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Monday, November 17, 2014

Our Living Room Reveal

Since our new Living room is on the smaller side..which I like to call 'Cozy'!! I was a little nervous of all our furniture fitting...For me the most important thing was making sure our white Media Unit Bookcases had a home.. We ending up installing them on the main, largest wall in the living room as a focal point and they fit like a charm.. It was like it was literally meant to be! ;) So luckily for our wallets we were able to use everything from our previous Family room and the coffee table from our previous Living room. Again it's not an overly big space so I had to be careful with the amount of stuff I put in it.. The previous couches worked out great as they are Sklar Peppler from our very first home together back in 2007. They have held up great over the years.. They were part of their small space solutions collection which was great for our townhouse at the time. Fast forward 7 years later and they work great in our smallish living room. We kept the room overall very Neutral, with lots of wooden accents and vintage details. I always like to mix the old and the new. So this space has it all!! 
We painted out the coloured ceiling rim that matched the wall colour.  We painted it with 'white' builder ceiling paint. I personally felt it looked very dated before.. I understand the idea behind it.. draw your eye up and add to the ceiling height. But the ceiling didn't need any help, it was already 9ft which is just fine by me.. so no need to make it look larger..so back to 'white' it went! Eventually the plan is to add some crown moulding in here to complete the look.
We had the floors professionally Re-finished to a dark 'Ebony' tone. 
We put our beloved Ikea Liatorp Media Unit bookcases on the main wall so it is a huge focal point when you walk in. I actually just got messaged on pinterest about this unit.. I guess it turns out that Ikea has changed the Liatorp design a bit since we purchased?? .. She liked ours better ;) We just recently changed our previous hardware knobs to an Oil rubbed bronze cup pull handle on the drawer,  and 1 1/4" glass knobs from Restoration Hardware for the rest.. I luckily didn't have to buy any extras knobs for this house as I took all of our glass knobs from our previous kitchen! I always replace all the knobs with simpler less expensive ones before we list our house for sale and take the glass ones :) I of course used the majority in our current kitchen, and because our new kitchen was smaller, I had some left over.. so here they went.. It gives the bookcases a more custom look by mixing the hardware. I like this new look a lot better.
 I have been collecting Vintage items for at least 12 years now.. Which is why I love to have lots of display spaces. I mix a lot of my new and collected items together to make interesting collections and displays. I try to always have items around me that 'mean something' to me.. This room incorporates some items from my grandparents who are no longer with me, so It's nice to have little reminders of them. The ship on the shelf was built by my Papa. The cameras are from my grandparents on both sides of my family and one is from an antique shop find. 
 The stacked wood boxes were my Grandfathers (Dad's dad) who I never got to meet.. But who obviously had great taste! ;) I framed my Granny's Report card from the 1930's from when she was like 6.. It says she talked a lot!! :) The little note under the frame is a note from my GREAT GRANDFATHER to my Papa, from when he got re-married.. it said he was his very 'Best Man' I mean it must have been so special to my Papa or else he wouldn't have kept it all those years.. So I just had to keep it too!!!
The encyclopaedias are from various Garage sales during summer trips up north with my Hubby. The Moss letters are from Our Wedding Table. I ordered them on Etsy over 3 years ago now.
This vintage wood and Carrara marble Coffee Table was a Goodwill find over 8 years ago, only $15!!!.. It has some blemishes.. But overall its a great piece with a ton of character, check out the Brass edges around the marble top! Its hard to find great 'round' coffee table.. The draw back was it didn't come with its original drawers but it did come with 2 pull out drink trays.. LOVE that!!.. I had made some metal drawers which looked good but had too sharp of edges for life with a baby.. so I filled the empty drawers with vintage books with beige neutral spines. Displayed on top of our coffee table is a woven tray that I bought from Pottery Barn a few years back, with a Large Galvanized bucket with rope handles filled with dried Cream coloured Hydrangeas. The empty antler candle holder is from Homesense years ago. Underneath our coffee table I have a metal wire basket with this great burlap liner.. It was a Easter basket from Homesense last year, and I just ripped off the bunny detail and the handles that were clipped on! It is so much cuter plain and simpler! It's the perfect size to hide hold all my extra magazines.. I have too many subscriptions and not enough time in my day!
 
In front of our bookcases I put this great chair that I refinished a while ago.. believe it or not, It used to be hot pink velour!! I found the 2 chairs on Kijiji for $60!.. Unfortunately I just don't seem to ever have enough room for the other chair :( Currently the other chair is half finished, just sitting in my husband's gym..Yes I said 'husbands gym!!' I don't work out so I don't want to lie and say 'OUR' gym lol!! On the chair I have this great burlap pillow, with our wedding date on it.. It's from my Mom's Etsy shop.. The khaki damask printed pillow behind, is one I made a long time ago. Underneath the chair is a cardboard french motif box from homesense, it holds little toys for my niece that are still too small for my daughter to play with.. My daughter hasn't found them yet ;) On the floor I bought this Antique Wooden thermos holder for display reasons.. At least thats what I was told it was when I bought it? I just loved the colouring of the wood and rope handle.. It looked very pottery barn-ish.. But had an added bonus of character and history that only a true vintage piece can, plus the price was right at $40! 
 The pillows on the couch are a mix of ones I have made and some that I bought.. The white ones are made from leftover Ikea Ritva Curtains that I had.. I loved the material and used the tie backs for trim on the covers openings.. Maybe I will do a post one day on how I made them?? The striped ones are a linen like cotton material from this great Etsy shop called 'Louise and Company'.
The wood and Iron grate work door panel leaned in the corner is one of my favourite pieces, Recognize it from my home page pictures :) It's a newer piece made to look old and worn. I purchased it on clearance at a garden centre almost 5 years ago and have loved it ever since..   
You can kind of get an idea of how our house is laid out here. The marble tile you see is our front hall.. the arched mirror in the back ground is in our Hall and behind the chaise is our dining room.. so you can see that our living room is a fairly visible room that is seen from many areas of our home.. which is why I kept it neutral to flow with the rest of our decor.. You can see our Hall Reveal Here
This very french inspired wooden shelf with metal trim edging was yet another fabulous Homesense find!! We use to have this open shelving unit in our previous home's Powder Bath. Now it sits above our Chaise. Displayed is a creamy vignette of faux coral, dried babies breath, capiz shell frames and some decorative items from our wedding .. see more 'means something' items! like our cream mini lantern and the painted vintage metal match holder both from our wedding reception.. 
  
Behind our couch I have a mix of white and ivory frames with pictures of our friends and family... hence no close ups.. I have the frames displayed on a vintage wooden ironing board. Years ago I was looking for a thin sofa table for under another window and I found this ironing board and thought why not?? The price was right at only $10 and so was the depth and height.. small space solution ;) One day I will buy myself a big girl sofa table but for now this one does the trick! 
We have 2 open side tables, one on either side of the couch. I found the perfect sized wire baskets to fit on the open shelf. In one basket I put green decorative balls, and the other I had vintage books that I removed the covers from and aged even more with a tea stain, then wrapped the books together with jute tie.
The Glass lamps were from Goodwill when we moved into our very first house. More recently I added these neutral ticking stripe lamp shades. I love the way they look now.  The Antique sewing machine drawers were from an Antique Outdoor Fair this September. Our wall art is made of musical note patterned Kraft wrapping paper. Cheap art at its finest! The roll of paper was a check-out find at Homesense last christmas. The black wood frame is a Winners Find.
This is the View from our Main Hall into our Living Room.. You can see our FULL Hall Reveal Here!
View into our adjoining Dining room.. If you missed the full Reveal.. See it here!

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2 comments:

  1. Amazing job! It's so cozy and I love the neutrals. So many wonderful layers. And the before & after is crazy- what a change!!

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