Stuck

Oh, the living room. My secret nemesis.

Too dramatic? Possibly.

Me and the living room have a love/hate relationship. Because our house is split entry, the staircase comes up the side of the living room, where there is a pony wall.

Attached to the other side of the living room, is the dining room. Neither the living room, or dining room is very large, but they are not tiny either.

My biggest struggle is trying to get the most of our space with out making it feel overwhelmed.

When we first moved in, we tore up the carpet, painted the walls and ceiling and then proceeded to try and make our furniture work with the space. When we bought the majority of our furniture it was for our house in Vegas. The Vegas house, was newly built and had more spacious rooms. Hence, the larger furniture fit in great.

The furniture in this house fit...OK. It worked for what we needed it to, at the time. 

I had disliked these couches for awhile, and had tried numerous times to rearrange the room to see if it could look better a different way.

I had lots of people compliment my room saying that they loved it, for which I was truly grateful. For me, it started to feel a little too busy. I didn't like our couches and I wanted something new. I wanted something that felt uncluttered and clean.

So I did something drastic.

My mom had given me money, as a gift, to buy something that I wanted, that I typically wouldn't buy. The only thing that I knew I wanted was a couch. Obviously couches are more...so...I sold all of our living room furniture. With the exception of my vintage orange chair. Then I used the money to buy my new couch.

We looked around for couches that we liked. I wanted it to have straight lines, be comfortable but not too fluffy, and still be able to sit three people.

We found this leather couch from RC Willey. I was nervous about having a light colored leather couch...but -spoiler-...I loved it, and I still love it.

The couch was in, and the room was definitely simple, but I still didn't love it.

So I did what any none sane person does...I moved around furniture.

Sometimes I would add in a chair,

or try the "divide and conquer", 

I found a coffee table that was in rough shape...so I tried that too.

This layout was the one that I liked the best, so it stuck around.

This cabinet was originally in the kids toy room but I thought I would give it a try in the living room.

I liked that it wasn't too big, and that it seemed to ground that side of the room.

But, I still wasn't completely happy.

I figured since I has changed the furniture, and the decor, and even the style, that it couldn't be any of those things. The only thing left, that I could think of, was the paint.

I love color.

Me and color are besties. 

So, when I proposed that I was going to paint the room white, Blake probably thought I was joking.

I wasn't.

I got the room all ready to paint, and then I just went for it.

What you can't really see in these pictures is that the wall that I painted white is the whole depth of our house. It goes into the dining room.

In the dining room is a large mirror.

Separating the two rooms has always been a little of a challenge for me.

"Where do I hang art, that I want to be in the living room, and not look like it is part of the dining room?" "Will it look weird to have a big mirror, some space, and then some more art?"

My solution? Separate the rooms with a stripe.

Oh how I wish this were the end of the living room saga!

Alas...no.

I felt like the very hungry caterpillar that was still hungry. Something just didn't seem right.

Along the way I traded the wood dresser for a hutch

and I traded the black chair for a white one.

My living room felt dark, and full of wood,

...and maybe even a little old? I don't know.

I needed lighter colors.

I tested colors for the stripe.
Nope. That wasn't going to fix my problem either.
After reading an article it occurred to me that perhaps I just needed to eliminate some colors. Streamline, if you will. I also realized while looking at pictures of other rooms, that I like rooms with lots of white.
So I got rid of the hutch and traded it for another dresser, this time with white. (I may eventually paint all the drawers white, but I haven't committed to that yet.) I also changed the rug, the brown cabinet at the top of the stairs, and I painted over the stripe.

There are lots of plants around. I seem to not be able to stop buying them. Our house is going to look like a jungle soon.

I love having fun things to look at in rooms. I appreciate that special thing that you won't see in other people's houses...
Like metal frogs used to hold photos.

Or a random collection of globes in the corner.

Maybe a little piggy bank that looks like it could be in Toy Story,

or a mask from Mystere and a brass cricket to remind me of our living in Vegas.

Since the room has changed, which I will admit hasn't been a real long time, I have really liked it.
It feels colorful, but not too busy.
Before:

After: 

Something Old to Something New

I forgot to share this little gem. 

Months and months ago when we lived at our old house I found this cute little cabinet at an estate sale. I loved it. Plus, the guy that was having the estate sale told me that it was his sisters 50 years ago and that she used it as a toy kitchen. Once you know the story of something it makes it entirely more interesting, plus, I thought it was cute. Then I realized that I didn't really have anywhere for it to go. But I thought that maybe, I could paint it and replace this white cabinet that I had against the wall.

That was the plan anyways....

Welp. Like most things in life, it didn't quite happen that way. 

We moved and I still had this dirty little cabinet, with no where for it to go. I debated on selling it.

Then one day while we were working on the downstairs bathroom I got a wild hair and decided to paint it. We were thinking that it may be a good addition to the downstairs bathroom (prior to deciding on a vanity).

So I used my trusty Krud Kutter to give it a good wipe down.

Yeah...it was gross. Dripping yellow? How does that even happen?

Then I gave it a good quick sanding, and decided that I was going to spray paint it. It was going to be quick and painless. At least that is what I tell myself.

One thing I know? Mixing even remotely cold air, and spray paint doesn't work. Spray paint will bubble if it is too cold outside.

So I was left with a cabinet that looked like it has leprosy and so I stashed it in the garage until I had the strength to deal with it again.

That time came when I was painting the vanity. I wanted the cabinet to have a shiny finish and I was already using oil based paint for the vanity so it seemed like the easy choice.

After a few coats of paint and some caulking in the spaces (the left bottom side is caulked and the bottom right isn't. Crazy that by doing something so easy it makes it look way more finished.) it was done.

Only hiccup? I had no where for it to go.

I tried a couple of options but they didn't seem to pan out quite the way I had hoped.

In our living room I had the same white cabinet so adding another white cabinet seemed like overkill.

Then inspiration struck.

I moved the white cabinet downstairs to hold all of our blankets. 

Our downstairs gets cold so we need cuddling blankets, and you can never have enough fort building blankets. The white cabinet happens to be great at hiding and storing them.

And...the new white cabinet finally had a home.

It holds my vintage Pyrex dishes

and my pink depression glass.

The paint finish? Just as shiny and smooth as I wanted it to be.

Moral of the story?

Inexpensive furniture + paint = not too shabby.

The nice thing about redoing a piece of furniture is, if in a couple of years I decide that I just don't want it any more, then it isn't that big of a deal. I bought it for $10 so it is easier to get rid of.

Rearranging For the New Year

Since we moved in, the upstairs living room has looked like this.

It was fine. I have been dying, however, to move the small couch that was downstairs upstairs....just to try it.

Since I had to put away Christmas, I figured this was my opportunity to ask Blake to help me move the couch.

Another thing I wanted to do was ditch the rug in our basement. I like it. The problem is, no matter how much I tried I could not get it to lay flat. I even spent a day steaming it with an iron and laying books on top of it. Nothing. Still bumpy.

So after I got all of the Christmas stuff put away, I got to work. I know some people draw stuff out on paper and don't just move furniture around all willy nilly...but I do. I have to move the furniture and then see how it "feels."

I tried a couple of different formations:

I liked both, differently.

Then I had a thought...what if I tried that cursed rug?! I figured that I was going to sell it, but by looking at it in the room, it would help me decide if I wanted to find one for this room in the future.

Suddenly it was like the room was more cozy...complete? I don't know. And wouldn't you know? The rug lays flat up here. The most interesting thing is even though there is more furniture it feels more open.

Blake likes the leather chair in the living room because it is extra seating, but ideally I would like to move it downstairs. We will see who wins out.

Sometimes all you need is just a little change to make a room seem different.

Since I had stolen the rug from the basement, I was on the lookout for a new one.

Not having a rug downstairs is not an option. Our carpet is nasty, and needs to be covered up. Lucky for me Ikea saved the day. So, unintentionally, downstairs got a little makeover too.

This rug from Ikea is great. It is very inexpensive, as far as rugs go (Hello! $99 for a 6'7"x9'10"), and it adds a graphic contrast that I really like.

And...since we can't have some days off with out replacing something in our house...

The faucet in the main bathroom was on it's last leg. The knobs were becoming stripped and it was just a matter of time until we had to replace it.

Luckily, madame fate shined her favor on us, and we found a faucet at Home Depot that was originally $98 marked down to $24. We bought two. One for the upstairs bathroom and one for the master bathroom (if we ever get around to it).

One would never guess that changing out a small faucet would create such a mess. It started in the hallway, and just progressively got worse the further into the bathroom you got.

After one and a half hours, a couple mumblings, and some good ole fashioned muscle, the sink was in.

One of these days we will replace the whole vanity, in the mean time...this works.

Any projects that you have done over the Christmas break? I would love to hear!