Let's play Catch! (up)

Ok, so here's my attempt to catch you up on how our living room currently looks. There are some features in this room that we love, like that huge picture window (actually this house has quite an abundance of windows which we certainly love), the fireplace, hardwood floors, etc... The previous owners used this room as one large space just for the living room, but we decided to rearrange it a bit so that there was a more defined entry way. I didn't like the idea of walking in right in front of the t.v.  Remember this is how it looked when we moved in, again just with our furniture from college:

Since this is the room where we spend 90% of our time, it has changed a bit over the years, especially as our style has developed. The color on the walls was a little to peachy especially since we have red furniture so we painted. I wanted a taupe/ gray color and thought it would be easy to find. Err... wrong! Picking out a color for this room was quite a challenge because there's no overhead light, so colors look differently in the day than they do at night. Therefore, colors we thought would look great, didn't quite turn out that way. Thank goodness for $2.50 samples at Lowe's! I bought 5 in one night and my favorite before I tested it, actually turned out to look like a blue/gray color. I'm soo glad I hadn't wasted 35 bucks on a gallon of that, because sometimes that's how I decide on a paint color- just go with my instinct :) So anyway, we finally went with Stone Manor by Valspar and really love it!

Here's the gallery wall for the entryway.

We also desperately needed to paint the trim throughout our whole house. This was a project that I knew would have a great effect, but I just couldn't psyche myself up for it (yes, it took me over 2 years to finally get around to it). But as I learned more about types of paint and where to use them, I realized that the previous owners had painted all of the trim with flat paint! I know, right? So of course that means it can't be wiped off and cleaned. So that equals over 5 years worth of dust and dirt just chillin' on our trim. Not cool! So I finally got around to picking out a color. I didn't want a stark white or even a soft white, so I decided on Ivory Dust, again by Valspar -maybe I should buy stock in Valspar paint:) And yes, this had the WOW factor. Everything just looked so crisp and clean, like it should. And now, if it gets dirty, I can just wipe it off! Now I will say that it took me an entire weekend, even after my sweet husband decided to join in on the fun and paint the doors (and he hates to paint!) Not to mention I was pretty sore from all of the squatting, sitting, climbing a ladder, etc... and I was right in the middle of my marathon training so it took me even longer to recover. But, looking at it now, it was definitely worth a week of uncomfortableness  :)

So here are some pics of our living room now:

Looking into the LR from the Dining Room

Looking into the LR from the front door

The more defined entryway I mentioned earlier

We have purchased a few things for this room since moving in. Our coffee table, end table, console, and telephone table are from the Sourav collection at World Market. We love that it's made of real wood and with  the hammered top, scratches and imperfections don't stand out, it just gives them more character. We also got an 8x10 jute rug from World Market , which we love the natural look of, a few lamps and some other decorations too.

Now, I'm not sure if I've already mentioned this, but I read several house blogs and use lots of ideas I find in our own house; I mean why try to reinvent the wheel for everything, right? If you haven't checked these out you definitely are missing out: Young House Love (this is my favorite), Restoration House, Shabby Chic Cottage, and you can always check out Ana-White if you're in the mood to build something:) So that brings me to my current spring mantel. I was on Restoration House one day and she posted this lovely spring mantel:

I immediately fell in love with how fresh and green it is but with a little rustic flair in the driftwood, so I began planning. We were going to the beach in the next few weeks and I wanted to look for a long, irregular piece of driftwood to put on the mantel. Score! I found exactly what I had pictured in my mind!

So to incorporate the greenery, I got an idea from Pottery Barn. In their latest garden issue, they are selling these moss-covered initials for $79!

I loved the look of these but thought there is no way I would spend 80 bucks for a letter with moss on it! So, enter Hobby Lobby. I bought a 10 inch wreath for $10, a few bags of live moss (the dark green and light green), a styrofoam ball- the size you use for Jupiter when you make the solar system in elementary school,  and some craft glue. A few hours later, I was up to my elbows in moss, which really smells bad so I recommend this project for outdoors, and voila, I have greenery for my spring mantel :)

 

I had taken a trip to the thrift store earlier and scored those 3 white vases for $3 so I had an idea for the size of styrofoam ball I would need. I also used some smaller pieces of driftwood in the candle holders. I usually have a mirror hanging over the mantel, but I wanted to see how it looked without it... a little too bare, don't you think?

 

I also added some candles and played with the arrangement of everything until I finally reached this:

And said... "Finito"