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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Real Decorating: My Living Room

As you may know, I'm in the midst of a little home makeover that involves ripping out 1,000 square feet of tile and carpet in my kitchen, dining and living areas and replacing it with chestnut wood plank tiles.  I'm also painting our basic beige walls a much lighter shade of greige (wild, I know) and trying to make our house look more like the rooms you see on the internets.

I've made a mood board that represents things I actually have in my living room (except the yellow lamp, but I'm totally getting one at Homegoods) and would like to get some unbiased opinions on what else may look good with these things or what could potentially replace them.

Here's what you're seeing:  The pale paint will go on the walls of an open plan room, with the teal paint is currently on an accent wall and in the back of our white built-in shelves.  The mirror was a $20 warehouse find at Wisteria, and I repaired the broken spokes with glue.  The poster is from college, and I still like the colors so it hangs by my front door but N thinks it is ugly.  I have two Charley Harper prints in large Ribba frames from Ikea hanging in the room already, along with West Elm ikat curtains and lots of pillows in gray and white prints on a beige L-shaped sectional.


mirror, curtains, pillow (similar), lamp, poster

And here's the floor plan of the living area.  That big open space on the right is the walkway into the dining area.  I've really struggled with the furniture arrangement because the space is so wide, and we have lots of wasted floor space as you come in and in the bottom left corner where there are built ins and a window.  

 floor plan via Make Room at Urban Barn

I'm not of the opinion that all of my stuff is awesome, and most of it was an amazing bargain that I could move elsewhere in the house if needed.  Given that I clearly like geometric prints, gray, teal, natural wood and color - what else should I buy?  Really, I want to know what people think because I'm so used to my things that I may be overlooking some potential.

P.S. I'll have pictures once the painting is done.  The room is not camera ready right now  :)

3 comments:

  1. I actually think it looks great! For other accessories (especially for shelf styling!), I think white milk glass items, brass items or even something with little pops or orange could look good. Orange and gray are perfect together! Check out the High Street Market etsy -- one of my fave shops and I think the style of items in the shop could fit in well with the pieces you already have! http://www.etsy.com/shop/highstreetmarket

    If N thinks the poster is ugly, perhaps you could replace it with another vintage travel poster? Could be a good opp to bring in other colors you both like too. It's an easy compromise -- gotta keep the boys somewhat happy and like they had SOME sway in the decor, right?

    Also, isn't The Make Room SUCH a good resource??

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  2. @victoria - thanks so much for the etsy reco! Love it! And now I'm also obsessed with orange accents in the built ins. :)

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  3. Love the orange idea! You could also add some orange with a throw on the sofa. If you've got the wallspace, it would be cool to do multiple sunburst mirrors.

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