At long last

{ Thursday, May 27, 2010 }
When we moved into this house a little over a year ago, we did just enough work to make it liveable and then we waited for the bean to arrive, expecting that it would be some time before we would be able to work on the finishing touches. Now that she is able to entertain herself for longer stretches of time, that day has arrived and we've been working on tackling our living room.

Here's what the room looked like before we moved in.




We ripped up the carpet, installed wood floors and painted basically every other surface, but the room was still blah to me.



We really wanted a 100% wool rug because we were concerned about a synthetic rug outgassing, but couldn't pay too much for one. We were lucky to find this affordable red and white rug at Ikea and we love it, but it was the only red in the room.



Our couch is old and too squishy and needs to be replaced, but we're hoping to make it last until the bean is out of the drawing-on-furniture-with-crayons-and-sharpie stage. In the meantime, if we put lots of extra pillows on it, its somewhat more comfortable to sit on, but I'm so over these black and white pillows. I'm not quite sure what we were thinking there. Oh, and the cat tree had to go.



We made things more baby-friendly by moving the wood coffee table into the corner and bringing the ottoman out, which got a slipcover and a tray so it can still be a sometimes coffee table. (The bean loves to pull up on the ottoman and throw the tray on the floor, so it doesn't get used for drinks, but it looks nice). I also made some pillows for the two black chairs and replaced the covers on the black and white couch pillows with new fabric.



The cat tree was relocated to the basement (sorry kitty!) and replaced with the bean's play table which I've temporarily comandeered for a sewing table (sorry baby!). Building a playroom is on our list of projects, so once that's done the play table will live there.



The wall opposite the couch was looking lonely with just the TV on it, so I made a collage of frames above it to keep it company. I brought the red in with a picture of a flower from our wedding and some leftover fabric from the pillows.


And here's the bean and I admiring our new room. We love it!

4 comments:

nutella said...

Very nice! Can't wait to see what krafty goodness the bean produces (on the couch perhaps?).

Anonymous said...

Great job! We are looking at rugs at the moment and are trying to agree on styles - I really like yours and I plan on showing it to gf tonight.

Cathy said...

Very nice! We've been redecorating also and I was at a friend's house where she did bright orange touches on an otherwise neutral palette - definitely gave me inspiration. I love the red touches in your room.

Emily said...

what gorgeous work! I'm so glad to see you again (so to speak...) -- lost track there for a while. -- Emily