Wednesday, June 26, 2013

NEW HOUSE: Living Room

We recently purchased a new-to-us home!  Oddly enough, we closed on this house exactly 4 years and 1 day after we closed on our first home!  We moved out of our first home almost 2 years ago and after over a year-and-a-half stay in an apartment and a month-long stint in my sister's basement we were more than excited to be homeowners again!

Being the planner that I am, I pretty much had everything picked out for the house before we ever even found the one we were buying.  When I saw the realty listing photo of the living room, I could see everything I had envisioned fitting perfectly!

The first thing I wanted to pick out was the flooring.  I LOVE hardwood floors and that was the look I knew I wanted, so I started researching and found a company called BuildDirect.  They offer 5 free samples so I made a couple a lot of orders to find what I wanted.  (I may also have an equal number of tile samples!)

We decided on a variable width unfinished hickory hardwood that would be sanded and stained after install.  However, the sub-flooring in our house was not the right type for laying hardwood, so not only would we pay more for the flooring itself, but we would also have to replace the sub-floor anywhere we wanted to lay it.  We instead opted for an Acacia laminate flooring that still had the character and variation of the hickory but saved us a ton!



With the flooring decision made, I moved on to selecting a color scheme.  I knew I wanted gray walls and some pops of color.  This random pin I came across while surfing Pinterest inspired the color scheme of the room!

First I wanted to figure out seating.  I have a large family so a lot of seating is a must.  I searched for a sectional in a gray tone and found this beauty.
I love this couch in all its tufted glory.  However the only dealer I found was 7 hours away and it was WELL out of my price range.  So I hopped over to IKEA and found this guy!

Still a lot of seating and at a fraction of the cost!  While there I happened upon this fun little club chair in the yellowish-green accent color I was looking for!
Super huge bonus about buying IKEA furniture (outside of the huge savings): All the covers are removable and machine washable!  With two busy and messy kiddos already and only more to come this was a HUGE perk!

I still wanted to get my tufted piece in somewhere so I added this wingback chair to my cart.
I thought this traditional piece would balance out the mid-century modern pieces I had already selected.  In the end this guy didn't make the cut because I got nervous of overcrowding the space.  I will have to find a tufted throw pillow or something in its honor :)

Now a side note about IKEA... I was a little bit leery of the quality/sturdiness of the furniture given that it comes in so many pieces that you have to assemble.
That is just the sectional!

I had tried it out in the store before placing my online order, but got nervous when I sat in it again at the store after the order was in process.  However I could not be more impressed with it!  The cushions are all firm but comfy and I don't have any qualms about plopping down onto it!  I've had a number of people comment that the club chairs are super comfy as well!

Now it was time to consider tables.  I already had two super cute end tables from Target - I LOVE their Threshold line!



I wanted one more end table and found this perfect chartreuse one at CB2.


 Unfortunately, when I finally went to place my order after ogling it for months it was no longer available!  Instead I took a table I already had and after MANY coats of prime, paint and clear coat I gave it a new look.

 That just left the coffee table.  I knew I wanted a round one because so many of my pieces were boxy and I wanted to soften it a bit.  I picked this one from CB2, but the $350+shipping price tag was too much for this cheapo!

 So I headed over to Overstock.com since they always promote their free shipping and found this one.

It was $275 with free shipping so a good savings from my original choice, but I was still a little too cheap!

I settled on this one with a price tag of $125 and free shipping!

I hemmed and hawed over area rugs.  Based on my measurements the space would work best with and 8x8 rug and those are a little harder to come by.  I found FLOR tiles at CB2 in the colors I liked that were washable and easily replaceable should they be damaged, but haven't settled on anything yet.

I brought in a cool industrial looking lamp along with some poufs that I already had purchased from Target, and I lucked out and snagged an old utility shelf out of my dad's scrap metal pile to refinish.  Before I ever moved in, this was the vision I had...



And this is what it looks like in the room!

The geometric prints on the wall were a DIY project I blogged about earlier here.  
The couch is in desperate need of more throw pillows!  I got the two throw blankets at IKEA along with the bright blue pillows ($5 each!) and the gray one in the corner is from Target.... they are lonely for some friends! 

 The lamp was a $5 steal from a swap and sell site and I did a fun DIY shade out of tshirts that I will blog on later :)

I was happiest about the salvaged utility shelf.  It allows a lot of display space and can house some photography props, but looks really awesome doing it!  It's currently overwhelmed with decor but it will be dispersed throughout the living and dining rooms once we finish setting everything up!  I was most excited to display the mosaic "Wicked" print at the top because my hubby and I bought it in New York after watching the show on Broadway and it had always seemed out of place with past decor.  The green matches the chairs perfectly!  Other items are sourced below.
TOP SHELF: Antique cameras from a flea market. "Wicked" print from New York. A lantern (needs to be hung in corner) that belonged to my sister who passed away. A little fake plant from IKEA.  A candlestand from Hobby Lobby.
2ND SHELF: Another antique camera flea market find. A clearance chartreuse chevron frame from Michaels.  Letter H from Hobby Lobby. Sculptural metal ball from Target.
3RD SHELF: Geometric print box fro TJ Maxx.  Clear square vase (Future DIY item) from IKEA. Fake plant with pot from IKEA.  Frame from TJ Maxx.
4TH SHELF: Old jars (one from flea market, one found in woods, one found in attic of an old house)  Photo of my deceased sister and her boyfriend given to me by his mother.  Basket received as wedding gift.  My grandpa's old binoculars.
BOTTOM SHELF: Basket received as a housewarming gift from realtor (Shameless plug to go visit Pahlen Realty) filled with photo albums. Antique metal bucket found in sisters crawl space.
The blue handled box next to the shelf is a photo prop from TJ Maxx and the antique egg crate was found in an old house.
View of living room from Dining!  Love the poufs under the coffee table.  Perfect ottomans to rest your feet on or a favorite spot for kiddos to sit around the coffee table.  The other geometric print canvas I made landed on the wall between living and dining areas.  The window wall is a little unbalanced but the space to the left of the window will soon be home to a family pic in a sweet frame from one of my framing companies!

This little vignette is dual purpose.  It looks pretty and fills the void but also houses stuff for photography sessions!  The door is another find from an old house that my photo client allowed me to ransack :)  The suitcase on the bottom was a Christmas gift off my wishlist from my mother-in-law, the middle three were purchased from sell and swap site for $30 total, and the top one I already had.  I think I need to hang something from the door over suitcases but I haven't yet figured out what!
 (p.s. Ignore the wall on the right, it has yet to be primed and painted after being textured, and since it is the entryway of a split level the ceilings are 12 feet tall - WAY too high for prego mama!)

This wall separates the living room from the kitchen.  The original plan was to mount a TV on the wall and create a cool DIY cover to put over it.  However, it turns out my son is VERY friendly/curious/danger seeking/fearless and enjoys wandering running away into other peoples yards and across streets.  The TV mount/cover along with some projects originally planned in master have been put on hold to allow room in the budget for a fence!  
For now I love the canvases of my little baby girl from our trip to Florida in 2010.  The frames on the table look a little sad and will definitely not be staying that way, but may I say I stole them from Target for $0.69 a piece off a 90% off Easter clearance rack!  The table itself is from where else but IKEA!  Its super long (75 inches) and intended to roll over a queen bed, but I loved the simplicity and narrowness of it!  I even saved $40 buying it at the Winnipeg store versus a store in the US.  I don't understand why it was cheaper there but I'm not asking questions!!
Underneath are just a couple photo prop crates.. they may not stay there but that's where they are for now!

It was so fun to see it all come together!  I've still got a little work to finish up but am so excited to call the space my own!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment