A living room remodel sounds simple on paper. New paint, new layout, maybe knock out a wall to the kitchen, done. In practice, it’s almost always the room that touches the most other rooms in the house, which means decisions you make here ripple into the kitchen, the dining area, the entry, and sometimes even the upstairs framing.

We’ve remodeled living rooms across the Des Moines metro, from older 1960s ranches in Beaverdale to newer builds in Waukee and Ankeny. The projects that turn out best have a few things in common, and they aren’t always the things homeowners are thinking about on day one. If you’re talking to living room remodel contractors, here’s what actually matters.

1. Whether the wall you want to remove is load-bearing

The most common ask we get on a living room project is, “can we open this wall up to the kitchen?” The answer is almost always yes. What it costs depends entirely on whether the wall is load-bearing.

A non-load-bearing wall removal is usually a one or two day job: framing, drywall, electrical reroute if there are switches or outlets in the wall. A load-bearing wall is a different project. You’re paying for a structural engineer to size a beam, an LVL or steel beam to replace the wall’s load path, temporary shoring during the cut, and a building permit. In our market, costs range from a few thousand dollars for a simple non-load-bearing opening to twelve to twenty thousand or more for a long load-bearing span with a flush beam (one that sits hidden up inside the ceiling instead of dropping down below).

If a contractor gives you a wall-removal price before looking at the framing above and ideally pulling the original blueprints, push back. That number isn’t real yet.

2. Where your switches and outlets are going to land

This sounds like a boring detail. It is the detail that determines whether the finished room actually feels right.

Walk the room with your contractor before electrical rough-in and think about how you actually live in the space. Where will the couch sit? Do you need outlets behind it for lamps and phone chargers? Where will the TV go, and is there power and low-voltage cable in the wall behind it so cords stay hidden? Where do you want the switch that controls the recessed cans, and should it dim the lights or just turn them on and off? Three-way switches at both entries to the room are cheap during construction and worth their weight in gold once you’re living there.

We do this walkthrough with every client before drywall goes up. It’s a thirty minute conversation that prevents most of the “I wish I’d thought of that” moments later.

3. Layered light, planned as a system

A single overhead fixture is the lighting equivalent of one giant flashlight pointed at the ceiling. It’s harsh, it’s flat, and it’s the main reason most living rooms feel less inviting than the homeowner expected.

Layered light means three sources working together. Recessed cans for general light, on a dimmer, always. Lamps and sconces at sitting height for warmth and reading. And accent light on a focal point: art, a built-in, a fireplace surround. Each layer goes on its own switch so you can run them independently. Movie night uses one combination, dinner party uses another.

If you’re not opening the ceiling for any other reason, retrofit cans (the kind that install through a small hole without an attic visit) make this much more affordable than it used to be.

4. Flooring continuity matters more than the flooring itself

If your living room flows into a dining room, kitchen, or entry, the flooring transition between those rooms is a bigger visual decision than the flooring color or species. We’d rather run a mid-grade engineered hardwood continuously through three rooms than use a higher-grade material with a transition strip every twelve feet.

A few practical notes that come up on almost every project:

• If you’re replacing carpet with hardwood or luxury vinyl plank, plan the board direction with your contractor. Long boards running parallel to the longest sight line make the space feel larger.
• Subfloor flatness matters more than people expect. Older Des Moines homes often have settled or uneven subfloors, and rigid plank flooring will telegraph every dip. Self-leveling compound during prep is cheap insurance.
• If you’re keeping existing flooring in adjacent rooms, bring a physical sample to the showroom when you’re picking new material. Photos do not work for color matching. Lighting changes everything.

5. The focal point comes before the furniture

Most homeowners pick a couch first and then try to make the room work around it. The better order is to identify the focal point first, then everything else falls into place.

Most living rooms have one of three focal points: a fireplace, a feature wall (built-ins, paneling, large art), or a window with a real view. The room arranges itself around whichever you pick. The TV is not a focal point. We mount TVs all the time, but ideally somewhere they can be present without dominating: above a fireplace mantel at the right height, inside a built-in with cabinet doors, or on a swing arm that lets the screen tuck against a wall when it’s not in use.

If your living room is large enough for two seating areas, you can have two focal points and split the room into a conversation zone and a TV zone. We’ve done this in larger Ankeny and Waukee builds and it works really well when the square footage supports it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a living room remodel take?

Cosmetic remodels (paint, flooring, lighting, fixtures) usually run two to four weeks once material is on site. Add a wall removal and you’re looking at four to eight weeks. Add structural work, custom built-ins, or a fireplace rebuild and it can stretch longer. The single biggest schedule variable is material lead time, especially for tile, custom cabinetry, and certain lighting fixtures, so we order long-lead items as soon as selections are finalized.

What does a living room remodel cost in the Des Moines area?

Wide range, because “living room remodel” can mean anything from a paint and flooring refresh to opening three walls and rebuilding a fireplace. As a rough orientation: cosmetic-only refreshes start in the mid four figures, mid-range remodels with new flooring, lighting, and a wall removal typically land in the mid five figures, and full transformations with structural work, custom built-ins, and fireplace work can run into six figures. Any contractor should give you a real number after a walkthrough, not over the phone.

Do I need a permit for a living room remodel?

For purely cosmetic work (paint, flooring, lighting fixtures swapped on existing circuits), usually no. For wall removal, electrical changes that add new circuits, or any structural work, yes. We pull permits as part of every project that needs one. If a contractor offers to skip the permit to save you money, find a different contractor. It comes back to bite you at resale, and it puts your homeowners insurance at risk if anything ever goes wrong.

How high should I mount a TV above a fireplace?

The center of the screen should be roughly at standing eye level, which usually puts the TV lower than people instinctively want to mount it. If the mantel forces the screen uncomfortably high, the better answer is to lower the TV, build a recess into the surround, or move the TV off the fireplace entirely. Craning your neck for a two hour movie is a fixable problem, and it’s worth fixing before you commit to the install.

Planning a Living Room Remodel in Central Iowa?

Elk River Contracting is based in Ankeny and works with homeowners across the metro: Des Moines, Waukee, Johnston, Urbandale, West Des Moines, Clive, and surrounding communities. Cole, our owner, handles the initial walkthrough on every project, and our design manager Lisa works with you through selections so the finished space holds together as one cohesive design rather than a collection of separate decisions.

When you’re comparing living room remodel contractors in the Des Moines area, the differences usually show up in the details: how thoroughly they walk your space before quoting, how clearly the bid breaks down structural versus finish costs, and whether they bring up things like permit requirements, beam options, and material lead times before you ask. Those are the conversations we’d rather have up front.

If you want to talk through what’s possible in your living room, fill out our contact form and we’ll be in touch within a business day.