The Living Room

The living room is a hard room you guys. There's so much to coordinate, so many ways it has to function, and not to mention $$$!

That's probably why this was the most recent room I've worked on.

It's in a good place but isn't quite where I want it to be yet. But I'm a slow decorator and I'm beginning to accept that.

This is the best before pic I could find from when we moved in in 2009.

And "after". 

We removed the popcorn ceiling, took down the ugly big wood blinds, painted the walls and trim, removed the gloss over the brick on the fireplace and made a new mantle.

 Then our house pretty much stayed that way, for like almost two years.

This is after I painted the room Nimbus Cloud by Martha Stewart. I don't have a big picture for the in between time because I was so embarrassed. That sofa looks so used up and lumpy! That coffee table I borrowed from my parents, "borrowed" for almost 3 years!

Our living room then looked like this for way too long. Sad right?

Photo by  Sarah Greenman

And here it is now!

Most of the art is either made by me or vintage pieces. All the pillows are made out of vintage scarves I cut and sewed together with an invisible zipper. Seriously these things are like $1 at canton. Slap some cotton on the back and you've got a gorgeous pillow for like $5!

Photos by  Sarah Greenman

The coffee table was a craigslist find for $150. It was short as are most mid century pieces so Scott built a box that we then covered in gold wrapping paper. Trust, paper was the best way, we tried them aaaaall!

The rug is from Wisteria and is now discontinued.

Photos by  Sarah Greenman

I know many of you are wondering about those gorgeous chairs. Why wouldn't you? They're awesome.

Here's a story;

I wanted two accent chairs. They had to be comfy but stylish. They couldn't be a normal wingback because that would just be too easy right? They also had to be cheap.

Cue searching craigslist every. single. day. for more than 6 months.

I finally found these gems for a $100 for both. Sold!

There they are in all their 80's business office glory.

They stayed this way for almost 8 months.

I had to find the right fabric. When I found that I had to save up the money. When i did that I had to save for upholstery. This shit ain't cheap and I want to be real with you. Decorating takes time. Sure I am envious of all those people that can decide what they want and then, poof, it's bought and all done up. But I don't make decisions quickly  nor do I have the budget for that. But I think this way is actually better ya'll. Because you really think things through and make sure you get exactly what you want.

Now for those curtains.

They are simple Ikea panels that I dip dyed ombre.

This is an easy but messy project. I also had to dye them twice to get them dark enough.

I used to not be sure if they were right for our living room but now I really love them.

This is the nook for our TV which you didn't see on the tour. Don't you always wonder where they hide those things?

This nook used to be an 80's wet bar complete with mirrors and tacky lighting. We ripped all that out and shoved a dresser in there for our tv. I like that it's out of the way and that little nook hides all the cords necessary to make my techie husband happy.

Photos by  Sarah Greenman

I know many of you wondered about our floors. They are stained concrete. I hate them with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. In person they are rust colored and very splotchy. After we reno the kitchen we plan to do wood but I guess this is better than stinky carpet right?

So that's our living room! If you have more questions please let me know!