Living Room Cabinetry Design Plan

I am beyond thrilled to be sharing my living room cabinetry design plan with you today. In a couple months, this space will look completely different thanks to larger bookcases, a new fireplace surround, and gas burning logs.

Friends, I am so excited about this living room cabinetry project. I have wanted to tackle the fireplace wall since I moving into Bayberry House two years ago. And finally, it’s happening!

As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago custom cabinetry was installed in my entryway. Well, when I booked that project with the cabinet maker, I also included my living room cabinetry design in the scope of work.

Why Am I Updating My Living Room Cabinetry?

Before I show you the plan, I thought I’d explain why I wanted to change the space. Here’s how it looks right now:

It’s not bad. With some intentional styling, that end of my living room manages to look fairly nice. However, the existing fireplace and bookcases bother me.

1. The shelves in the bookcases are only 8 inches deep so they aren’t practical for book storage. (At least half of the books I own won’t fit on the shelves without hanging off the edge.)
2. I don’t love the mantel. I’m not a fan of the dentil molding, and like the bookcase, the mantel is narrow, making it hard to style.
3. Because I have two other wood-burning fireplaces in my home, I’d love to have gas-burning logs in the living room so I can have a fire with the flip of a switch and no sooty mess to clean up.
4. With the new cabinetry in my kitchen and entryway, the existing fireplace and bookcases in the living room feel dated. New cabinetry will elevate the entire room.

I have a few other reasons for wanting an upgrade, but I’ve shared the main ones.

Now for the new design!

Living Room Cabinetry Design Plan:

And now, here’s a look at the design for my new living room cabinetry!

Eek! It’s going to be so good, right? I honestly couldn’t be more thrilled.

Just as I did with my entryway cabinets, I hired Drury Cabinetry for this project. They have been great to work with, and I highly recommend them if you’re near Pittsburgh and have any cabinetry needs.

New Living Room Cabinetry Explained:

Now, let’s talk about a few things.

First, the new open bookshelves will extend to the ceiling. They will be wider to accommodate more decor items as well as all of my books. Enclosed cabinets will replace the existing open shelves.

There will be beadboard behind the bookshelves. I love this detail as it’s a nod to my butler’s pantry and the beadboard in my entryway.

I’ve added a picture light at the top of each bookcase. The light is the Ridgewood in Distressed Bronze from Hudson Valley Lighting. The design plan shows brass, but I chose black/bronze instead. I already have brass pictures lights in my kitchen so I thought I’d try something different. The cabinet knobs and drawer pulls will also be black/bronze.

Ridgewood Picture Light / Ruth Knob / Brunswick Cup Pull

I’m getting Carrara marble for the fireplace surround and hearth. One thing that bugs me about the current hearth is that the marble is wrapped with white painted quarter round molding. The new marble will have a decorative cut edge to eliminate the need for the quarter round. Beyond that detail, the marble will look similar to what’s there now.

The fireplace is wood burning, and I never use it. Along with the cabinetry installation, I’m having the fireplace converted to gas. This will allow me to use this fireplace at the touch of a button without any mess. If this were my only fireplace, I would probably keep it wood-burning. But since I have two others, I’m okay with switching this one out.

I found a local installer who is so knowledgeable. I will be using RealFyre Premium Gas Logs. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share more about this process in a dedicated blog post.

The mantel will also be a bit wider to better accommodate decor, and there will be a decorative trim detail on the wall just above the mantel.

For paint, I’m going with Sherwin-Williams Extra White SW 7006. This is the white I’ve used on all of the molding in Bayberry House.

Because I know that someone will bring it up, I want to mention that the fireplace is not centered on the wall. Does that bug me? Yes and no.

I suspect that the fireplace wasn’t centered to allow for better furniture placement in the room. There is more space on the left side to permit traffic to pass through into the dining room. This is just an assumption. Who knows what the reason was.

The fireplace location reflects the history of the house. I also didn’t want the expense and mess of moving the entire fireplace and reworking the chimney and roof after centering the fireplace. I did think about a design in which the cabinets on the left are the same size as ones on the right. That design included a wood storage compartment immediately to the left of the fireplace. Since the cabinet space is already limited in the living room, I opted not to go that route.

I’m all about embracing the quirkiness of things, and this is one of those instances. Perfectly centered or not, this new cabinetry is going to be stunning.

Well, I think that’s it for today.

We still have to figure out an exact installation date for the cabinetry, but this project should be complete by the end of October. It’s going to take a bit longer than I hoped as there is a 4 week wait time for the marble installation after they measure. And they can only measure after the new cabinets are installed. Either way, I’ll be sure to show you how things look once everything is installed.

I hope you enjoy this look at the design plan for my new living room cabinetry. I’m looking forward to sharing the results with you!