Before & After: Living Room

With my house, it was a definite case of love at first sight.  Conor and I saw it during its first open house on a Sunday, we put an offer in on Monday, and by Tuesday, we were on the road to homeownership.  Despite feeling at home immediately, the living room was a bit of a blank slate.  After six months of living here, I finally feel like the room has my stamp on it.   Here’s the photo from the listing:

Womp womp.  Oversized furniture, a too small rug, exposed electronics, and window treatments that blocked all the trim. However, since all of that would be leaving before we moved in, I didn’t get too hung up on it.  I knew I’d be left with a smallish room with pretty windows and hardwood floors despite the totally blah paint color.

Here’s what it looked like right after we moved in.  Don’t judge:

And here’s the living room about six months later!

If you’ve been reading along for a while, you may notice a couple of elements in this room from earlier posts.  We painted the room first, I styled the bookcase on a day off, repaired and recovered the rocking chair, and spiffed up the white dresser with fresh paint and knotted drawer pulls.  That’s still one of my favorite projects.  Especially now that we have the TV hanging on the wall and most of the cords and electronics hidden.

Those amaryllis by the window are still going strong after I planted them in a container of shells and water.  The draft stoppers are also still going strong but I took them out of the windows for these pictures. Now onto the stuff you probably haven’t seen too much of.

We had been saving up for a new couch and ordered this one soon after we closed on the house.  Conor thought I was insane when I insisted on marking out the measurements on the floor with tape but it was a big investment and the tape helped me visualize the final layout to make sure our favorite couch was appropriately sized for the room before we ordered it.  I could go on and on about how much I love the English roll-arm style, and this couch in particular, but I’ll spare you…for now.

The other big, new element in here are the curtains.  After seeing this fabric over on Brooklyn Limestone, I ordered it in yellow along with some lining fabric and made curtains using this excellent tutorial from House of Hepworths.  I highly recommend it if you’re thinking about making your own curtains.  It’s one of those things that makes you question your sanity at the beginning but once you get the first one down, it’s pretty easy.  Be prepared for a lot of ironing.

In true form, I hemmed and hawed over a coffee table for ages.  The one from the old apartment was big and blocky.  I knew I wanted something round or oval that wouldn’t dominate the room visually. I considered getting a couple ceramic garden benches (like the one in this post) but it never felt like the best option.  Two weeks ago, I found this one on Overstock.com and decided to take a chance.  I love it.  From the antique nickel finish to the open base, it’s just what I wanted but still fits in with the other vintage pieces in the room.

For a small room, I can’t tell you how happy it makes me.  One room is officially done! Here’s a source list in case you’re interested:

Paint: Benjamin Moore “Storm” in eggshell (we used the Aura paint & primer in one)
Trim and Media Dresser: Benjamin Moore “Super White” in semi-gloss
Couch: Pottery Barn Carlisle slipcovered in cream twill
Rug: HomeGoods
Media Dresser: White Elephant Outlet, Essex, MA
Coffee Table: Overstock.com
Black Bookcase: Cambridge Antique Market
Side Tables: Family heirlooms and a thrift shop find
Rocking Chair: Yard sale
Pink Pillows: Fab.com
Indian Kantha Throw: Asia West, Portland, ME
Curtain Rods: Umbra Loft Drapery Rods from Target
Glass Lamp: Simon Pierce
Seaglass Lamp: Made by me from an antique jug

Most other decorative items were either family pieces or thrifted.