A Living Room Redo and Some Blog Love

 

Well about a month ago I decided that I wanted to rearrange my living room.  Of course that was meet by much protest from my husband.  If there is anything my husband hates it’s moving furniture!

Well anyway it has been in it’s current state for FOUR years.  It doesn’t look the same thankfully.  We have replaced almost everything!

Except for the chair you can barely see in the back left and the clock and pictures of the kids(although I painted the frames black last summer) in the center nothing else is the same with this room.

This is almost how the back corner looks today.  The stand with the albums is now in the basement.  Well the records are hidden stored in the living room.  The white étagère is slightly arranged differently on the top and second shelves.

 

This is what our coffee table looks like now and this carpet sits on top of the one in the old photo.

This is the top of one of the toy cabinets we now have.  It sits next to the TV armoire that replaced the awful, horrible, ugly entertainment center.  It would have been out of the picture to the right of it.  We have another on the other side that is slightly taller and more narrow.  This one was pine originally from Target and I bought it from Craigslist for $20. and just spray-painted it black.  The other is an antique that I picked up at the antique shop for $75.00 and I CAN’T FIND A PICTURE OF THAT OR THE BELOVED ARMOIRE!!!!

Anyway, on top of wanting to rearrange, we have never owned a new sofa.  We have either had them given to us or we have bought them used.  Since people generally get rid of their sofa’s when they are somewhat worn or they want way more than I am willing to spend for a used sofa, I have never had one that I really like.  My husband on the other hand doesn’t want to buy a new sofa until or man cubs are bigger and less bouncy.  I was not at all happy with that!

So after pouting a lot researching I found a sofa that was inexpensive and looks great!

 

It is the Ektorp sofa in Blekinge white from Ikea.  It is only $399.00 and is slipcovered.  The extra slipcovers are $49.00.  I wanted white so I could throw it in the wash with a little bleach.  I love it.  The only problem is that we are 4 hours from the nearest Ikea and they do not sell this online.  So I have also talked my husband into driving to get it.  We have a big Suburban with a hitch so we are just going to rent a U-Haul trailer when we get there.  We have also decided to make a little mini vacation out of this and spend the weekend in city.  NYC that is!  There is a Ikea in Brooklyn.  Well that is the part I am still trying to talk him into.  He wants to go to New Jersey or Pennsylvania to get it.  Jersey is closer but Pa is a little farther.

Now that I have over come that hurdle, I have been collecting ideas and “new” items to use for my re-do.

The first thing I have done is to plan.  I photo copied a room graph and furniture templates and cut them out.  I found the templates in the book The New Decorating Book by Better Homes and Gardens copyright 1997.  I got my book at the thrift store for $3.49 but you can find it here and here.  On a side note this book, even though it is 13 years old has lots of great ideas and timeless decorating.

Well last month The Nester had a wonderful series   31 Days To A Less Messy Nest.  This was a such a good series that I will be referring to it often.  Then on day six she had create a Gallery Wall.  I knew right away when I saw this it would be perfect for my re-do.  So I have begun to collect things that I thought would work well for my wall.

Then a couple of days ago I was visiting Miss Mustard Seed and she had a post Resetting a Room.  This post goes into detail about how to go about decorating when things don’t seam right.  I have bookmarked this post but will also be printing it to follow along step by step.  My favorite step being #3 “create a list of things you want to work on or change in the room.”

The other thing that I want to do or not do in the redo of the living room…say that three times fast….. is not spend any money, with the exception of the couch.  So I have been stalking  visiting your blogs for more ideas that would take advantage of what I already have.  One idea that I love is to make a pillow from a sweater.  I actually saw this on The Nate Berkus Show.  However when I saw this pillow at All Things Thrifty by Brooke  I knew that it was more in keeping with my style and would break up the starkness of the all white sofa.

Then there is this great idea from Allison at A Glimpse Inside.  I tried to link directly to the page but it wouldn’t let me.  You can find it at June 21, 2010 in the archives. 

We found shutters for $5.00 each at the Antique Store.  I wish I could show you a picture they are gorgeous!

The other things I want to do is paint some of our existing furniture.  Something like this piece from Miss Mustard Seed.

 

Well that’s what I have to start with.  I am hoping to get this started before Christmas although we have yet to decide when we are going to get the sofa.

 

Well I’m off to start planning and removing things.  Stay tuned for the progress.