Jay and I have been refocusing some {extra?} energy into our house recently. I always seem to kinda have a project or two in the works, but recently we finished a few things in our living room. I am planning to go room by room shortly and update all that we have done to our house since we purchased it a little over a year ago.
As for the living room or Den {we seem to call the room both names at different times}, it has been decided that this is the most awkwardly positioned space. It is long and skinny with all the windows on one wall and no real way to create good flow while remaining functional for watching TV or having a conversation. We are fairly happy {as much as we will be with the furniture we currently own or without knocking down a wall} with what we have created for ourselves...
Oh, and please ignore the computer and Caroline's toy bag, and Bella's Dog bed... hey, its a real life glimpse at how our house
actually looks because we do
live in this space...
Just for fun and comparison, here are a few before pictures:
So first off, I promptly threw away the hideous silk flowers from the fire place and the nasty curtains from the windows. Once that was taken care of we proceeded to paint all the trim white and replace all the outlet covered with white ones {nasty almond/beige should be outlawed from the possibilities of trim paint colors, AND from the shelves at Lowes for purchasing options of outlet covers! Can I get an Amen?!}
Its hard to tell in the above photo but the baseboard trim was actually almond and the crown molding was white. Can't explain that one to you...
We also painted the walls a color called
Stonington Gray. It is a great neutral color that lightened up our narrow room and incorporated some beige and gray tones. We used this color throughout our stairwell and both hallways downstairs and upstairs. Can you tell we really love this color!
Jay also removed the track lighting, mudded and patched the holes, and repainted the ceiling. He is a beast, that man of mine :)
New ceiling fan was also a huge MUST.
This looks SO much better now!
The picture above is one of those "This is what I ideally want here, but it will do for now, and is better than a blank wall" pictures... Do you have any of those in your home? Still on the search for what would work perfectly in that space.
I do really like the plates {they might find a re-located home at some point too?} but I did make them myself... well I bought the plates for super cheap at target and used an oil based
ceramic sharpie pen to write "pray", "be thankful", and "rejoice" on them.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 is a verse that God has continued to place on my heart recently. It is pretty much sums up what I need to spend my time doing. Choosing to pray when overwhelmed, be thankful for the millions of blessings in my life {even when frustrated or exhausted or lonely}, and rejoice when I feel like complaining. I am a big fan of placing these kinds of reminders around our home. I for sure need it!
My dear friend Shannon built one of these shelves in her beautiful home and I fell in love. She shared
this tutorial with me, and I am so thrilled with how ours turned out.
I am planning to share more about our shelves and decorations for them next week!
They really are the perfect thing for our super long wall to provide interest, take up space, and big bonus - they were VERY cheap to make!
I am a big fan of
this tray from Target. It helps me to wrangle in all our items that seem to find themselves all over the den like remotes and magazines and even screw drivers... strange coffee table item I know, but hey at least the chaos is contained!
We also sanded and restrained our mantle and are much happier with a darker wood color. Its about time for some fall mantle decorations!
P.S. I got our awesome wooden cow at the
Black Dog Salvage in Roanoke. SUCH a neat place!
Our curtains {barely visible in the above photo, there is a better picture of them above!} are
these from Target. Love the texture, and the fact that they are dark, but let in lots of light. I took out the original hems and re-hemmed them to be longer, in order to hang them a little closer to the ceiling and make the room feel bigger.
Next up is re-painting / staining this side table. I do not like the orange-y color that it currently is, and I am thinking about either sanding it down and staining the same color as the mantle or trying out
Chalk Paint. Suggestions?
And last but not least, one of the BEST parts about our living room... Sweet Bella girl napping on the floor. She makes my heart happy.
This sweet angel makes my heart very happy too!
Love to see her playing on the Den floor :)
A quick smile for you!
Happy Labor Day weekend!
