Showing posts with label living room. Show all posts

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Little Johnstone

This past weekend I was going through some old pictures that I found under my bed (during the big organization project I wrote about briefly here and that I will write about in detail later) and I found one that I particularly love. I picked up this black frame at Target to put it in.

Target Black Frame 5x7 - $9.99

I decided to put it next to the TV on the new media console.

Can you see who is in the photograph yet?

The photo is of me, my Grammie, Uncle Don, and my brother in the foreground being very pouty. I love this picture. He was probably a little upset because the mosquitoes were so bad. I vaguely remember this day. Notice I have a mosquito hat on, so I'm all smiles. We were trekking around Little Johnstone Bay in Alaska where my Uncle Don has a cabin. I don't remember who took this photo, but I'm sure someone in my family knows.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Living Room Rug

I found a rug I like at Home Goods! Assuming it's still there, I might buy it next week. I've attached a picture that shows the rug on top and a picture of the living room floor on bottom. What do you think? According to Anthony's reading of Walden, Thoreau would tell me to go back and visit the rug to see if it makes me happier each time. If I had enough time to go willy nilly rug gazing you bet I would!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Gym Lockers

A few weeks ago I added an Ikea PS Cabinet to the condo. I had been considering adding a piece of furniture to put against the wall with the front door to the condo.

Ikea PS Cabinet

I decided on this guy because he's oh-so-charming with his resemblance to school lockers, and he's only $99. Plus he locks up nicely, which is great for when I rent my condo to airbnbers. Not that I would expect anyone to steal, but it's just nice to have everything stored safely away.

Assembly wasn't too bad. Typical Ikea situation. The only tricky part is making sure the doors fit on just-so in order to allow them to close properly. At first I was thinking of spray painting him, but so far I like him in his nice, bright white clothes.

I thought the cold, white metal might be too much for my more vintage-style place, but I like the look of it. My other furnitures are excited to have their new friend!

Thanks to Ant for the extra special cord/electronics organizing!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Wisdom Teeth & Mirrors

Well, a mirror is something I definitely don't want to look at right now. Considering as how I have a chipmunk cheek. Yes, only one cheek has swelled up. I'm half chipmunk. This is day four after my wisdom teeth removal, and I feel OK. There's not much to say except that it sucks, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And there wasn't any blood on my clothes (for some reason I thought there would be...gross, I know.) Also the doctor did not have me count down from 10 like you see in movies while I was being put under. He was just talking about how his friend was a miner in Alaska, and then he started laughing, which made me laugh. That's kind of creepy now that I think about it.

Anyway, last week I worked on a mirror. Ant's mom gave me an old mirror that I found in her storage room. When we saw it, we both thought "Beauty and the Beast!"

Large amounts of GOLD GOLD GOLD aren't really my thing though, but I knew just what to do.

SPRAY PAINT! I used Valspar's Indigo Satin Spray Paint. They had some colors in the glossy sheen, but I didn't want it to be too shiny. Satin worked well. I've used Valspar spray paint before in Deep Sea Diving for the Licorice Chair, which is another shade of blue. It's more Bluey Blue though, while Indigo has an extremely, extremely faint hint of purple. But you wouldn't know it.

Here's the mirror after one coat. I used many light coats to get the job done, as usual.

Here's a close-up. My coats aren't very even, but that's OK. It evens out on its own in the end.

And after coat two.

It took a little extra work to get all of the nooks and crannies.

And about five coats later...ta da!

I decided to hang the mirror in the living room right next to the front door.

My Perfectly Imperfect Home book says that there should be a mirror near the door for guests to look at their appearance when they arrive and before they leave.

The color of the mirror matches the blue in the lampshade next to it. I love it.

Spray paint wins again! But like I said, I'm not going to be using it anytime soon.

Source

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Tufty Ready to Go

As I mentioned in this post, Tufty (the button tufted upholstered ottoman) arrived with a broken leg. I called the number listed on the informational booklet in the box, and the company who made Tufty promptly sent me four new legs.

So now I have seven Tufty legs. But I only need four. After popping them on the bottom of the ottoman, Tufty was ready to go. Ta-da!

So far so good.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Introducing: Tufty

Remember when I was considering which ottoman/coffee table to buy? Well...

Tufty, Sleeping Upside Down

Everyone, meet Tufty! He is currently suffering from a broken leg, however. He is sleeping in the living room. He's quite comfortable because he has built-in tuft. He arrived fresh from the factory yesterday. Lucky that he's an ottoman, and that the people who made Tufty are very nice. They are mailing us a new leg today. Yay!

One Broken Tufty Leg, in Two Pieces

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Coffee Tables

Let's talk coffee tables. I want one because my living room is actually pretty big and no other piece of furniture makes better sense for the middle of the room. This is the spot it will go, right in front of the couch:

Here's the cheapest option I've found at $105 from Walmart. I love the style and it's a great deal. I asked a question about it to see if the wood was solid, but it's not (duh). I also wonder if it would roll around a lot since I don't have a living room rug yet.

Better Homes and Gardens Rustic Country Coffee Table, Antiqued Black/Pine Finish

Right now I'm using two nailhead upholstered storage ottomans from Target pushed together with a blanket & tray on top. They basically look like this except a bit darker (I'll add a picture later):

Nailhead Storage Ottoman

West Elm always has super large trays that are perfect for setting on top of ottomans/coffee tables if need be:

West Elm Large Rectangular Lacquer Tray

And here's the blanket (now sold out at Pier 1):

Blue Floral Appliqué Throw from Pier 1

So while that setup works for now, it doesn't provide a very big space and it doesn't fill up the large living room very well. So I'm looking for something larger. The coffee table from Walmart is definitely a bit bigger, but it doesn't provide a place to sit down. I'd like a coffee table that will be the best of both worlds - it will provide a place to sit as well as a stable place to set drinks and food.

So I'm seriously looking at this upholstered ottoman from Target:

Button Tufted Upholstered Ottoman - Sandstone

It comes in many colors (see more here), but I think I like the neutral Sandstone the best. That way I can always add accent colors in less expensive mediums (like pillows) that can be changed on a whim. The upholstered ottoman is much bigger than the Walmart coffee table and it would provide enough room for extra seating as well as room for food & drinks with my large tray set on top of it.

It costs $329.99 and is on sale for $263.99. With my Target card's free shipping and 5% discount plus a $5 discount from the internet, I can get the ottoman for $265.72 shipped. Here's how that breaks down:

For a total savings of $47.94. It doesn't seem like a terrible price. The ottoman also gets good reviews (you can look at colors other than sandstone in the same style to see more reviews).

Do any of you have coffee table solutions for your own homes? How did you decide?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Lamp & Home Goods

Last week I continued to light up the living room with a new lamp from Home Goods. I can't actually link to the product because Home Goods doesn't do online shopping (e-commerce).

Although you can't shop Home Goods online, you can check out their Customer Finds website where Home Goods shoppers post pictures of things they find in the stores. Sometimes the pictures are from inside the store and sometimes people post items styled in their homes.

One day I was idly browsing the Wall Decor category when I saw a giant white pocket watch clock. I was like...Yes. This is amazing. So I looked to see where the poster was located: Texas. I didn't think it would be possible that my Home Goods, so far from Texas, would have the same clock (Home Goods stores carry a variety of items and every store is different since they stock overstock from other retail stores), but I decided to head out and give it a try.

And what do you know, the clock was there! At the first Home Goods I went to! And, it had a scratch, so I asked for an as-is price and the cashier gave me 10% off. So now I am the owner of a giant white pocket watch wall clock. And somewhere, in Texas, another Home Goods shopper has the same clock! Weird.

I love the Alice in Wonderland look it gives my bedroom.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Found 'Em!

I couldn't find my super awesome wonderful perfect couch pillows online when I first posted about them here (scroll to the very bottom). My mom got them for me at Target when she first visited my house. Hoowwwwever, I finally found them online so that you can purchase them for yourself. They aren't available to order online, but you can locate them in a Target store near you by using the Find In Store button.

They're the Home Decorative Felt Texture Toss Pillow in Gray. And here they are on the couch:

Yippie!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Lenda Hand With These Curtains, Will Ya?

Bad Ikea puns aside, I figured it was high time I talked a little bit about the window curtains in the living room! You can see them in this picture:

They're from Ikea and they're called Lenda. They cost $29.99 for a two pack and include hem tape and tie backs. The tops of the curtains are tabbed and look like this:

I didn't want the living room curtains to look that way, so I just folded under each tab and sewed all the way along the curtains in a straight line. Easy-peasy. I also didn't use the hem tape because I don't own an iron. (Ew, ironing is boring!) So I sewed the hems up too.

Ikea curtains are a pretty stinkin' good deal because they're so long. These curtains come in lengths as long as 118"! The drawbacks are probably what you'd expect - the fabric quality is so-so and there isn't a fantastic choice of designer patterns. You'll mostly find solid colors.

Here is what the curtains look in the daylight:

And here is a better view that includes the curtain rod and tops of the curtains:

The curtain rod is from Target and its color is oil rubbed bronze. I recommend curtains from Ikea because they're cheap, of adequate length for tall ceilings and big windows, and they get the job done! Looking at the picture above makes me realize how badly I need to add art to the walls...the to-do list never ends!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Dad's Living Room

For some reason, I rarely consider yellow when I am decorating a room. When I think of yellow, McDonald's is usually the first thing that comes to mind: golden arches, yellow french fries... Yellow should not be discounted however, because it is lively and happy and quite sophisticated! Below I've created a mood board for my dad's living room (click here to see my ideas for his bathroom).

Dad's Living Room by louko on polyvore.com

The proposed room incorporates mostly yellow, gray, and dark wood accents. I also included a few Frank Lloyd Wright related pieces because I know he is one of my dad's favorite creative minds.

Here's a list of all of the items (most of them are from Target) along with links to where you can find them online!