Living Room

So, I thought I would walk through our living room with you a little bit.  This is the room that we spend most of our time in and I realized that this room has changed the least since we moved in (except of course for the pillow covers).  I think that is because we thought about the layout of this room A LOT when we moved in.  With the front door leading right into the room and there not being a ton of wall space, we must have moved furniture around in this room dozens of time to see what works best.  In fact, I have to admit, once in a while we get something into our head and try to rearrange the furniture again but it never works and we always go back to how it is.  

One of the biggest things that made the furniture placement work is this shelving.  We had a tv stand from IKEA in our apartment that we really liked, but we couldn't make it work in this room.   I had seen similar shelving like this in a domino magazine and found these units at IKEA for only $70 each.  So, we pushed 2 of them together.  An added plus is it offers great storage.  In the middle of each unit we took out one of the shelves so we could fit the tivo/dvd player and the record player.  

The "art" hanging above the unit on the wall we got on clearance at this great store near my parents house when they were going out of business, right before we moved in.  We were just commenting the other night how much we love this piece and are so glad we got it.   It adds great texture and looks so great on that wall.  I have to tell you that Rob picked it out.  He has such great taste, don't you think?

One thing we quickly realized about this room was that bulky furniture wouldn't work.  Rob really liked Danish Modern chairs and he found this original on ebay.  I loved it and thought it would be great in between the windows.  

The stool next to the chair we got at my favorite store in downtown Phoenixville, Hipster Home.  It seems like now you can find these stools everywhere, but supporting local business is always a plus!  And it is a solid piece of furniture- I even sit on it some times.   I used to always have a vase on it, but now that Aiden is active it is bare and acts more like a side table when using the chair.  

So, these side tables are what I am excited to brag about.  Once we got all the other furniture in the room, I was dying for end tables for the sides of the sofa.  I was browsing Craigslist one day while at work and found these tables for $20- FOR BOTH!!  The people were moving and were just trying to get rid of everything as quickly as possible.  In fact, when we got to the house to pick them up there about 5 other people picking up stuff.  They are basically in perfect condition, fit my mid-century modern decor and to this day we still love them.  The lamps atop them are from West Elm.  

You already know our sofa is from Crate and Barrel and I have a love-hate relationship with it.  I would never recommend buying it, but I love the look and recently have not been too frustrated with it.  Although I will probably get it cleaned this winter some time.  You also know about the ottoman which has really been the only major change in this room over the past 2 years.  It is from Urban Outfitters and it is great.  

A couple other small things I thought I would explain....

The frames above the sofa were put up shortly after moving in as well and have not changed.  I love how they look and have gotten many compliments about them.  Rob laid them all out on the floor before putting them on the wall to see what arrangement would work best.  

And lastly, I got this West Elm clock at the Pottery Barn Outlet and I am pretty sure it was no more that $5, if that.  Sure, it has no numbers and people often say "I can't read that clock", but it looks good.  As long as you have an idea about what hour it is, you can usually tell the minutes.  

To conclude, I just want to mention that I think the reason this room is pretty much the same since moving in is because we really put a lot of thought into the pieces of furniture and were able to mix investment pieces with some less expensive things.  

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our living room and that you feel inspired!