Living Room

The living room -- which is where we spend most of our time together -- is all put together, and even though it looked like a blank slate, it posed a whole host of challenges. Read on to hear what they were and how we addressed them and to see lots more pics

Hands down, the biggest challenge in this room was figuring out a layout. With all the windows, the fireplace, those open stairs, and one ginormous television, there were few options. I really, really didn't want a TV above the fireplace, but then Michael starting spouting off things about optimal viewing distance, fractions were being calculated and the next thing I know...television above the fireplace. Thankfully, the wall color choice draws less attention to the black box of a TV.

I decided on painting the room a deep navy hoping that it would show off the window mouldings, fireplace, and archways. The color is Royal Navy by Valspar. My sweet, sweet dad is to thank for this transformation. That modern, brass light fixture was a DIY that I'll talk a bit more about tomorrow.

The layout we settled on also lent itself to plenty of room for a little entryway landing area for keys and scarves and such and a spot to take off shoes. Like the amazing chandelier in our dining room, that mirror was gifted to us by my in-laws.

The detail on it is just gorgeous.

The lamp was a flea market find. I was sold on that brass and acrylic combo. When I brought it home, it had tarnished to practically black, but it was a beauty in no time with a little brass polish.

The door, ceiling, and all the trim got a fresh coat of bright white. My dad, man. He's the best. We're not actually sure about whether or not this fireplace is safe to use, and since we're not really fireplace people, we've just filled it with some wood for now. We might investigate further at some later point and put in a gas line.

This little brass CD rack was another flea market purchase. Michael has an extensive CD collection -- probably over 700. I know. It's ridiculous. Anyway, there's no room for them downstairs. In fact, they have their own dresser upstairs, but this little rack provides a little spot for a "now playing" collection.

It's a good thing we went with the apartment-sized couch when we gifted this one to ourselves a couple of Christmases ago, because it just fit in the space between the basement door and the end of the stairs. And the lounge chair? Man, deciding on that thing was laborious. I had envisioned a pair of chairs in that area -- something with an interesting texture...rattan, maybe. Rattan was a non-starter with Michael, and to be fair, everyone that I sat in was just atrociously uncomfortable. Also...like, how are accent chairs so expensive?! Like more expensive than a couch! Michael wanted a recliner. Like a La-Z-Boy. That was a non-starter with me.

The compromise was this Eames lounge chair knock-off. I'm actually really happy with the choice. It's comfortable, and it still adds the variety in textures that I was looking for. That great little brass reading lamp was just hanging out in our creepy ass basement. Bonus!

My favorite piece in this room, though, is definitely the rug. Picking out the rug was a lot of pressure, because I knew it would set the tone for the whole room. I mulled over a bunch of choices...more modern rugs, decidedly traditional rugs, those souk rugs, and colorful Persian-style rugs. It was hard to decide based on the terrible pictures most online stores have. It's just hard to get an idea of the texture and pile, but then I discovered this E-bay seller. The prices are reasonable, the choices beautiful, and every rug has like a gazillion, detailed pics. I decided on this one, and as the Dude would say, it really ties the room together. I freakin' love it.

I'm not thrilled that those awesome open stairs are partially blocked, but there was really no choice. Also, painting the risers white was a last minute decision that went a long way to brightening up the dark navy.

It's really a great, cozy place to hang out that continues our effort to blend old with new, so we're pretty happy with it.