House Tour: Living Room 2.0

Well, considering the fact that we're expecting two little babies to come rocking our world in just a few short months... it was time for a change in the living room. The living room was one of the first places in the house to really come together, you remember the first time I wrote about it back on this post. Back then we had barely been living in our new home, didn't yet have the mantle above the fireplace, and had a different couch. We wanted to change things up a bit for a few different reasons.

We LOVED that couch. The cream sectional. Not only was it extremely comfortable and low maintenance, but we also loved the idea of a sectional. When we first saw this living room space we had a sectional in mind. BUT, after living with it that way and then coming to imagine babies and toddlers all over the place, we decided it probably wasn't the best use of the space. It really closed off the area, and when entertaining it felt like if you didn't have one of the 4-5 seats on the couch then you couldn't be in the conversation. Negative. We also didn't like the idea of not being able to easily see into the space (the ground) while in the kitchen or walking by, once the babies get here and start rolling/crawling around we wanted to have it opened up so we can easily keep an eye on them.

SO... enter new couch. We wanted to keep the best of the sectional world and at least make sure we got one with a chaise lounge for sprawling out and relaxing, and we love how large the chaise section is. Not to mention the chaise can go on either side of the couch! We love that feature, it allows us to use it in a couple of different ways if we ever want to rearrange. It's a deep grey/tweed-ish fabric so it's pretty durable and should be pretty kid friendly. Once we experienced a couch with no detached back cushions we didn't think we'd ever have those again BUT these are made really well and hold up great when you recline against them, so there's minimal "fluffing" and fixing once you get up.

And the mantle that has changed my life... Still one of my favorite things we've done and still so much fun to decorate and rearrange. We also (finally) cleaned out the old burned logs and ash from the fireplace and added some fun (and clean) logs, still in search for a more permanent solution but for now this does the trick.

Next, we are using our old mid century credenza as the changer in the boys room. It's the perfect style and size to be used as a changer (with the exception of raising the leg height just a tad bit) and it was a great way to continue using a piece that we love and only paid $50 bucks for. So far it looks perfect in there, and I'm so glad we made the switch. That left us with needing a new entertainment console of some sort. We went back and forth debating all sorts of options, some more permanent or "projecty" than others, but ultimately we decided to take the easy route and get something pre-made or build something a little less intensive/mobile. One day we might get rid of the fireplace all together to add more wall space, or even build on another living space to the back, so the idea of doing anything permanent seems a little silly for now.

So to Craigslist and the internet we went... I had found a piece I thought we would just make ourselves, but while searching Craigslist I found a seller who makes the exact same thing (and all sorts of custom pieces actually), so we thought why spend the time and energy doing it ourselves when this guy can just whip one up for us? It was great, he even let us customize the size and dimensions we wanted. I knew I wanted large enough shelves for toy baskets and other storage. So for now I've just thrown some random stuff up there but eventually those baskets will be full of toys or books and I can easily toss whatever trouble from the day in there.

Last but not least, the new rug and new end table. While we LOVED our old black and white rug it wasn't soft or comfy at all. Who cares when it's just two adults living in the house but again, imagining two babies crawling around made us want a super soft/carpet-like surface for them. And that's just what we found. I seriously feel like we hit the area rug jackpot here... This thing is HUGE first of all, which is so great knowing we have that much space for the babies to roll/crawl around on before they hit the rest of our tiled house. But it's also THE softest and most comfortable feeling rug you will ever find. You don't even need a rug pad underneath, and it feels comfier than most carpets even do. We were a little scared of how light it is in color but all of the black detail work seems to hide any dirt or wear that comes from walking all over it. Overall, we're obsessed with it and we love how it's warmed up the space in both look and texture.

Oh, and our new end table. The last little black one we had, while very useful and very loved, was from a $5 Goodwill find in college and had been repainted 2 or 3 times. It was time for it to go. This new one we got at an antique shop is a little different than my usual style, but these days (as you can tell) I am so into mixing and matching and using different textures, so this had me at the iron/wood combo.

So there you have it, our new living room space... with just a few updates that make it feel like a whole new space.