Living Room: Before and After

Our living room--my constant source of angst in our house! I have always struggled with this room! When we first moved in, we didn't have enough furniture for a living room and family room, so we used odds and ends in the LR. Of course, the piano that came with the house filled up one wall--even if it was one very apricot wall! (The picture doesn't capture how very peachy-apricot this room really was!)

So, we painted--Restoration Hardware "butter." And we did what we could with what we had. . .

Eventually, we bought a secretary to replace the oak table above.

In the picture below, the chair on the left was my Grandma's and the chair on the right, I bought at Big Lots. I had the denim cushions reupholstered with this Waverly fabric that I love! The table is actually a patio table! (BTW, this wall is yellow, but didn't show up in the photo.)

Then we had kids! And before we finished the basement, we needed a place for all the toys! Soooo . . . our FR became a playroom, and we moved our couch, loveseat and entertainment center into the LR. We sold the yellow chair and the piano (No one plays and it was in awful shape!) Our coffee table and end table were stored in the basement. We NEVER liked this switch, but lived with it for about a year until we finished the basement. I also didn't get any good pictures of the room this way, but you can get the idea from these two.


Once we finished the basement, it became the playroom, and we moved the TV and sofas back into the FR. The wicker chair was painted black and moved to the basement. And the LR was REALLY EMPTY now with just our secretary! We brought up the coffee table and end tables, along with the striped chair and ottoman. We also bought the beige chair and sleeper sofa. And we got new carpet and painted: Ralph Lauren Barn Owl White.


This spring, we replaced our tables with black tables, and here is our LR today!







Here are a few of the details . . .

We have had these lamps our entire married life, and still like them! They have a slate-looking finish, which goes really well with the slate flooring in our dining room.

This plate on top of the secretary is from our collection of Paden City Pottery, which was made in our hometown in West Virginia from the 1930s-1950s. Three of our grandparents worked there.

I made this wreath over 12 years ago with the pods from a gum tree

We were given this beautiful picture as a wedding gift by my husband's cousin. It is hand-cut paper. It has been displayed in every place we have lived!

New living room tables!

We took the proverbial leap and bought new tables for our living room! A rare spur-of-the-moment, fast furniture buying experience! We woke up one Saturday morning, and I told my hubby that I wanted to change something in the LR. I had been wanting new sofa pillows and a way to change the lighting. We have had a table lamp and a floor lamp on opposite ends of the sofa forever, and I was wanting some way to even out the height of the lamps. We had a sofa table behind the sofa, and I was thinking maybe two matching lamps on it. He said that he was in the mood to go furniture shopping. Well, that could solve my problem as well! Matching end tables would be great! Our tables had been around since before we were married (10+ years), and although they were in good shape, we had been tired of them for quite a while. I just thought the room was too vanilla. Beige walls, beige sofa, light tables. It needed something. So we packed up the munchkins and went to Furniture Fair--just to "look." 45 minutes later, we walked out owning two new end tables and a new coffee table! We're not usually that decisive or rash, but we both really liked them. We saved $80 by picking them up and putting them together ourselves, and we put our old tables on Craigslist (1st experience ever!) and sold them in a week. I am so happy with our purchase. BTW, I also ended up getting my new pillows as well--on clearance at Homegoods (along with new candleholders!) This is the first room we see every day as we come downstairs, and it makes me happy every morning!
AFTER!
BEFORE--ignore the b-day decor!
Another BEFORE--The Christmas pillows are what inspired me to get darker ones. This is how the lamps looked most of the time.