Our Living Room

Our move to this house was actually a downsize. What you can get for your money on this little island is quite different from what we can buy in eastern Washington. Over there we had a very large 5 bedroom home with huge great room and formal dining. Here were have a three bedroom and two smaller living areas. Both spaces were much smaller than our old great room, and I had to decide what room was getting our furniture. Most of our stuff ended up going into the family room, and it has more of a "den" feel to it. It's also the room with the flat screen. This living area I have kept electronic free, this room is for conversation, reading and homework. I wanted the distractions out of sight.
When we first moved in the room was basically where we put the extra stuff that no longer had a home. My berry colored love seat from my previous craft studio, a Target shelf and nightstand from our old guest bedroom and the china hutch that doesn't really fit on the wall opposite the table.

 If you would like to check out some photo of it's before and progression click HERE.

It's finally getting to where it feels more "me". It feels cozy and cottage now, though I imagine that it will still have many changes this year. For one.. holiday decorating is just around the corner.

The vinyl covered storage truck will need replacing at some point. We are using it as an occasional table, but it really belongs in our travel trailer as clothing storage. I just haven't found the right cottage piece yet.

I finally settled on this flora carpet. It did look good in our master bedroom... but it looks looks so good with the colors I have down here, I think this will be it's final home. The striped curtains I found at TJMaxx, I love that they are simple cotton (no off-gassing smells) They allow quite a bit of light in the room and seem to make the room feel wider. To see how I chose them check out this POST.

I'm not content with the wall that has the antique mirror. I may be adding to that wall at some point. I do like having a mirror to reflect the light from the windows. I found my china hutch fits best in this corner.. It does feel strange to not have it close to the dining table, but I think I may be more flexible with what I put in it. In the livingroom I can display more than just dishes in it.

 The blue shelf, behind the sofa, was a few weeks ago black. It's a melamine shelf from Target, I bought it and it's matching nightstand off Craigslist three houses ago. In this house, with it's soft light filtered through the trees, I'm slowly making over my black painted furniture in favor of softer cottage colors. We need all the brightness we can get. In this case I painted it with Annie Sloan Duck Egg and a clear wax. I lightly distressed to show some of the black beneath. You can see the before and afters HERE.

In the corner I put my Union Jack dresser. It actually is where we store our family board games and some magnetic blocks for the boys. This dresser was a project from four houses ago.. I found it at a thrift store and painted it black. When we moved into our previous home I had discovered chalk paint and this is one of my favorite make overs. The olive and cream with the rustic black showing through is perfect with my decor. I have some before and after photos HERE.

The sofa is a cozy spot. I love sitting right under the window and reading on a rainy day. It's also a favorite spot for the dogs, they love to sit up on top of the cushions where they can watch for squirrels and raccoons.