Home Tour: Living Room

Guess what? I found a few minutes to snap photos of a couple rooms and with that I'm launching a home tour! Maybe I'll get some momentum going and you can finally see where we live. When you walk in the front door (shown above), the first room you see is the living room, so I thought I'd start there. 

Here's how it looked when we bought it: giant ceiling fan, gray walls, and wood trim that made the new windows look out of place.  

And here it is now:

For those who've seen our previous house, you know it was a bit fancier. When I knew we were downsizing, I thought a casual style would help us feel comfortable using all the spaces for all the things AND allow me to mix my favorites together in the same room. To soften it up, I added wood tones and baskets and a colorful, but worn looking rug. The rug was needed anyway, since the previous living room rug is now in our bedroom that doesn't have carpet.

We still use our trusty dresser entryway to hold our winter gear, kids' shoes, and the other things you want handy when you're walking out the door (sunscreen, umbrellas, etc.) The bowl holds my car keys and spare change. 

If you're sick of your stuff, this little tour may be inspiration for you to shuffle yours around and get some new looks. Adding in a few new pieces like the key bowl above (clearance at Target) and the Ikea vase and thrifted vase make big changes without breaking the bank. Below you can see how I pulled art from three different rooms (at our old house) and grouped it here. 

From the front door, you see the view below. That little bench catches a lot of in-coming and out-going items as well as providing a place for people to sit to take shoes off. I worried this guy was too small for the wall, but in my experience, small is better when it comes to benches. Even at the foot of the bed - they look great when they aren't even close to the width of the bed. 

This piece of art got a new matte and frame which makes it look so different. I love how it looks on this wall. So simple. So good. 

This living room is very dark at night and I hope to someday have a pair of sconces on either side of this artwork. And maybe a fig leaf tree where the floor lamp is? Sigh. The gorgeous art is from Jenny's Print Shop...where I happened to get ALL the new art for this house. Almost.

This was the first print I knew I had to have from Jenny's Print Shop. It makes me so happy. 

The book cases are cheap, but we wrapped the backs with flax color fabric. It feels like the shiny backs with their obvious creases scream, Look at me?! I'm so cheeeaaap! This must be silenced and temporary wallpaper or fabric is way less frustrating than trying to paint them. Been there. Never again.

The windows really make this space. I have an ongoing love affair with windows (one of my favorite features of our last house). I'm just a sucker for sunshine and these let it in without needing thousands of dollars of work. This bench maximizes the seating and feels window seat like. I hope to have some blanket baskets tucked under it one day. 

This time around, I tried organizing my books by color. It works well for me because I remember what color a book was, but my husband isn't sure about splitting up authors. I put his complete sets somewhere else. :)

This gold end table became more subtle with a wood table top I bought on Etsy. They sell several sizes, and I didn't have to do anything as far as finishing it. Easy? Yes, please.

And lastly, we added the coffee table. We were without one for a while and boy, is it nice to have a place to set your stuff! 

Let me know if you have questions about anything. I'm a little out of practice!