New Living Room Rug!

Our new rug has FINALLY arrived! I am so pleased. It makes the room feel bigger and yet cozier at the same time. Overall, I think it makes the room feel so much more finished! I L-O-V-E it!

We did not have a chance to repaint the coffee table this weekend but hopefully will get to that soon. Never thought I'd say this, but it is just too much gray! (On another note, I seriously don't know where this weekend went! I didn't get ANYTHING done!)

Tomorrow I'll share with you the new artwork on the other side of the wall!

How Far We've Come... Living Room!

Sorry for the delay on this post... I had the best intentions of posting every day this week and life just gets in the way! That is why I'm the worst blogger ever, but alas you already know that! (Ok, maybe not the WORST!)

 

Anyway.. The living room! The major changes we've made in here over the years are just refinishing the floors, painting, and adding a few light fixtures (Sconces by the fireplace, and a PB Photographer fixture above the artwork). Also, last year we got a new couch. Before that, almost everything was a hand-me-down or something we made!

 

You can't really tell from this photo, but these floors were SO BEAT UP when we moved in. It was the floor of a barn. They were so scratched and stained and dented.  

This is what the room looked like right after we moved in and painted.

 

 

Evan's hand drawn artwork! 

Here it is with the electrical done and floors stained..

 

Here is a shot with the new Pottery Barn Peyton Grommet drapes. Love these! 

Repainting the frames...

And for 2015, the plan is to get the new rug, new artwork, repaint the furniture, maybe add some canned lighting in the ceiling (the room is just SO dark at night!), and maybe retile the fireplace... Still debating this! I'm playing in photoshop with some ideas so I'll share these with you soon!

CONFESSION: The rug came in yesterday... the new artwork is already installed... and we plan to repaint the furniture this weekend! Tune in next week for the reveal! I LOVE IT!

Coming Soon!

Almost two months ago we ordered this beautiful "Desa Rug" from Pottery Barn for our living room. It has been on back order but should be arriving in the next couple of weeks and I am so excited! It is 10' x 14', so it will fill the room so much better than the small rug we have in there right now and it will be significantly more comfortable. The rug itself is thick and soft, and we ordered the PB premium rug pad to go underneath it. Given the fact Miles is almost a year old, we are playing on floor CONSTANTLY, so this will be such a luxury!

We'd been looking for a rug for this room for a long time, but we hadn't found one we loved quite enough to pull the trigger until we brought a square sample of this one home and it just "clicked!" It really ties together the wall color, throw pillows, and oversized chair.

AND, just in case I end up hating it in the living room (fat chance!), we could also put it in our master bedroom as a plan B because it would fit in there pretty perfectly as well.  No way we can go wrong, right?

Now we just have to wait! Let the countdown begin!

We finally got a new couch, BUT.......

WELL, for our 6-year anniversary we finally decided to pull the trigger and buy ourselves a new couch! (As you know, I've wanted one for a long time!) We decided to go with the Value City Furniture Burnham sofa, which is the knock-off of the Restoration Hardware Lancaster Couch that I love. It fits the room perfectly, it is so comfortable, I lovvvve the size, and love the price! (We got it out the door and delivered for right around $1,550!)

The ONE problem? The couch has some serious red undertones when you look at it in a certain light, and I'm not 100% sure I can live with that. Ugh. 

When you look at it from the front of the living room at dusk, it looks red. BRIGHT RED! But, if you stand at the back of the room at the same time, it looks chocolate brown (which I like!) You can totally see what I'm talking about the pictures above and below. 

In fact, I was so thrown off by the color, I even brought one of the cushions to the store yesterday to compare it to the model to see if we just got a defective color, but no - it looks exactly the same as the display in the store! The issue is just the lighting in our house I guess.

Now, the Restoration Hardware one DEFINITELY has more brown undertones. But, we priced it out and to upgrade to their couch would be another $2,500 out-of-pocket. If I didn't have a messy husband, messy dog, messy kid, and more messy kids probably on the way in the future, I would definitely make the investment to get it PERFECT! But, is it really worth the extra money when we will probably destroy it in the next 10-years? Leaning towards no, but still debating.

Evan thinks I'm absolutely crazy and that there is no way we should upgrade. Your thoughts?

Built-In Beauties

One of my favorite things about our new house in the built-ins in our living room. They make a beautiful transition between the living room and the addition, and are perfect for storing all my little accessories! I love the scalloped edges as well.

You know I mentioned that I'm repainting all the trim in my house white? Well that includes all doors, wainscoting, beadboard, stairs, stair rail, fireplace mantels, AND the built ins. I actually snapped these two photos so when I took everything off the shelves so I'd remember where it all goes, since I like the arrangement :) 

Good news? Over the past week, I've painted ALL the trim in the downstairs of the house, except the kitchen! (insane I know.. I was working on it 5-7 hours a DAY!) I'll share pictures soon. It's AMAZING what a difference the crisp, clean, white paint makes! I swear it takes 40 years off the house!