was able to move the coffee machine onto this dresser, there’s still lots of room to walk through to the kitchen, and it leave more room in the living room for an accent chair and the fireplace.

Watch my YouTube video to see the whole living room makeover from start to finish:

Tiny Lake House Living Room Source List:

• Paintable bead board wallpaper
• Pre-painted shiplap
• LVP flooring
• Light fixtures: Wall Sconce
• Sofa Bed (gifted): Lamont Sofa Bed from Kavuus
• Accent Chair: STRANDMON from IKEA
• Dresser: TARVA from IKEA
• Coffee Table: VIHALS from IKEA
• Area Rug (gifted): Sarrah Hazel Rug from Ruggable
• Fireplace: For Living Fireplace from Canadian Tire
• Drapes: Eclipse blackout from Walmart Canada
• Throw pillows: handmade
• Giant scrabble board: HomeSense
• Wall colour: Blank Canvas by Behr
• Trim colour: Ultra Pure White by Behr
• crown moulding, baseboard & casing were recycled from another project

What do you think of this small living room makeover? Let me know in the comments below and stay tuned for more room makeovers in our Tiny lake House!

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