Here are some pictures of the way the living room is shaping up. Pictures include shots of our new sofa and chair, new light in TV room, and furniture arrangement. Also there's a pic of our front door, which is currently a slab of plywood. We're having the door refurbished by the same guy who did our kitchen (James), and he took the door to work on in his shop. Looking forward to getting it back all prettied up.

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

more on the beach theme

Here are a few more pictures of the bedroom, which is not basically complete. These are shells and driftwood we picked up in Washington and in Florida last summer. I'm quite happy with the feel of the room.

more on the beach theme

More on the beach theme

Could this be whimsy? The story of a living room...

For several months, we’ve been unhappy with our living room. We never use it, and as our friend Susan commented, “it’s just a furniture storage room”. That pissed me off, but it was basically true. So, what to do?

First, we had to make some decisions about furniture. We had a sofa that wasn’t that comfortable to sit on, some leather chairs, one of which was too close to the front door so it was bumped when we tried to open the door all the way, two cool upholstered chairs in a coppery color that did nothing for the rug or walls, a sofa table that we’ve had for years but didn’t really have a good spot for, and two dining tables – a round one in one corner and a teak one we were using for an entry table. Lordy !

So I decided to have the cushion fixed – took out all the old feathers and filled it with polyfil or whatever so its firmer. It looks and feels much better now. Then we started selling chairs. Sold the leather set (2 chairs and a loveseat that was upstairs), and the two coppery chairs, both via Craigslist. Donated the sofa table to the DAV, and moved the dining table/entry table out.

We decided that we wanted it to feel more like a study. Basically less formal and more comfortable. Regarding arranging the room, we decided we needed a focal point on the wall to the left of the door. We found a painting at an art show – it’s a landscape of rooftops, with abstract clouds in the sky. Its painted on a piece of acrylic with a raw wooden frame. We painted a dark gray “frame” on the wall, and hung the picture in the middle of this “frame”. Edged the painted frame with some wood trim, also painted gray. So this painting becomes the focal point.

Then we got creative. Took the round dining table apart, and mounted the two halves on the wall below the new picture. Makes for a much more appropriately sized entry table. Looks kind of strange, but it grew on us, and now I think its kind of cool.

Hung some new curtains last night – gray silk-like panels that we got at Penneys. Used the sheers that we already had, got some new curtain rods (chrome), and added the panels. They look great.

Also bought another painting at a garage sale this weekend. This is where the whimsy part comes in. It’s a picture of two people playing music, along with their cats. We liked the colors and the informality of it, and thought it would be great in the room.

Our next project will be to find a couple chairs and an ottoman or coffee table. And then accessorize. So as always, a work in progress.

Here are some pictures....

Tour of living room

tour of living room part 2

Hallway to bathroom

This is the hallway to the bathroom (window on right, door to bathroom on left). We put some bamboo shelves at the end for towels - very zen.

Close up shot shows the picture of Haystack Rock that Suzanne found and gave me. Very cool.

Here's some more options for accessories - a bowl of shells and some larger driftwood. Doesn't really have a home yet, though I think the wood will stay on one side of the mantle.

My best ideas so far...

Here are two of my best ideas so far: a vignette of glass floats, and a collection of driftwood. The small floats we had, and we found the large float at an antique store here in KC. Then bought a basket for them at World Market, and I think they look great.

The second idea was to use the pickle jar for the driftwood that I had collected while in Washington this summer. I first tried making some sort of art piece out of the wood, but I wasn't really inspired so canned that idea. Then I had the idea to empty the pickle jar of its pinecones (which had been in there for as long as I remember, probably about 50 years) and fill it with the pieces of driftwood. I also reglued the lid, which had cracked, and I think it looks awesome. Put it next to the fireplace (where the pinecones had always been in my childhood). Very arty.

Also took some weathered pieces of wood from our backyard fence and installed them on either side of the fireplace. I like that look, but now need something to go across the top of the fireplace, between the wood sides. Still thinking about that...

The mantle is remains empty, and haven't yet figured out what to hang/lean on the vertical surface. Still thinking aobut that too :-)

Paint, decor slowly evolve

Here are a few pictures of the bedroom, which is still a work in progress. A few things are in place, but not everything has fallen into place yet. However, since I haven't posted in months, I decided to take a few pics to show the progress.

Painting is completed, and we've installed new bedside lamps. Ordered these from Pottery Barn on the recommendation of our designer, Liz D. They are great and give lots of light. Nothing special about this bedding though, and I didn't even make the bed. Lapshee.

Deck table project

Needed a bistro table or similar for our little deck. Found this 50's metal table at RiverMarket Antique for $35. That and a couple cans of spray paint, and it is adorable. We chose an apple green for the side pieces, and gloss black for the shelf part. Now we can have coffee on the deck in the morning !

Bedding

We ordered pieces of this bedding set today - the blue duvet cover and two of the rectangle shaped dotted pillows. If we like it, then we'll look for a brown afgan type thing and other pillows as shown. We are going to wait till it gets here to choose a wall color, assuming we like it. Today we painted the place with white primer. What a change !!!

original inspiration

This was the original inspiration piece for the color and feel of the room. This is a bathmat we found at World Market. One difference we want to make in the room is to have the color contrast a little more muted rather than the bright white trim (see below). The general idea is sort of a beach / spa combination.

Here's the colors we're considering. We really like the dark blue, but are afraid its too dark and the room doesn't get great light. The lighter blue is a Disney color, called "space suit". We found it at Home Depot. Then we want to accent with a sand color for the trim (e.g., around the windows). We picked this color (cafe latte is the name) and have ordered blinds that match really well. The blinds are cellular style, and will be inside mounted on the windows. Don't have them yet to show you.

Here's the rug we currently have on the floor, and plan to keep in the room. I think blue walls will look good with the rug.

This is mostly the north wall, showing the entryway to bedroom. We've taken down the door as it was always in the way. Right now there are mirrored doors on the closet, but we're thinking of changing to louver doors. You can also see that our furniture is dark, but we don't want to paint it or change it, so we have to work with it.

Shot from corner to corner, to try to give you the big picture.

This is the west wall and fireplace.

Here's the east wall, where the bed will be. The little hallway on the right goes around to the master bath.
The purple stripe on the left was our idea to bring in an accent color, and also to cover a metal access panel in the wall, which gives access to the shower plumbing (master shower is on other side of wall).