Now that our living room is close to complete, I'm looking back at this post that I began composing in November. I'm amazed at how closely I followed my initial inspiration photo (above) when choosing furniture.
Our major purchase for the room was a new sofa (we needed two in the larger space) and I'd wanted a blue one forever. We ended up finding a discounted model at West Elm and I used the dimensions to map out the layout before we moved in.
It was in the living room that we initially checked the wall colours (we get a lot of light in the room) and you may recall that we settled on Benjamin Moore paint: Oxford White trim and White Dove walls.
Here's the before facing the fireplace and entrance hall. This was taken on the day we took possession so the previous owner (and his dog) were still at the house. This was also the day we discovered that I was pregnant with Baby M.
Here's the room from that angle now. Painting the fireplace brick and replacing the door made a huge difference. I think hanging photos in the hall and up the stairs has also made the house feel a lot warmer. Right now, I'm loving our theme of blues and greens. We wanted the colours to be more natural and a little rustic/country (to go with all the wood and the exposed beams in the house) but we wanted the room to feel light, fun, colourful and casual.
Here's the room from another angle. Before:
And After:
Most of the accessories are from the thrift shop or Homesense. The greyhound statue was a gift from my cousin. The large fiddle leaf fig tree is actually a staging piece but I've decided that when I'm not using it, we should keep it in the living room so it doesn't get too lonely in my storage locker. It's a very convincing fake.
The shelving unit (Homesense) needs to be styled but I haven't unpacked our books and Barkley is a notorious book eater (we want to give him some time in the new house before we trust him) so I've just placed some colourful vases there in the meantime.
Rudy loves the accessories on the coffee table. She likes labeling "dog" and "flowers" and then pretending the coasters are cookies (her favourite) and walking around the house with them.
Having the living room set up makes the house feel a lot more like home. Corey is finishing the dining room as we speak and he's going to start painting Baby M's room in the evenings this week, so we'll have lots of exciting reveals. We're also planning a pretty special (and unexpected) reno which has delayed completion of the nursery. Stay tuned!
