A Closer Look-The Living Room

I've welcomed you into our home with a quick look into the living room, but I'd like to bring you up to speed with how it actually looks today! Come on it, have a  seat, and I'll pour you a cup of coffee...errr...Diet Coke! That's the only "coffee" you'll find in this house!

This is the view from the dining room. You can see a small glimpse of the blue/turquoise(ish) paint color of that room. Since the rooms are so open to each other, I'm slowly adding more pops of blues into the living room. Hey, I said slowly, and that lonely pillow counts!

View from the little chair next to the fireplace

The space is a little bare, and I'd normally dress the top of our Crate & Barrel coffee table, but remember there is a toddler running around these days! I have big plans for the wall above the couch, but as my mother always says, "In due time, child." For right now, my T.J.Maxx steal of a bronze clock will fit the bill! Only $29, people!

Here's a view of the other side of the room from the dining room...

and a close up...

I have a lot of issues with this side of the room. First off, we need more seating, like yesterday, so that tiny little itsy bitsy Pier 1 chair from college is going to be replaced with a loveseat {maybe with a sleeper, since we live in a two bedroom}. That photo holder {also Pier 1}, is way too empty. I'm tossing around ideas of filling it with smaller art prints {I've sort of started this for the time being and have 3 pathetic attempts up there}, or replacing it all together with a fun Subway inspired wooden wall piece. Decisions. Decisions. The ONLY reason I'll probably keep it up there is the two screw holes it's made! Now, the mantel. Ahhh...the reason I started my love affair with this house. It's beautiful, and big, but mostly just big, and I need to dress it up! I have visions for that too, so stay tuned!

Let's see...other items in the room. The brown couch was an amazing bargain, at just $297 from a furniture store that was going out of business. Two years later, it's still miraculously open and "going out of business" but whatev! The white shag rug was bought at Target. We needed a large size, and it was the cheapest one we could find {only $79}! This doesn't mean I LOVE it, but sometimes the price outweighs the look {only if the look at least coordinates with the room and fulfills a function well}! The way-too-short brown and cream damask curtains were from Pier 1. I fell in love with them on the spot and bought them while we were still house hunting. No real room in mind, but they served as great inspiration for the direction of the living room.

The light fixture was from Lowe's. It was under $60! Are you noticing a bronze theme yet? Our bungalow sports a ton of it's original bronze hardware {all of the exterior doors, a few interior doors and the built-ins}, so we wanted to keep with the integrity of the home and play off of that. To compliment the age of the house, we have updated all of the switch plates, the light fixtures and kitchen faucet to match. Papers say it was built in 1941, {but I see signs of older age}, so it's hard to find replacement heat vents. They're black and starting to REALLY show their age. Slowly, we're giving each one of those a facelife with antique bronze spray paint!

Let's take a closer look at some of my favorite items in this room...I KNOW you want to see a close up of that pillow!

Angie from That Funky Boutique is a dream to work with! Of course, even the pillow has a story, but I'll save that for anyone who wants to know more...Just ask!

My Crate & Barrel lamps may be my favorite accessory. They were originally bought for our bedroom, but I put them here {until that got redone}, and they never left!

This little metal sign is our newest addition. It was purchased for under $5 at Hobby Lobby! Originally, we had a cheap vinyl saying up there {by cheap I mean so inexpensive and such a knock-off that I'm not even sure if it was actually even made of vinyl}, but half of the words were gold and hard to read, and a lot of people kept asking what it said. I was tired of the conversations, so it went bye-bye! This sign says pretty much the same thing that the vinyl did, so I'm happy...for now!