Living Room Decorating: The Evolution

Today, I want to share with you the evolution of decorating our living room.

I hear people often say that they don’t use their living room that much, that it is just an “untouched” room.

That is not the case at our house.

But before I talk too much about our living room now, I thought I would share the evolution of how we got here.

Starting here….no wait.

Let’s go waaayyy back.

This is one of the first rooms that we painted, and it was a very bold beige – I know, risky! My parents were getting rid of their pink, yes pink, sectional. We couldn’t fit it fully, so we pulled together pieces and parts to make a sofa and two chairs. I also took off the back pillows and replaced them with these large ones found at Homegoods. Honestly, I couldn’t stand the pink, but we couldn’t afford anything else. So this, was my compromise.

As unattractive as the room was here, I still love it. Because this was the time in our lives when we had wee little ones. Where Christmas involved rocking horses and play vanities. Life was harder in some ways then, and so much simpler in so many ways. As much as I thankful for where our family is now, where our journey has lead us – these times were good and hold such a strong hold on my heart.

When we finally had the money to afford a real sofa, we got the one we have now and I still love it. It is a small houndstooth from Kincaid. The chairs were a garage sale find and reupholstered locally (I have since sold them). The coffee table is the same, the rug is now in our dining room (but needing replacement compliments of some visiting puppies) and the large canvas is now on top of our entertainment center.

The pretty piece between the windows belonged to my step-mother’s grandmother. It is currently in my office, but will soon be moved and is in search of a new home (hopefully within our house). I actually think if I painted it, it would work really well in our dining room.

There were no moldings on the windows, just pine sills and we had just changed out the light fixture to the vintage one that is there now. This also shows some peeks of our old stair banister.

When we first moved into our house, I tried to figure out a way for us to build built-in bookcases on the main wall – I always believed that was what belonged there. Besides the fact that all of our books were in boxes in the basement 10 years after we moved in.

Although we are actually about to take on a built-in project for our office, we had to admit we didn't have the time or the ability and it never happened - until we hired our amazing carpenter as part of our renovations.

Our home was a basic builder’s grade and served our family really well for 10 years. And now the changes serve our family really well now.

Now, our books have a place to live and be found. Our mementos have a place to be displayed and enjoyed.

We added two comfy chairs, and if you ever talk to me on the phone, chances are I am sitting in the one by the window while talking to you.

And if this Momma ever needs a ten minute time out, it is usually spent under a blanket on our comfy sofa.

And when our girl’s come home from school, and something major happened – and there is a lot of that when you are 10 and 12 – they say, “Mom, can we go talk in the living room?”.

And I know that means, drop everything and give them my full attention.