The Fun Part

Decorating!! I have always dreamed of decorating a room from start to finish and I have been ecstatic to do so in our new house. Since college Ryan and I have bought a couple nice pieces of furniture, but the rest (which we are thankful for) have been hand-me-downs. Now with the new house we want to make it completely our own... and we started with the living room/den. This room is where we end our nights, where we plant ourselves in front of the TV, eat dinner (raise top coffee table), cuddle with Sadie, entertain friends and family, and just plain relaxing in after a days work. It is, in my opinion, one of the most important rooms in the house.

And now, it's almost complete...

The Focal Wall:

First, I knew that I wanted symmetry on the focal (fireplace) wall. There were existing bookshelves on the left side and none on the right. Of course the cable outlet just so happened to be on the right side. Typical. And I absolutely hate cable boxes being in sight. Can we say eye sore!? So we had two choices - 1. have my handy dandy hubby build a duplicate bookshelf on the right side, or 2. buy two matching pieces of furniture to put on each side. Of course I immediately started dreaming pretty dressers and accent chests that could flank each side of our freshly painted white fireplace. But would they fit? That was the hard part. I have recently been gushing over mirrored pieces of furniture, so once that was decided I just hoped I could find a good fit. And then it happened. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a the PERFECT piece with the PERFECT dimensions. Fate?

This piece was meant to be ours-- Two please!

The Rug:

I looked high and low (online and in stores) for the perfect 8x10 rug for our space. Three rugs even made the cut and came back to the house with me, but then they went right back where they came from. But then, I saw it. The perfect rug. The perfect pattern. The perfect colors. And I pretty much based the rest of the room around this one rug that wasn't even mine. Yet. A rug that was still hanging in the store in it's 5x8 glory because we had a decision to make. If we order the 8x10 there is no going back. No returns. Could we take that risk? I already thought I liked 3 but didn't like them once I got home. Well, the kind man at the store let me take the 5x8 rug home to make sure. I have to admit, when I first laid it out on the floor it wasn't what I was expecting because it has an ombre coloring to it, which I didn't notice in the store. But now, I love it again. It's still perfect and I want it. (Ryan are you reading this!?). But we're waiting for our new couch to get here (fingers crossed for Aug. 7) before we make our final decision. But here is it...

Up close - you can see the blues and greens in it

The 5x8 in the house

Just another pic of our hardwoods

The windows:

Although I was first tempted to take the safe route and get a neutral colored curtain - since you can't go wrong with that - I'm so glad I went with my gut and got a color - blue. A perfect blue to coordinate with the rug, that is. :) I knew right away that I wanted a simple, solid curtain panel with grommets on top. I wanted to hang the curtain rods as high as possible and have the panels barely brush the floor. Well, I forgot about the crown molding, so they more than brush the floor, but I'll have them hemmed eventually. Other than that I think they turned out beautiful! They really bring in some color that the room was lacking prior. I also knew I wanted bamboo shades, but I dind't want to completely block out the light, especially since the curtains were triple layered. So these dark brown ones worked out great because not only do they accentuate the color of hardwoods but they give privacy while letting in the perfect amount of light. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the fabric roman shade over the small windows on each side of the fireplace... aren't they cute!?

The Couch:

Ryan has forever wanted a sectional. Forever. He has always talked about it, and I'm just glad I could hold him off until we bought a house. Otherwise... what is the chaise didn't go the right direction or it wouldn't fit in the new space? Anyway, the time has come. We went all around town until we found this beauty. And we fell in love with it. Both of us. The greyish hues, the tufted fabric, the straight lines, the exposed wooden legs, the perfect amount of seating while still having a chaise... it was perfect. But then we went and looked some more because it was more than we originally wanted to spend. But when it's the one, it's the one. So we bought it. We justified because we are going to have this couch for a long time and it's what we are going to enjoy sitting on every single night. Worth the splurge? I think so. Now if it would just get here already! We ordered it the last weekend in May and it was supposed to be here at the end of June, then middle of July, then Aug. 2, and now Aug. 7. Come on August!

The Accessories:

I made all of my accessory purchases at Homegoods. I love Homegoods. I purchased the lamps and the blue box from there, as well as the four pieces of art hung on the wall. The other things I already had around. This part is a work in process, but I'm not one to over accessorize a room. I like a little simpliciy, so I might even just leave it how it is and keep adding fresh flowers whenever possible.

Please ignore the unpaint window sill in the background :)

And the best accessory of them all!

And now, what do all these components look like together?...

Let's not forget the before...

NOW!

All that's missing is the new couch and new rug to pull it all together and this room is COMPLETE! It's going to feel so good to have one room checked off the list. Hope you like it as much as we do!

And because I know you miss our smiling faces...


Hope everyone has a great weekend!

More House Updates

The pictures I posted earlier this week are not even half of what we've gotten done so far. We've been busy with everything from have between replacing blue toliets with white ones to hanging roman shades and curtain panels and everything in between. Here are more pictures to prove it...

This is where I left off... white washed paneling and painted white fireplace

Did I mention we got slip covers? Not too bad, right? Since I didn't want the loose-fit, it was hard to find ones that looked like they would fit this style couch -- overstuffed, rounded arms, t-cushions. I thought these turned out pretty good considering what I had to work with.

These couches will go in the front sitting room as soon as our new couch gets here

Now I'll give you a little tour of the house after we moved our furniture in... pay close attention to the old baseboards, window and door casings and doors themselves.

Coming down the hallway towards the bedrooms

The master

Master

Master bath - with new and improved white toilet and painted walls

Brown, dated trim

Guest bedroom

Guest bedroom double closets

Old door casings

The office

Taking all the old stuff off (Sadie helping, of course)

Get it gone

Close up on the removed trim in dining area

Waiting for new stuff to be put on

Front sitting room

Sadie's favorite hang out

She loves looking out the window. She reminds me of a cat when she lays across the back of the couch

I was so excited the day our new trim is going up! It was a weird feeling to be that excited about trim.

What a difference!! Doesn't it look great!?

Love the new doors!

These men measured, cut, and nailed ALL of the new baseboard, window casings, doors and casings for the ENTIRE house in ONE day. Amazing. Thank you so much, Dennis!!

Windows... Ryan and I still have to fill holes, caulk, and paint, so the wood colored window sills, etc. will eventually be white too

Ryan's closets -- we're still waiting on our new closet doors

Closing up the entry where the elevator used to be

Before baseboards and crown molding

After

Lookin' good!

The den with new trim! Ryan tore down the built-in bookshelf to the left of the fireplace because we bought two pieces of furniture to flank each side. More pics to come on that.

It's starting to come together!

And the evidence...