Living Room Lovin'

I've never shared our living room on the blog yet. Not because it was a horrible mess, just that it is rather boring and unfinished. Here's what it looked like a month or two after moving in. Excuse the phone picture quality.

I wanted something large over the couch, so filled it with the photo collage frames. I reused the painting I did for our previous living room over the fireplace. The storage ottoman was in Little One's play area at our old house, but we decided to use it as an actual ottoman in this house. The couches are from when we first got married. I like them, but I'd pick something lighter and more neutral now if I could.

And I KNOW everyone wants a fireplace bumper like we have, right?! It's so rad. Ha! I've searched and searched for a solution to the fireplace lip, but have come up empty. The traditional foam bumpers are too thick to fit on the lip, the clear sticky bumpers look tacky, and having no bumper is not an option unless I want to risk an ER visit with Little One to get stitches. So...the towels live on. Frustrating. My friend Amy suggested doing a bench cushion for the fireplace and using it for extra seating. I actually like that idea, just need to budget for it since between fabric and foam, it's more than a pocket change investment. (No worries, we would move it when we turned on the fireplace.) It's on our list of to-do's. Any other ideas are welcome! Just shout them out in the comment section!

Anyway... Our living room is boring and basic and in need of some lovin'. I've always done a cranberry accent with the couches, but really wanted to go a little lighter and bring other colors into the room. I was at Kohl's looking for something else when I found these beauties!

They match our couches great and pull in reds, yellows, greens, and blues and totally brighten things up. Love them!

The next living room item on the agenda was to solve the window covering problems. We have these adorable scalloped roman shades, but at night, you can see right in the sides of the windows. I'm totally creeped out thinking that people can watch me nap, chow down on candy, and trim my nose hairs (just kidding) play with Little One or chill out. Our house is close to the road, so there's no question that people can really see in. And, trust me, people look. We've even made eye contact with a passer-by! Creepy! Oh, sorry for the tangent.

As I was saying...We wanted a way to gain more privacy at night. Our initial plan was to replace the shades with plantation shutters. While this is still a long term plan, for the next couple years or so, we don't want to drop that much money into shutters. Plus, I really like the shades. The next best option was to install curtains to cover the gap on the sides--much cheaper and would allow me to add more color and warmth to the room. Sold!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of a window?!

I saw these curtains in blue at Lowe's a long time ago and loved them, just had no place for them. Then, my mom ended up getting the same curtains a couple months ago for her living room and I fell in love with them all over again. I totally copied her and bought them in green for our living room. I tried to get away with just one panel on each window, but with the way the windows are, they really needed fabric on both sides of the window, not just pushed to one side. Two full panels per window was overpowering, too formal, and quite frankly, too expensive.

Thank goodness my mom likes to sew! She supported my crazy idea to cut the curtain panels lengthwise and hem them up, making two skinnier curtain panels out of one full panel. I love how light and airy they feel now and love that it cut the cost in half! Thanks, Mom! Isn't she awesome?

And guess what she did? She knew I loved the blue curtains, so for Christmas, they surprised us with three of the blue curtain panels, already split and hemmed, ready to hang in the dining room! How awesome is that?! I'll share that soon!

Our living room is already perking up. We still really need a rug to ground the room and add warmth and a squishy spot for Little One to play, but that may be a while. Our home to do list is rather long at the moment! But for now, I'm enjoying the extra color the curtains and pillows add and am on the lookout for some fun accessories that bring in those colors on the mantel and end table. So fun!

I'll leave you with our to-do list for the living room:

-Get rug
-Add colorful accessories
-Figure out furniture placement for the wall with two windows
-Install ceiling fan
-Art for above TV stand
-Art for above love seat
-Tall lamp for corner in between couches

Update! We found a rug!!! Will post pictures soon! It's way too dreary outside today to get good lighting for a picture. Whomp whomp. :(