J Cooper Photography

As you know…we’ve been chasing the “uglies” through our house for the past few months.  We’ve got several years worth of projects to complete, but for now, we are trying to enjoy every successful completion!

When we purchased the house I wasn’t sure what to do with the living room.  I LOVED having the extra space.  But it was a giant beige box and since it was tucked away from the rest of the living space…seemed somewhat useless.  I almost gave away the fireplace.   And if it weren’t for my mom…I probably would have just turned it into a big, giant play room (probably wasn’t the best plan as this is the first room you see upon entering our house!)

Here is the ONE and only photo we took of the house before we bought it.  There wasn’t much to look at.

We started with the fireplace makeover.   It got several fresh coats of paint, a new raised hearth, and new shiny glass tile.  Then that adorable fireplace sat in the room for awhile while we did Christmas and New Years (and recovered from the holidays for a bit).

Then came the floor.   Mr. P and my Dad painstakingly laid that hand scraped hickory floor that we got for a great deal.

After that came several weekends full of hammering and nailing and painting (and painting, and painting, and painting).   We installed the board and batten and gave it several coats of SW creamy white paint.   Then we painted the “upper” walls with SW Down Home.  It’s a great contrast and a bit softer and more grey than our previous brown living room.

We tried using Charlotte in this room for awhile but I just couldn’t live with her everyday.   So we traded her out for a cute pinstriped love seat on clearance at Pier One.   With thin stripes on the front and bold, fat stripes on the back she is very stylish and flirty.  And she paired nicely with our Target damask chairs from our previous room.   The coffee table was a thrift store re-do from several years ago.  The dressers used to act as night stands in our master bedroom.  But a different room configuration in our new house rendered them “left out” so we are letting them play in the living room.  And they seem to be playing nicely!  I was set on a white shag rug.  Until I saw the prices!  I thought it was serendipitous this weekend when I found TWO 5×7 white shag rugs at Tuesday Morning.  My plans was to use carpet tape to attach them to each other as one big rug.   It was a valiant effort…but I wasn’t able to adequately hide the seam so they have since been returned   I did, however, hit the decorating jackpot when I pulled the brown/avocado silk drapes out of my linen closet and they worked perfectly in here!  They have spent several years hiding in the back of the closet after our guest room became The Brainiac’s new bedroom.  I even tried to sell them in our garage sale!  I was shocked that TWO silk 90″ drapes never sold for $10!   So either God was intricately planning my living room for me…OR…these drapes are actually fairly ugly.   Don’t tell me if it’s the latter!

Some day we’ll tuck a baby grand piano into that back corner!

Here’s a little list of references – cause I know someone is gonna ask!

Loveseat:  Pier One

Damask chairs:  Target online

Coffee table:  thrift store re-purpose (for KC folks – Revival Furniture)

Dressers:  Revival Furniture (thrift store)

Pedestal side table: Furniture Barn (in Lincoln)

Glass bookshelf:  re-purposed from a Craigslist treasure

Mirror:  Gordmans

Rusty lanterns:  Home Goods

Giant birdcage:  Antique store (Sentimental Journey in KC)

Curtains: via my linen closet but originally from Home Goods

Curtain rods:  Bed, Bath & Beyond (they are adjustable but I have them set at 18″ which is the shortest length)

Rugs:  Tuesday Morning

Easter eggs:  TJ Maxx

Mercury glass lamps:  TJ Maxx

Milk glass lamps on piano:  Good JuJu in KC

Green throw:  Home Goods

Just a few things left to do!

1.  Install these door knobs that I purchased in Florida.  (Got pulled aside in security at the airport with those in my bag.  You should have seen the look on the officer’s face when she said “Ma’am…what are these?” while holding up two tissue wrapped chunks of metal….to which I replied, “why doorknobs of course!”  She didn’t even laugh….the nerve.

2.  Find a new, bigger, cheaper rug.

3.  Paint the window (this spring).

4.  Make some art for above the two dressers (stay tuned!)

Hope you enjoyed the little tour!