November 27, 2012
New Living Room Purchases
We’ve recently made some large decisions/purchases regarding our future living room, so I whipped a little mood board to show you!
When we had the new house inspected a few weeks ago, we were sure to grab each room’s measurements. We knew we’d need some new living room furniture, and we also wanted to ensure the majority of our already-owned furniture would fit into the new space with ease.
Without further ado, our new living room:
- Cindy Crawford Home Grandview Loft Linen Sofa from Rooms to Go in Gray
- Garland Four-Piece Black Wall Unit from Rooms to Go
- Cindy Crawford Home Grandview Loft Accent Chair from Rooms to Go
- Hand-tufted Silver Cosmopolitan Rug ordered from overstock.com
- Two Cecily Place Lamps from Rooms to Go
- Tinsley Three-Piece Table Set from Rooms to Go (not pictured: two end tables)
I’m usually not one to buy so many pieces from one place. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find many matching pieces of furniture in any room in our first home. We did a lot of searching—both in store and online—and we just kept coming back to this sofa and accent chair.
We were originally going to try to find a different set of tables, but it ended up being less expensive to do a package deal. We bought the sofa, two lamps, the table set and the accent chair in a package deal. It ended up being quite affordable, which makes us feel better about buying so much at one place. Here’s hoping it won’t be too matchy-matchy.
I should also mention that we wouldn’t have purchased the new furniture if it wasn’t needed. Our current living room set up would not work in the new house due to space, functionality and wear and tear. Don’t worry; those pieces will find new places to call home soon. We’re hoping to use all of the furniture we already own in the new house.
I think in a few weeks when we’re up to our eyeballs in new paint choices and Christmas prep, we’ll be very glad we bit the bullet and ordered new furniture in advance. We’ve already got the rug, and the rest of the pieces will be delivered a week after we close.
Want to know more about our new house? Click here to see what I’m dreaming up for our future dining room.
October 1, 2012
September 2012 Month in Review
September 2012 was my first, real month since returning to blogging, so I’m very happy to be able to, once again, do a monthly recap of what I’ve blogged about. However, I should back up a bit and include a couple of posts from August, too, just so everything makes sense.
First, I broke the news that we’re selling our house. After nearly four years here, we’ve decided to make the move to be closer to our family. Click here to read all the details.
Since we are hoping to move soon, I decided it was only fitting to do a room-by-room tour of our current space. I kicked-off the tour with our living room. Click here to read all about the room where we spend the majority of our time.
We continued the house tour with our kitchen and dining space. This kitchen has served us very well, and I’ll definitely be sad to say goodbye. To read the full post detailing our kitchen and dining, click here.
The month of September began with a post all about my rules for shopping at yard sales and a few of my recent finds. I’m learning to love shopping at yard sales for all of the awesome deals to be found, but I always make sure I always follow my own rules when shopping. Click here to read more. Do you have rules you follow when shopping at yard sales?
The next room up on the tour of our current house was the office. I spend a lot of time in this room, and I absolutely love it. Click here to read see full tour of our home office.
Next up, I showed you a quick and easy DIY paint chip art piece I created during a difficult week last year. This is a great project for any DIYer. Click here for the tutorial. This project so easy, I’m not sure you could even call the post a tutorial.
Then, I shared a recipe for our very favorite taco seasoning spice blend. Trust me, it’s way better than the packets you buy at the store. Click here for the easy and delicious recipe.
The last post for September 2012 was a continuation of the house tour with the upstairs guest bedroom. We really hope our guests have enjoyed staying in this room as much as we’ve enjoyed their company during the past few years in our home. Click here to read the full post.
I’ve really enjoyed this past month of blogging, and I’m looking forward to many more.
p.s. How weird is it that it’s already October? I’m super excited for all the goodness that comes with fall! Plus, Christmas is right around the corner!
Check out the months in review below from last year.
August 20, 2012
House Tour: Living Room
First up on the house tour of our first home is the living room. Join me as I walk through the space (and down memory lane a bit).
When we purchased the home in 2009, the carpet and been removed and every surface was filthy. We hired a professional cleaning company to clean the entire house, but we still found ourselves scrubbing every surface after their second cleaning attempt. Imagine me scraping boogers off closet walls and cleaning walls with Swiffer mops. It wasn’t pretty.
The guys from the cleaning company did a great job, but the house had many stubborn layers of grime from the previous owner and his dogs. It also smelled pretty bad.
The living room was covered in a layer of filth when we purchased the house in 2009.
Now our living room is looking much better. It’s amazing what a good cleaning, a coat of paint and new carpet can do for a space.
When you enter the front door you walk into a small entryway that leads either into the living room or downstairs to the basement.
- Welcome to our home!
Before the rickety bannister was the only separation from the living room to the stairs. Now, the sturdy half wall looks like it has always been there.
We sold the banister and its spindles at a yard sale a couple of months ago. It’s always nice to know that something that didn’t work for you is finding new life in someone else’s home.
The sofa has always been a favorite spot in our house whether we’re entertaining or just chilling with the pups.
The sofa is a favorite hangout spot in our house. Can you spot Roxy’s tail above?
The large mirror above the sofa was a lucky consignment store find. It bounces around a ton of light and helps make the room feel larger. It measures just shy of five feet wide by four feet tall. Hanging it was a tricky endeavor, but well worth it.
Since putting our house on the market, we’ve removed all of the personal details, so you won’t see the family photos or other personal items that once made this room feel more like people actually live here. One of my favorite personal effects in this room, which has now been removed, was the collage of photo frames on one wall.
The collage of family photos has been removed since placing our house for sale.
The frames coordinated with the mirror nicely without being in-your-face matchy matchy. I blogged about the photo frame collage last year. Click here to read more.
During the Christmas season, our tree replaces a chair in the corner. We’ve hosted Christmas dinner in this house for the past couple of years, so it’s always been a really special place to decorate.
Decorating the living room for the holidays has always been fun.
The half wall sometimes acts as a sofa table. I’ve had a lot of fun decorating it for the different seasons.
Isabel models the 2011 Christmas decor.
The orange pillows stuck around way after the fall season last year. In fact, they stayed on the couch until we depersonalized the room in preparation for selling our house.
There were a couple of changes we weren’t able to make in the few years we lived here. I would have loved to add a mosaic tile in place of the tile on the fireplace surround.
DIYers are never finished.
We also had big plans to build a shelf under the television to house media components. It has a large hole behind where the TV sits, and we had always planned to make it look more custom.
Our living room has been the central hub of our house for nearly four years. We’ve loved it since we moved in, and we’ll continue to love it until we sell our house.
Our living room is comfy, cozy and the place where we most enjoy spending our time.
Source List:
Sofa, Fowler’s Furniture
Coffee Table, Fowler’s Furniture
Chairs, Ashley Furniture, Darcy Collection, Color: Cafe
Decorative Pillows, Kohls
Chenille Throw, Target
Large Mirror: Local Consignment Store
Picture Frames: Hobby Lobby
Paint Color: London Coach, Valspar
Update: A new page has been added that lists the entire house tour. To see the entire house tour, click here.
I’m linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick’s Show Us Your House Party.
BetweenWeekdays 