living room re-do

hello there! my goodness, we are having quite the snowstorm outside. it was supposed to happen last night, but it was delayed until this morning. and once it got started, watch out! it hasn't stopped snowing all day! (and i mean snowing like crazy!) because i didn't want to go out and about in the weather, i used the time to rearrange my living room! my (now old) roommate just moved to a new city, so there were a few holes in the space from where her furniture merged with mine. click here for the before living room photos.

whenever i re-arrange, i always start with a bit of a mess. :) this was after i moved the couch to the other wall, but before i did anything else.

it helps me to see everything when it is out in the open, available to mix and match. oh yeah and the lavender little guy from hunt and gather came home with me on thursday night :) he was just too cute and perfect for the living room.

so once everything is out in the open, i start with a small space and work out from there. the bench came from my room and already had the pillows on it. i just decided to leave it under the window panes for now and focus on the couch and left corner. (ignore the sloppy pillows.)

i added in an end table and the cleo chair. from there, it's all about adding some height and adding layers.

a  lamp is one of the easiest things to start out with.

then a pillow for cleo.

 

then i added in some books and jars. this is not where i landed, but i wanted to show this picture because so many times it is about trial and error. playing around with accessories and being okay with it not looking quite right. so here... too many jars. not the right heights. too many books under the lamp too.

i took away one book, the switched out one jar for a smaller vase of millinery flowers.

then decided the jar was just not working and added in a little compote dish of ribbons on spools.

 

whew! one little corner... almost done! (i leave all artwork until the very end. this way, i don't spend time trying to work with artwork and putting in nails all over the walls only to switch it up.) from there, i worked over to the right.

 

this was the lamp from the white end table i used in the corner and the stack of green books from that end table too! the bigger jar of millinery flowers found their way over here to hold up some books. and the letter s, well it came from anthropologie circa 2007 (but i picked it up in an antique shop this year. so crazy how that works sometimes!)

i love love love this. :) it makes me happy just looking at it, which is my gold standard for dressing and home decor.



looking to the right of the lavender dresser i have the bench complete with pillows. but i needed a little something to the left of the dresser. enter vintage chair from my bedroom.

this chair is very special to me because it comes from my late grandmother's home. ever since i was a little girl, i loved this chair. i thought it was so fancy and pretty. the fabric has all over embroidery and is a little tattered, but i think it makes it all the more special.

i added a euro pillow with ruffled sham on the seat of the chair to make it more cushioned, then a couple of throw pillows. now that you saw a little bit of my process, i will just share the final pictures. i kept working outwards, adding more layers and textures - then switching them up until it was just right for me.

 

i am still looking/waiting to purchase a larger area rug for my new apartment (in may). until then, i wanted to get something a little less expensive. i went to a few different t.j.maxx/marshall/home goods locations to scope out their rugs and found a really fabulous one. it is 5x7 and from martha stewart. because i still want something a little larger, i added in the floral fresco rug from anthropologie i already had in the 3x5 size. here are some close ups of the martha one:

 

i couldn't believe it. this rug matches milo the sofa perfectly! now for some shots of the right side of the room:

 

i added in a couple of vintage turquoise pieces i also had in my bedroom near the chair.

last but not least, artwork is finally up on the wall above the couch. because of the corner, i needed something bigger. i hung the frames empty, but am thinking about putting some fun printed fabric in the frames for something a little more special. still deciding. :)

 





hope you enjoyed!

i can't wait to keep re-mixing my current space to get even more ideas for my new one.

until next time,
S