New Living Space

Yesterday I got a little crazy and decided our living room needed a revamp. Yes, this involved moving furniture. Yes, I realize I am 8 month pregnant. 

I did think about waiting until J* got home, but I just couldn't wait that long. This living room has been bothering me for a long time, and I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. And, it's not like I was moving the tv or anything (which I can't even pick up when I am not pregnant, that thing is a beast!) - just a couple bookcases and the fireplace. 

Thankfully, J* loves the new look! I was a little worried since he liked the fireplace in our room...and I didn't really tell him I was going to redecorate while he was gone. It would have been a LOT of work for me to put everything back and come up with a new plan!

Here's the new look:

I love it. It just says "inviting" to me now. That's definitely not what it was saying before. 

I am also loving the new look because it helped me to remember I actually do like the things we own. It's just that this house is so big compared to everywhere else we have lived that it was strewn about everywhere so I never really saw it. Now all the other rooms are pretty bare except for the furniture in them. (With the exception of Gideon's room.) I'm ok with them being somewhat bare though, now I get an almost clean slate to work with!

I thought I would give you a tour of some of my favorite things about this "new" room:

The fireplace. This belonged to my grandma, and she never used it. We use it constantly now that we own it. The picture is from World Market; I picked it up while I worked there. The candle holder is from Belize, which we got while on our honeymoon. The plant is near and dear to J*'s heart, as is the seashell he found while diving here. And the two photo books are a short history of the two of us together. 

This is a picture of J*'s great grandma and grandpa, and his parents on their wedding days. They will eventually make it into the hallway for my family tree idea. The frame we got for our wedding and have never used until now! We just never had the pictures for it. And the old book is a Bible that has been in my family for nearly 100 years. Pretty cool.

J*'s grandma buys us these WillowTree sculptures every once in a while. We have two now, and I love them. Also, my collection of commentaries and theology books which I am starting to appreciate much more now that I am reading through the Bible without a class or professor to explain things.

When J* turned 21, he got this bar stuff for his birthday. It's never been on display before for one reason or another, but he has always wanted a little bar. Hopefully soon we can add a wine rack in this area.

This is an old bookcase, obviously. We decided it probably should be our next project as it's pretty nasty looking! I turned it on it's side and stuck it under our kitchen bar. I realize normal people put bar stools here, but both our bar stools are being used at our computer desk right now. Perfect place for my cookbooks and to display my great grandma's kitchen aid! 

Also love that I have somewhere to display this photo book of pictures of my grandma.

There are still a couple things I want to do to this room to finish it off:

Put up curtains in the dining room

Get or make something for over the tv and over where our bar stuff is displayed

Fit in a wine rack (hopefully home made!)

Fix up the ugly bookcase

Well, that's more than a couple. Oh well. 

Thanks for listening!